Product Description

On the spaceship Umiak, an elite troupe of cadets is forced into servitude by an unscrupulous captain taking the ship to a smuggler's rendezvous. During the transaction aboard the eerily silent Virginia, the cadets unwittingly transport an unexpected cargo: a hive of hibernating aliens. As the aliens begin to awake, a terrifying battle erupts between the cadets, the smugglers, the captain, and the emergent monsters. The cadets soon realize that in space, no one can hear them scream.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111122 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 275 pages

Customer Reviews

Aliens, Sabretooth Tigers, Woolly Mammoths, pirates and lots of death. Nuff said ?
Firstly I have to say that I found this book totally by accident, but having read the Aliens works of Perry, Schofield, Bischoff and so on many years before I quickly grabbed this off the shelf hungrily when I saw it. And whilst Diane Carey has near to fifty published books - at time of printing - I have to say that I had not heard of this author before so approach the read with slight trepidation. Now though I have to say I really had nothing to worry about.

Basic story ? A crew of a space-ship accidentally let out a partial group of Aliens in a stasis container, causing the rest of the Aliens within to be automatically loaded onto another ship as no distress signal can be sent. The new ship - after a teen mutiny - is now fully run by a the group of teenagers, who have to try and survive one of Sci-fi's greatest foes. And low and behold, the their ship contains re-cloned Mammoths and Sabre-tooth's among the cargo of other livestock destined to populate nearby planetary systems.

I think the book thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, and finished it relatively quickly - which to me is always the sign of an enjoyable read. I would certainly have no hesitation about recommending this book to people that like the Alien/Aliens genre, but I feel traditional hard core fans may well either love it or hate it in equal number.

My only real let-down in this novel was that I felt that whist her knowledge of all things maritime is to be applauded, I was left thinking far too many pages were filled out with the details of the transfer of cargo from the ships and that this space in the relatively short book (284 pages) would have been better utilised in action sequences or other ways that enhanced the story. I personally would have scrapped them and detailed either what became to the passengers left on the Virginia or given more insight to the `changeling' which seemed to appear with very little reason or rhyme and be left dangling with no apparent involvement in the story.
Also letting loose two lots of the Aliens was repetitive, so why not simply have used the freed 1st batch of eight or so wreak havoc on the Virginia and then use the transport tubes to infest the Umiak ?

Lastly, if a foetal alien can take on some characteristics of the host, I would love to have seem a woolly-mammoth or Sabre-tooth hybrid, but maybe next time Diane ?

4 out of 5, as its good, leaves you wanting more, but not totally the best Aliens book.