Aliens: DNA War (Aliens (Dark Horse)) [Paperback]

Diane Carey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Aliens (Dark Horse) | Publication Date: May 17, 2006

In an inhospitable galaxy, the planet Rosamond 6 is a rare find. With a moon, an atmosphere, and a thriving bio-system the world has all the keys necessary for human habitation. But while Rosamond 6 may look like an oasis among the stars, it harbors a fatal secret: the world is infested with the murderous xenomorphic aliens that have wiped out every life form in their path. Eager to prove her theory that the aliens can be reasoned with, anthropologist Jocasta Malvaux has set up an observation post on Rosamond 6. But when the monsters become aware of Malvaux and her expedition, something unexpected happens: the aliens don't attack. When Jocasta's son Rory races to the planet to save her, she won't leave. What is the secret behind the aliens' seeming lack of concern for the humans? Are the monsters evolving? Or is it simply a matter of time before every person on the planet is in a fight for their lives? The war is about to begin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (May 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595820329
• ISBN-13: 978-1595820327
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #384,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Authors often do not control content, August 8, 2007

By 

Diane Carey "Diane Carey" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aliens: DNA War (Aliens (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

Sorry some readers didn't like the new twists, but readers should realize that any media tie-in book like Aliens, Star Trek, Star Wars is a collaborative effort between the publisher, studio, and author. In the case of the different behavior of the aliens in this book, I was specifically asked by the publisher to come up with some traits, methods, abilities, behavior that had not been seen before. Some readers also did not like Star Trek TNG: Ship of the Line, in which Kelsey Grammer's character returns for more than a cameo, suggesting that I was infatuated with the momentary appearance and got carried away. In fact, I never saw the episode with Kelsey Grammer's appearance. I was asked by the franchise licensors (Pocket Books and Paramount Studios) to write a book with that character as a main character in response to fan enthusiasm, so I did. Be aware that content in media tie-in books is not always solely the conception of the author, but part of a marketing plan from those who own or license the property.

Authors cannot arbitrarily enhance or alter these owned properties. Each book must be approved by the owner or licensor before it can be published, and therefore becomes a kind of "canon." I'm somewhat surprised that long-time fans and frequent readers of licensed properties are tuned in to every micro-detail, yet don't know that their beloved venue is tightly controlled, and not by the authors.. Apparently many reviewers are not aware of the cramped box within which professional writers must work. It's hardly a "whim" business. What readers find in these books is not always the author's idea.

PS I am not giving a star rating to the book, because I'm the author; I only put "3" because the review menu required it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Spectacularly Bad, August 2, 2009

By 

Ana Mardoll (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Aliens: DNA War (Aliens (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

Aliens Novels: Book 11, DNA War / 978-1-59582-032-7

In my review for Original Sin, I noted that all its predecessors in the aliens series have relied on one of two overused plots points to drive the story - either (1) mad scientist experiment gone wrong or (2) military cannon fodder stomping into a nest to retrieve a MacGuffin - and I congratulated "Original Sin" for being a bright and shining exception to this rule by providing an original plot line. Unfortunately, "DNA War" falls back on old habits, returning us to a tired mad scientist plot line for something like the eight time now, with the only 'innovative' additions being a complete disregard for established alien canon and a narrative style that seems better suited to a B-movie hard luck detective.

The complete disregard for the previous aliens books is disconcerting - aliens are now a mysterious and largely unknown threat, as opposed to those-buggers-who-nearly-wiped-out-humanity for which every schoolchild has at least a passing knowledge and a healthy respect. Possibly the author-imposed cluelessness is supposed to forestall the inevitable "why are the protagonists being such idiots?" question as the moronic crew stumble about blindly getting into danger, but author Carey can't figure out how much she wants to commit to the widespread amnesia. For example, the crew seem vaguely aware of the chest-bursting aspect of alien births, and they are also aware of the existence of aliens on the planet, but when confronted with a large number of human corpses with exploded rib cages, they wonder loudly and at great length whether the scientists 'went crazy' and murdered each other. So if the break from canon was done to forestall the crew from looking like idiots, we're looking at a pretty epic failure in that regard.

While we're on the subject of non-canon, now is really not the time in the series to introduce flying face-huggers, let alone to claim that alien warriors travel by curling into a ball and rolling about the countryside like a particularly deadly cheese wheel. The point at which hordes of aliens combined into a giant 'death ball' to roll over the countryside was the point at which I felt that we had not merely abandoned realism, but had actively tied it up and tossed it over a cliff. Carey has also heard just enough chemistry to be dangerous and has decided that the incredibly dangerous alien acid can be instantly neutralized by any old "can of base" that might be lying around. (This isn't the only soft-science to be had - the marine ship also carries a crew of genocidal robots programmed to wipe a planet clean of any creature whose DNA isn't native to the planet, a weak plot device to construe the robots as being just as much a danger to the humans as to the aliens.)

While I'm not ignorant of the fact that with a novel franchise, the author du jour may not have a massive amount of control over, say, the fact that the cookie-cutter plot has been massively overdone already or the alien details are incredibly stupid, the one thing the author does have control over is the quality of writing. Here is where "DNA War" really disappoints - fundamentally, Carey just does not seem able to write well, even to the point of basic sentence construction. Her subjects and verbs don't merely fail to agree, they're actively locked into a vicious custody dispute over the objects and prepositions. And while it's not uncommon for the characters in an aliens novel to be pulled from the science fiction horror stereotypes bag, Carey's characters are so over-stereotyped that I'd suspect a clever and subversive parody if the rest of the writing was good enough to support such a charitable interpretation.

To wit, the plot revolves around a tough, rugged, manly, wiry, B-movie detective stereotype heading to a planet infested with aliens in order to retrieve his mother who is oh-so-subtly-named 'Jocasta'. But it's okay, because he doesn't *really* have an Oedipus complex - his obsession with his mother is one of love AND hate rather than just love. Author Carey subscribes to what I call the "Jim Butcher school of writing", and thus protagonist Rory can't help but break the narrative constantly to look directly at the reader and remind us how tough, awesome, scrappy, and unbelievably cool he is. He's a man's man, who doesn't play by the rules, and he isn't above such 'clever' narration as "The idea was to bring him to justice. Instead, I cut his arms off and let him bleed to death. Oops."

Anyway, Jocasta and her gang of scrappy scientists have come out to this planet to observe the aliens. They've been here for awhile, although Carey can't decide quite how long - for instance, she says that the aliens were discovered on the planet three years ago and that's when Jocasta's team was dispatched. However, it takes about a year and a half to travel to the planet, so apparently Jocasta was sent off and about the time she ARRIVED at the planet, the mission was declared overdue and a rescue team was sent off the next day. Whatever, the point is: son Rory has a court order telling the scientists to stop their research and clear out and, faced with a court order and several marines with very large guns, the scientists naturally decide to sit down and have incredibly long-winded discussions about the morality of exterminating aliens. It's all riveting stuff, particularly with Jocasta strutting around cackling loudly and wearing a shirt saying "I am an evil, murdering psychopath". Before stuff can hit the fan, a local alien war breaks out, the practical upshot of which is that the aliens won't kill or impregnate the humans until after the alien war is settled and to the victor will go the spoils, allowing the humans to walk unmolested amongst the aliens at critical points in the storyline. And if that little twist strikes you as so remarkably coincidental as to put the most blatant Deus Ex Machina to shame, you're not the only one.

Despite the incredibly bad plot and cringe worthy writing, "DNA War" does manage to be slightly entertaining at times, at least more so than the snore-fest Music of the Spears, which I still consider to be the worst of the aliens series so far. But I simply don't recommend "DNA War" - only the most die-hard fans will be willing to wade through the terrible writing, but the die-hard fans are the ones who will be most offended by the exchange of alien canon for silly gimmicks.

~ Ana Mardoll

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars, July 2, 2006

By 

Dan Cielinski (Hollis, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aliens: DNA War (Aliens (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

Aliens: DNA War is a very well-written book, but has a few annoying and corny short comings.

It is a very well-written book. The characters are captivating, well-described without actually being described, and very easy to actually bbe cared about. I found myself upset when certain characters died. The story is well paced and detailed. I especially liked that, as the reader, I wasn't aware that I was reading an "Aliens" novel.

I only find a few problems with the book. The story adheres to the standard "Aliens" template. The main character is a broken, dark person caught along with a rag-tag crew on a ship. There a company who put the gears in motion (PlanCom) and the crew is investigating an installation on a planet because the installation hasn't been heard from. Then aliens attack, people die, and so forth.

I was also dissapointed in the fact that there were few original twists to the Aliens saga. The book tended to keep to traditional aliens hazards (i.e. face-huggers, chest-bursters, and drones) another similiar danger is the lead scientist, Jocasta Malvaux. Like in many other aliens stories (the movies, Nightmare Asylum, many others) Jocasta is obsessed with the aliens and thinks they can be trained.

However, I am an "Aliens" wonk and I found it entertaining anyway. The thing that made the real difference for me was the writer. Diane Carey is an excellent writer. I am not exaggerating. The book was very captivating, I read it in two sittings. The writing really saved it and made it fun. At first I was skeptical because she was new the the alien mythos, but Diane Carey rises to the ranks of the Perries.

I know it sounds like I complained a lot, but this books good points outway it's steriotypes, though I do have one more small complaint (spoilers ahead). The main character, Rory Malvaux, has a hatred for things that fly. This hatred is discussed frequently early on, then forgotten about. This leads on that it will come to play later on in the story, obviously around the climax. It does, however, minimully. The face-huggers sprout wings in the final battle, but aren't emphasized as a threat as much as I assumed they would be. Also, the worst part about it is Rory's hatred doesn't seem to stem from anywhere. He describes that flying enemies can't be predicted, but how can someone hate things that fly; it is such a broad catagory. Clearly, it is a corny writing tool used to make the flying face-huggers scarier, but failed.

Still, that was such a small aspect of the book that I didn't recognize it until a week later. A WEEK LATER! If an "Aliens" book can keep me thinking about it a week later, than it clearly was worth the price. This book was a fun read. It absorbs the reader into the story and is written amazingly. THe only short-comings were is "Aliens" cliches. Regardless, its a great read for "Aliens" fans. All complaints aside, it was a fun-fest of aliens and I loved it!