Monday, October 28

Aliens Vasquez Review

Written by V. Castro
Published by Titan Books, London, 2023
ISBN: 9781803363035
 

Aliens Vasquez is sadly a disappointing entry in the Alien novel series. One with a lot of potential that was tarnished. I think that it’s still worth a read for diehard fans of this amazing universe. But for those more casual fans, this one may be worth skipping over. Let’s take a closer look and see what it gets right and wrong.

The single biggest problem with this book is its promotion. The book is called Aliens Vasquez which instantly suggests the character of Jenette Vasquez from the 1986 Aliens film. This badass woman is also displayed proudly on the front cover of the book. I know the famous expression tells us not to judge a book by its cover but it’s only natural for most people to think this is a story about Jenette Vasquez. It’s not. We only spend the first 83 pages with her before we move over to the lives of her two children, Leticia and Ramón for the remaining 340 pages. The time we do spend with Jenette is interesting for fans of her character.

Jenette Vasquez from the 1986 film; Aliens

Jenette comes from a very poor family that has suffered its unfair share of tragedy. She is not spared this same fate as she is framed for the murder of a cop during her sixteenth birthday. Her entire future goes up in smoke before she even had a chance to decide what it was going to be. She finds solace in a colonial marine recruitment system. This scheme knocks years off her prison time for as long as she serves the marines. During bootcamp she ends up sleeping with another recruit which leads to her pregnancy. She has two twins, a boy and a girl. They are taken away from her at birth and raised by her sister. Jenette never even gets to meet her children before they are stolen away from her. After bootcamp she becomes a marine and ultimately ends up on Acheron within the Hadley’s Hope colony with Ripley. This is of course the end of her story.

We then jump back ten years to follow Jenette’s two twins as they are raised by their aunt Roseanna. Both kids are headstrong and determined, like their mother, but they take drastically different paths in their lives. Leticia follows in her mother’s footsteps and joins the Colonial Marines. Her brother, Ramón has the same fiery spirit, but he plans to make the Vasquez name famous and powerful. To do this he intends to follow in the footsteps of Peter Wayland before him. He rises the ranks within Wayland-Yutani and quickly becomes an exec for the company. While the two siblings take different paths, they both end up at the same destination. Olinka station. This research facility is located on an unnamed planet. It houses three Xenomorph XX121 queens being studied by the bioweapons department of the company. As is common for these stories, it’s up to our protagonists to face off against these hideous monsters.

Xenomorph Queen from the 1986 film; Aliens

What V. Castro is really, exceptionally, good at writing is relationships and family drama. The dynamic between Leticia, Ramón, and Roseanna is the highlight of this novel for me. Each one felt like a real person, making mistakes, learning from them, and growing as characters. Sometimes they learn the wrong lessons from their mistakes which left me feeling upset and disappointed in them. Sometimes they would learn the right lessons. But that’s how life is. We all must make our unique mistakes that allow us to grow as people. Castro’s characters share this same quality. This makes it easy to empathise with them. Even as more characters are introduced, they are all given the same treatment which is beyond impressive. As the story continued, I was hooked by the relationship between Leticia and Ramón. Sadly, this family rivalry is hindered by this novel’s biggest flaw. The Xenomorphs.

What V. Castro isn’t as talented at writing are the Xenomorphs. I wish this wasn’t the case but sadly it is. She fails to do anything interesting with them. In fact, they barely show up at all. It’s only within the last 90 pages that they really do anything. While we get the odd section here and there throughout the novel before the ending these do very little. In fact, they could be removed entirely, and the story could proceed unchanged. When the Xenomorphs do become an active part of the story they don’t do anything we haven’t seen many, many, times before. it’s the same tired story of scientist experimenting on the aliens before they break out and wreak havoc. Unlike ‘Alien into the Cold Forge’ or ‘Alien into Charybdis’ we don’t get to learn anything new about how these creature’s work. It honestly feels like V. Castro wrote an incredible story about the lives of Jenette’s two children and was then forced to include the Xenomorphs. This story would have been better if it didn’t include the titular aliens at all.

"Diablo had manifested before her eyes for a dance to the death."

Extract from 'Aliens Vasquez' by V. Castro


V. Castro is obviously a talented writer. While I’ve read a few novels within the Alien series with great characters, none feel as realistically human as Castro’s do. Sadly, this story is hindered by the inclusion of the Xenomorphs. It’s the same mad science leads to alien outbreak story we’ve seen in films, read in novels and comics, and played in games too many times before. I would have loved to have seen how the growing distance in Ramón and Leticia’s relationship would have panned out without the inclusion of the Xenos. ‘Aliens Vasquez’ is proof that we need to see the Alien universe move beyond the Xenomorph. This is an amazing universe, one that has clearly grown beyond the need to shoehorn the titular monster into every story. It’s a shame that Castro’s incredible talent was wasted on such a mediocre story.

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

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