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Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe #2
Aliens: Nightmare Asylum
Wilks, Billie, and Bueller were the last survivors of a devastating assault on the aliens' home planet. But once their retum to the solar system made them refugees once more, fleeing Earth and its alien infestation in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Now, in an otherwise unmanned military transport, they hurtle through space. unknown.
Little do they know that the cargo they carry with them is a legacy of death that they will ultimately have to face. Nor do they know that they head toward a remote colony and military outpost. This pocket of humanity at the very edges of space is at the mercy of a general names Spears with an agenda all his own. Now Billie, Wilks, and Bueller face a new nightmare, and it is nothing they could ever have a gift of madness from an alien world, unbalanced mind, and the experiences of a mysterious pilot named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.
Little do they know that the cargo they carry with them is a legacy of death that they will ultimately have to face. Nor do they know that they head toward a remote colony and military outpost. This pocket of humanity at the very edges of space is at the mercy of a general names Spears with an agenda all his own. Now Billie, Wilks, and Bueller face a new nightmare, and it is nothing they could ever have a gift of madness from an alien world, unbalanced mind, and the experiences of a mysterious pilot named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.
278 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
30 people are currently reading
822 people want to read
About the author
Steve Perry
312 books361 followersLibrarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
May 4, 2021
Picks up within a reasonable amount of time from where the first one left off. This isn't any sort of mind blowing experience but it is an interesting delve into the Aliens world and continuation of story from the main characters in the first novel.
Personally this one didn't get as high of a rating as the first as the story itself focused a lot more on the human element. The aliens played much more of a background role (Much like the first movie) but unlike the first movie there was no sense of building dread or horror to get us to the climax. It also lacked the interesting side/background story of the cult that felt the Aliens were to be worshipped. It's mentioned a few lines in a scene but I wanted to know more there as well.
That said, I have fairly high hopes for the third novel, given that the title is Aliens: The Female War. I think we'll be back to Alien chest bursting, blasting, and some conflict between sane and insane humans; along with a special guest.
Personally this one didn't get as high of a rating as the first as the story itself focused a lot more on the human element. The aliens played much more of a background role (Much like the first movie) but unlike the first movie there was no sense of building dread or horror to get us to the climax. It also lacked the interesting side/background story of the cult that felt the Aliens were to be worshipped. It's mentioned a few lines in a scene but I wanted to know more there as well.
That said, I have fairly high hopes for the third novel, given that the title is Aliens: The Female War. I think we'll be back to Alien chest bursting, blasting, and some conflict between sane and insane humans; along with a special guest.
February 19, 2025
Nightmare Asylum is the second book of the continuing Aliens trilogy series written by Steve Perry based on the bestselling comic book series written by Mark Verheiden. Book One was title Earth Hive, but very little will be said of it to avoid spoilers but being that this is a review of the second book, one might possibly infer certain things, so to avoid such issues, you should stop here if you have not read book one.
Our three main characters escaped book one and were on their way towards earth when that no longer becomes an option for them. Wilks, Billie, and the Artificial Person, Bueller, whom Billie has fallen in love with until she discovered that Bueller is an AP, are now refugees. When they find a remote outpost with a military presence, they believe that they will be accepted happily because Bueller and Wilks have military rank. If wishes were horses, maybe perception could become reality, but fairly quickly the MCs find that things are not what they seem.
General Spears is the ranking officer at the secret outpost. He has studied the notes written by Ellen Ripley and he has the insane notion that with proper motivation, the alien queen might be capable of adapting military principles as a way of harvesting larvae for military purposes. The general wants to create an army of formidable alien troops, because he believes that he can force the alien warriors to behave like disciplined soldiers. (You may laugh, now.)
This is some good stuff. The story has a quick-paced narrative that doesn't meander, nor does it over-indulge in descriptive modifiers. The book is pretty straight forward as Aliens goes (well within the cannon.) There's action, blood, gore, suspense, and a couple of surprises. It works as my #12 of 20 horror books for my All Hallows Month goal.
Our three main characters escaped book one and were on their way towards earth when that no longer becomes an option for them. Wilks, Billie, and the Artificial Person, Bueller, whom Billie has fallen in love with until she discovered that Bueller is an AP, are now refugees. When they find a remote outpost with a military presence, they believe that they will be accepted happily because Bueller and Wilks have military rank. If wishes were horses, maybe perception could become reality, but fairly quickly the MCs find that things are not what they seem.
General Spears is the ranking officer at the secret outpost. He has studied the notes written by Ellen Ripley and he has the insane notion that with proper motivation, the alien queen might be capable of adapting military principles as a way of harvesting larvae for military purposes. The general wants to create an army of formidable alien troops, because he believes that he can force the alien warriors to behave like disciplined soldiers. (You may laugh, now.)
This is some good stuff. The story has a quick-paced narrative that doesn't meander, nor does it over-indulge in descriptive modifiers. The book is pretty straight forward as Aliens goes (well within the cannon.) There's action, blood, gore, suspense, and a couple of surprises. It works as my #12 of 20 horror books for my All Hallows Month goal.
August 12, 2018
I'm sure that the 4 star rating is going to catch the eye of some people and make them question the reasoning behind such a rating. I can understand that. I can explain and I will.
r
First, Goodreads only has whole star ratings for individual reviews. The average allows partial scores. If I could give partial scores it would most likely be 3.5 or 3.75 stars; I thought it was more fair to round up.
Second, these books are - so far, anyway - a continuation of the ALIEN movie franchise picking up after ALIENS and ignoring the 3rd and 4th films. It's obvious that Wilks and Billie are replacements for Hicks and Newt. I found these first two books more appealing than the continuing films.
Third, these books are entertaining reads that have kept my interest in reading more. They aren't pretending to be "grand literature" and that's fine. Not every book needs to be something cerebral and thought-provoking with Earth shattering revelations. A fun, sci-fi adventure in a familiar universe is what these books offer and I've enjoyed the ride so far.
On to book 3....
r
First, Goodreads only has whole star ratings for individual reviews. The average allows partial scores. If I could give partial scores it would most likely be 3.5 or 3.75 stars; I thought it was more fair to round up.
Second, these books are - so far, anyway - a continuation of the ALIEN movie franchise picking up after ALIENS and ignoring the 3rd and 4th films. It's obvious that Wilks and Billie are replacements for Hicks and Newt. I found these first two books more appealing than the continuing films.
Third, these books are entertaining reads that have kept my interest in reading more. They aren't pretending to be "grand literature" and that's fine. Not every book needs to be something cerebral and thought-provoking with Earth shattering revelations. A fun, sci-fi adventure in a familiar universe is what these books offer and I've enjoyed the ride so far.
On to book 3....
April 4, 2019
Another fine addition to the Aliens universe. With elements that are reminiscent of Alien: Resurrection, one almost wishes that this was the Alien 4 that we got instead of that one - although, to be fair, Resurrection wasn't that bad.
April 24, 2017
Book 2 in the series. I hadn't read book 1, but I still knew what was going on. Pure sci fi junk food, but fun if you're in the right mood.
August 25, 2015
[Disclaimer: I continue to alternate inconsistently between calling the leads Hicks/Wilks or Newt/Billie, sorry! I'm referring to the same characters, just really tripped up by the series' retcon, and really stubborn about clinging to the old canon.]
As with my flailing over the previous book in this series, I need to talk about that ending. Detailed, spoilery discussion of the plot below the cut:
I don't actually want to tell you the premise of this book, because I just went into it blind, totally sold after Earth Hive and ready for the next of their adventures, and I loved slowly finding out what the core conflict was (because it's not immediately apparent). And where it eventually ends up is great. What I love about this series, this universe, is that even if it's repeating the same cycle of 'aliens eat man', there's still such room to tell a different spin on it, to examine it from a slightly different lens. The threat in this book is different. Sometimes mankind itself is worse than the implacable outside evil.
I'm docking a star because this has a smaller cast than the previous, doesn't have the same well-crafted "HOLY SHIT!" moments of the first book, and there's one thing that I didn't like: But then again, I do also forgive the book because it doesn't seem like it's going in that direction: they acknowledged it, and then set it aside, both seeming to decide not to walk down that road.
Also, the seduction distraction scene was ridiculous, but again, I forgive the book for it because even Newt/Billie herself flat-out thinks, 'Holy crap, men are ridiculous, how do they fall for this???'
I want to start the next book immediately, but I feel like I should take a break and get out of the xenomorph groove for a little bit.
Hopefully adding quotes to this review later!
As with my flailing over the previous book in this series, I need to talk about that ending. Detailed, spoilery discussion of the plot below the cut:
I don't actually want to tell you the premise of this book, because I just went into it blind, totally sold after Earth Hive and ready for the next of their adventures, and I loved slowly finding out what the core conflict was (because it's not immediately apparent). And where it eventually ends up is great. What I love about this series, this universe, is that even if it's repeating the same cycle of 'aliens eat man', there's still such room to tell a different spin on it, to examine it from a slightly different lens. The threat in this book is different. Sometimes mankind itself is worse than the implacable outside evil.
I'm docking a star because this has a smaller cast than the previous, doesn't have the same well-crafted "HOLY SHIT!" moments of the first book, and there's one thing that I didn't like: But then again, I do also forgive the book because it doesn't seem like it's going in that direction: they acknowledged it, and then set it aside, both seeming to decide not to walk down that road.
Also, the seduction distraction scene was ridiculous, but again, I forgive the book for it because even Newt/Billie herself flat-out thinks, 'Holy crap, men are ridiculous, how do they fall for this???'
I want to start the next book immediately, but I feel like I should take a break and get out of the xenomorph groove for a little bit.
Hopefully adding quotes to this review later!
February 9, 2015
I'll admit it, I hate-read this.
Book 1: "Let's bring aliens to Earth to study."
Book 2: "Okay guys, that didn't work too well. Think....think...I got it! We train the queen, we give the aliens modified guns, and we send them back to earth to fight for us!"
Stop right there.
Worst idea ever.
But the longer I read, the more bored I got. Enough to where I actually wanted to see that completely ridiculous plot play out. I didn't pick up a book titled Aliens to read about them being boxed up for 75% of the book. Besides the action packed beginning, I was pretty disappointed with that aspect of it. The main characters...I didn't care. I didn't care if they lived or died or got injured and that's a problem. Another reason I basically hated this book was the Ripley tease in the description. The last paragraph? Really, guys? Really?
Book 1: "Let's bring aliens to Earth to study."
Book 2: "Okay guys, that didn't work too well. Think....think...I got it! We train the queen, we give the aliens modified guns, and we send them back to earth to fight for us!"
Stop right there.
Worst idea ever.
But the longer I read, the more bored I got. Enough to where I actually wanted to see that completely ridiculous plot play out. I didn't pick up a book titled Aliens to read about them being boxed up for 75% of the book. Besides the action packed beginning, I was pretty disappointed with that aspect of it. The main characters...I didn't care. I didn't care if they lived or died or got injured and that's a problem. Another reason I basically hated this book was the Ripley tease in the description. The last paragraph? Really, guys? Really?
May 27, 2021
More of a 2.5
I remember quite liking this when I was in middle school, but I was also entirely unaware that these were based on the original comic book series. However, now that I'm diving into my re-reading and am reading the comics right before I read this book, I didn't really like this one as much this time around.
For those who have not read the original comics, this picks up where the prior novel, Aliens: Earth Hive leaves off. Billie and Wilks are on a one way trip on a pre-programmed ship and they have no real idea where it is taking them, they don't care much, because as long as they're leaving the infested Earth, that's fine by them. The ship eventually brings them to a planet that has a large military research installation which is being run by an insane general experimenting on creating a trained Alien army. It's a pretty wild notion, but I think this continues the theme of humans researching things they don't understand it back firing on them. But it also touches on that insatiable human need to know about the unknown, which was more present in the first novel. This novel touches more on the idea that some people need to dominate and that's where the crazy General Spears comes into the mix. I think some of the themes that show up in this novel show up in later Aliens stories and even the movies like in Alien: Resurrection (even though I thought this movie had a stupid ending). In the end, I did quite like the overall story idea behind everything, but I thought it was much better executed in the comic books.
It was kind of frustrating because I really liked what Perry did with the previous novel, I liked a lot of the embellishing and expanding from the original comics, but with Nightmare Asylum it just didn't work as well. Now, I don't know if it's because the original series was two comic books shorter, but Perry had to add a lot more content probably to hit his required page count. There's a good portion of it that really felt like filler this time around.
One of the things I really didn't like, is I feel like Perry expanded on something that happened in the comics and I just found it entirely unrealistic for the characters. In the comic there was a nightmare that Billie (Newt in the comics) had where Wilks (Hicks in the comics) attacked her and was sexually assaulting her before an Alien burst out of his chest. Perry took this two panel scene and just ran with it and added this weird sexual tension between Billie and Wilks... now I don't know if I'm tying them back to the original intent of Newt and Hicks, but it just seemed stupid and made no sense. Like there's one scene Perry added where Billie implied she would be willing to have sex with Wilks and Perry had them showering together at some point, which was all so frivolous. I don't know, just way these characters were setup it made me think this whole thread went way too far for them.
I mostly liked the way he handled the unhinged general, which was the main bad guy in the story. I was also really happy to see he didn't change this guys name. Perry changed a bunch of people's names from the first comic in the prior novel, but in this one he largely kept the original names. The additional depth into the generals character made more sense than the expanding on Hicks and Billie's arc. The character expansion I also didn't like much was Powell. It seemed pretty weird making Powell a pacifist, I don't think he ever really came off that way in the comic. It just seemed like he needed help if he was going to take down Spears and he didn't know who to trust.
To be honest, I think, instead of fleshing out the characters in the way he did and adding sort of frivolous content, it would have made for a much cooler story to expand on the facility's history. The whole creation of the second hive and why Spears killed off all the original colonists etc. It would have been pretty easy to flesh that out with Wilks talking to Powell! Ugh, such a missed opportunity, oh well.
One other difference between the comics that made me annoyed is that he gave Bueller legs. When they get to the military installation they give him mechanical legs to use for the time being. Whereas in the comic no such thing even happened. I felt this was annoying because in the comics, without legs Bueller is nearly useless and it's a massively tragic story in that regard. When they are forced to leave him behind, he's literally just in this Alien infested military base with no legs. He has to walk around on his hands if he wants to get anywhere, it's insanely tragic. With legs, he has a chance to fix things and maybe escape because maybe he can fix a ship etc.
In the end, if you haven't read the original comics, I think this novel comes off as far more plausible. I still don't think Wilks and Billie would be so overcome with lust that they can't ignore each other... even within the confines of the novels, it still doesn't work for me. In any event, this was a bit of a weaker adventure compared to the first and either way I'll be moving onto the third installment! We'll see if this one still holds up after all these years.
I remember quite liking this when I was in middle school, but I was also entirely unaware that these were based on the original comic book series. However, now that I'm diving into my re-reading and am reading the comics right before I read this book, I didn't really like this one as much this time around.
For those who have not read the original comics, this picks up where the prior novel, Aliens: Earth Hive leaves off. Billie and Wilks are on a one way trip on a pre-programmed ship and they have no real idea where it is taking them, they don't care much, because as long as they're leaving the infested Earth, that's fine by them. The ship eventually brings them to a planet that has a large military research installation which is being run by an insane general experimenting on creating a trained Alien army. It's a pretty wild notion, but I think this continues the theme of humans researching things they don't understand it back firing on them. But it also touches on that insatiable human need to know about the unknown, which was more present in the first novel. This novel touches more on the idea that some people need to dominate and that's where the crazy General Spears comes into the mix. I think some of the themes that show up in this novel show up in later Aliens stories and even the movies like in Alien: Resurrection (even though I thought this movie had a stupid ending). In the end, I did quite like the overall story idea behind everything, but I thought it was much better executed in the comic books.
It was kind of frustrating because I really liked what Perry did with the previous novel, I liked a lot of the embellishing and expanding from the original comics, but with Nightmare Asylum it just didn't work as well. Now, I don't know if it's because the original series was two comic books shorter, but Perry had to add a lot more content probably to hit his required page count. There's a good portion of it that really felt like filler this time around.
One of the things I really didn't like, is I feel like Perry expanded on something that happened in the comics and I just found it entirely unrealistic for the characters. In the comic there was a nightmare that Billie (Newt in the comics) had where Wilks (Hicks in the comics) attacked her and was sexually assaulting her before an Alien burst out of his chest. Perry took this two panel scene and just ran with it and added this weird sexual tension between Billie and Wilks... now I don't know if I'm tying them back to the original intent of Newt and Hicks, but it just seemed stupid and made no sense. Like there's one scene Perry added where Billie implied she would be willing to have sex with Wilks and Perry had them showering together at some point, which was all so frivolous. I don't know, just way these characters were setup it made me think this whole thread went way too far for them.
I mostly liked the way he handled the unhinged general, which was the main bad guy in the story. I was also really happy to see he didn't change this guys name. Perry changed a bunch of people's names from the first comic in the prior novel, but in this one he largely kept the original names. The additional depth into the generals character made more sense than the expanding on Hicks and Billie's arc. The character expansion I also didn't like much was Powell. It seemed pretty weird making Powell a pacifist, I don't think he ever really came off that way in the comic. It just seemed like he needed help if he was going to take down Spears and he didn't know who to trust.
To be honest, I think, instead of fleshing out the characters in the way he did and adding sort of frivolous content, it would have made for a much cooler story to expand on the facility's history. The whole creation of the second hive and why Spears killed off all the original colonists etc. It would have been pretty easy to flesh that out with Wilks talking to Powell! Ugh, such a missed opportunity, oh well.
One other difference between the comics that made me annoyed is that he gave Bueller legs. When they get to the military installation they give him mechanical legs to use for the time being. Whereas in the comic no such thing even happened. I felt this was annoying because in the comics, without legs Bueller is nearly useless and it's a massively tragic story in that regard. When they are forced to leave him behind, he's literally just in this Alien infested military base with no legs. He has to walk around on his hands if he wants to get anywhere, it's insanely tragic. With legs, he has a chance to fix things and maybe escape because maybe he can fix a ship etc.
In the end, if you haven't read the original comics, I think this novel comes off as far more plausible. I still don't think Wilks and Billie would be so overcome with lust that they can't ignore each other... even within the confines of the novels, it still doesn't work for me. In any event, this was a bit of a weaker adventure compared to the first and either way I'll be moving onto the third installment! We'll see if this one still holds up after all these years.
November 30, 2022
*** 3.4 STARS ***
A good sequel to Aliens: Earth Hive. Nightmare Asylum has a much tighter narrative, with a bit more horror on show. I really liked the ending which sets up the finale very nicely.
A good sequel to Aliens: Earth Hive. Nightmare Asylum has a much tighter narrative, with a bit more horror on show. I really liked the ending which sets up the finale very nicely.
February 1, 2025
2.5 stars. Amending my review to add some of my favourite quotes.
“Adios, motherfucker.”
“Asta la vista, fuckheads.”
“Another glorious day in the corp!”
"Get fucked."
"Fuck you, mother-fuckering fuck."
Thank you for your time.
Orig Review:
GREAT build up, disappointing pay off.
“Adios, motherfucker.”
“Asta la vista, fuckheads.”
“Another glorious day in the corp!”
"Get fucked."
"Fuck you, mother-fuckering fuck."
Thank you for your time.
Orig Review:
GREAT build up, disappointing pay off.
November 22, 2020
Definitely action-packed, imaginative Aliens story. Another "what could have been" idea had the studio not drastically changed the Alien universe after the Aliens movie came out. The biggest drawback the book has is the writing is a bit pedestrian; the story comes off less like the carefully plotted and refined Aliens and instead like some of the more ridiculous smaller studios 80s action movies that worried about excitement in lieu of plausible story.
April 26, 2018
These novels continue to be better than the movies (other than the first two films, which were excellent.) This continues directly from the previous novel and we find our three main characters dealing with an insane general trying to weaponize the Aliens. (Have we ever seen monsters successfully weaponized? People looovee to try it but everytime I've seen it tried the person behind it ends up dying a horrible death.) So they find themselves once again having to make a daring escape while worrying about human enemies as much or more than alien enemies.
The ending is awesome and features the return of a character than any true aliens fan would be ecstatic to see show up. I won't ruin it, but you probably know who it is.
In short I love this series so far and if you're a fan of the Aliens franchise you probably will too. I think the quality may take a dip as the series continues, but the early books are great.
The ending is awesome and features the return of a character than any true aliens fan would be ecstatic to see show up. I won't ruin it, but you probably know who it is.
In short I love this series so far and if you're a fan of the Aliens franchise you probably will too. I think the quality may take a dip as the series continues, but the early books are great.
April 23, 2024
7/10
Pełna akcji i humoru opowieść ze świata Obcego, w bardzo fajny sposób rozwijająca znany z filmów świat. Można dowiedzieć się kilku nowości o Obcych. Chętnie bym zobaczył film na podstawie tego. Jeśli miałbym to porównać do filmowych Obcych - to takie połączenie części drugiej i czwartej. Przede mną jeszcze ostatni tom, który zapowiada powrót znanej postaci.
Fani Obcego powinni być ukontentowani.
Polecam
Pełna akcji i humoru opowieść ze świata Obcego, w bardzo fajny sposób rozwijająca znany z filmów świat. Można dowiedzieć się kilku nowości o Obcych. Chętnie bym zobaczył film na podstawie tego. Jeśli miałbym to porównać do filmowych Obcych - to takie połączenie części drugiej i czwartej. Przede mną jeszcze ostatni tom, który zapowiada powrót znanej postaci.
Fani Obcego powinni być ukontentowani.
Polecam
December 7, 2024
Fun trashy scifi. I will read all the alien EU if it kills me. Luckily this one wasn't too painful. The romantic tension between the two main characters was weird and uncomfortable, but the villain was absolutely deliciously hatable.
September 11, 2018
Wow ...This book is Great. It took me to Dark place the Movies couldn't even beging. Great Horror Sci-Fi Book
November 22, 2023
It wasn’t amazing
February 27, 2011
Aliens Novels: Book 2, Nightmare Asylum / 978-0-553-56158-6
When "Earth Hive (Aliens, Book 1)" finished with the audacious cliff-hanger of Earth completely overrun by aliens and the remaining human population scattering into the galaxy desperate for safety, I couldn't pick "Nightmare Asylum" up fast enough. Author Steve Perry picks up exactly where he left off, with Wilks and Billie in a rickety transport in deep space, hoping to reach their pre-programmed destination (wherever that might be) before they run out of food and supplies.
When Billie begins to suffer from the vivid 'dreams' that empathic humans experience in the presence of aliens, she realizes that their transport is carrying more than they bargained for. And when Wilks and Billie search the ship only to find four recently infected humans, once deep in stasis and now very dead, they receive their first piece of evidence that not every surviving human fully appreciates how dangerous these creatures are.
Their relief at arriving safely to their destination, a distant military compound and civilian colony, quickly evaporates when they realize, almost instantly upon arrival, that the general in command of the base is completely insane, obsessed with delusions of creating his own tame alien army and using them to recapture Earth. General Spears has his own home grown alien queen and has fed more than half his troops and all the colonists to the aliens in order to produce more drone warriors.
Perry handles the exposition perfectly, providing a wealth of detail about alien anatomy, mating, genetics, behavior, and motivation without ever seeming to abandon the plot or get overly bogged down in details. Perry also carefully and realistically explains how the General has managed to keep the queen and her drones under control, as well as provide a somewhat plausible explanation for why the mad general has not yet been fragged by his own troops despite his propensity to throw them to the aliens for the slightest infraction. In a plot device utilized by pretty much every James Axler "Deathlands" novel, it is up to the strangers who just blew into town to kill the bad guy and destroy the monsters, whilst welcoming the death that they've been dodging for far too long.
This novel isn't high literature by any stretch, and contains a few occasional small flaws. General Spears is just a little too smart, the supporting characters are fairly one-dimensional and clearly ancillary to the main characters, and Wilks and Billie step out of character at a crucial moment in order to accommodate the confines of the story. Perry has also slightly upped the nudity and sexuality in this book, including a rather implausible scene where Billie strips naked in order to distract a couple of dim-witted marines. Having said all that, however, the plot is solidly entertaining, the writing is crisp and quick, the tension is thick, and there is a wealth of new details on the alien race - enough to keep the most rabid fan happily content. In short, the novel is a solid four-star book and a must read for die-hard fans of the aliens franchise.
There is even a pleasantly startling conclusion where Ellen Ripley enters the scene - likely because the same writers who had been forced to switch "Hicks and Newt" to "Wilks and Billie" because of the conflict between the novel and "Alien 3" now realized that the plot development of an earth completely overrun by aliens was enough of a conflict to the movie series to justify a clean break and allow Ripley to appear unencumbered in this new fictional world.
~ Ana Mardoll
When "Earth Hive (Aliens, Book 1)" finished with the audacious cliff-hanger of Earth completely overrun by aliens and the remaining human population scattering into the galaxy desperate for safety, I couldn't pick "Nightmare Asylum" up fast enough. Author Steve Perry picks up exactly where he left off, with Wilks and Billie in a rickety transport in deep space, hoping to reach their pre-programmed destination (wherever that might be) before they run out of food and supplies.
When Billie begins to suffer from the vivid 'dreams' that empathic humans experience in the presence of aliens, she realizes that their transport is carrying more than they bargained for. And when Wilks and Billie search the ship only to find four recently infected humans, once deep in stasis and now very dead, they receive their first piece of evidence that not every surviving human fully appreciates how dangerous these creatures are.
Their relief at arriving safely to their destination, a distant military compound and civilian colony, quickly evaporates when they realize, almost instantly upon arrival, that the general in command of the base is completely insane, obsessed with delusions of creating his own tame alien army and using them to recapture Earth. General Spears has his own home grown alien queen and has fed more than half his troops and all the colonists to the aliens in order to produce more drone warriors.
Perry handles the exposition perfectly, providing a wealth of detail about alien anatomy, mating, genetics, behavior, and motivation without ever seeming to abandon the plot or get overly bogged down in details. Perry also carefully and realistically explains how the General has managed to keep the queen and her drones under control, as well as provide a somewhat plausible explanation for why the mad general has not yet been fragged by his own troops despite his propensity to throw them to the aliens for the slightest infraction. In a plot device utilized by pretty much every James Axler "Deathlands" novel, it is up to the strangers who just blew into town to kill the bad guy and destroy the monsters, whilst welcoming the death that they've been dodging for far too long.
This novel isn't high literature by any stretch, and contains a few occasional small flaws. General Spears is just a little too smart, the supporting characters are fairly one-dimensional and clearly ancillary to the main characters, and Wilks and Billie step out of character at a crucial moment in order to accommodate the confines of the story. Perry has also slightly upped the nudity and sexuality in this book, including a rather implausible scene where Billie strips naked in order to distract a couple of dim-witted marines. Having said all that, however, the plot is solidly entertaining, the writing is crisp and quick, the tension is thick, and there is a wealth of new details on the alien race - enough to keep the most rabid fan happily content. In short, the novel is a solid four-star book and a must read for die-hard fans of the aliens franchise.
There is even a pleasantly startling conclusion where Ellen Ripley enters the scene - likely because the same writers who had been forced to switch "Hicks and Newt" to "Wilks and Billie" because of the conflict between the novel and "Alien 3" now realized that the plot development of an earth completely overrun by aliens was enough of a conflict to the movie series to justify a clean break and allow Ripley to appear unencumbered in this new fictional world.
~ Ana Mardoll
July 10, 2025
Aliens - Nightmare Asylum by Steve Perry is a fun science fiction ride!, Is it great literature? No. But man, is this story action-packed. Nightmare Asylum is the sequel to Earth Hive and book two of a trilogy followed up by The Female Wars. In Earth Hive, the aliens take over Earth, with only two humans and an android escaping in a ship. The book has two parts. The first part is the group trapped with limited weapons on a freighter with aliens. The second part is the group meets marines that know xenomorph aliens, but they have a madman in charge who thinks he can control them and save Earth. I worried about the character a couple of times. The bad guy, Spears, is a force. He has a reason behind his actions and sees himself as the good guy. The book has a couple of twists that I liked. The book is pretty well paced. The ending was excellent, and I laughed with glee over what happened. I was very satisfied. I loved this novel a lot more than Earth Hive. The story was full of tense moments.
The plot continues with Wilks, Mitch, and Billie having just made it off Earth before the aliens took over. The transport ship has a destination, but the stowaways don't know where. They find out that they're on a transport ship that is shipping frozen bodies with alien infestations to a research base light years away, but the aliens break out before the destination. Leaving the stowaways to fight for their lives. Upon reaching the destination, they find out that a General Spears is training the aliens to fight by using behavioral psychology by burning and threatening the queen to burn her eggs. The plan is to take these fighting aliens and retake Earth. But Spears needs more aliens to be born, so any failure gets sent to the egg hatching room.
What I liked: There's some good humor, a truly evil bad guy in Spears, whose plan and execution are compelling to read. Pretty easy to visualize. Mentions of Ellen Ripley and how it is just rumored that she went to a prison planet. I do like that Ripley has reached folklore status for dealing with aliens. Great action beats, it reminded me of a Matthew Reilly novel in terms of pacing. I like that Spears acknowledges Wilks would have made a good Sargent as he puts up a good fight. I love the way Spears is written as a psychopath, but sees himself as the hero and the only person who can save Earth. I like the way he controls the alien queen. I like that we learn more about the Xenomorph DNA. If an alien queen dies, one of the hive can evolve and be queen. Billie's scene in outer space with the alien was intense. The final battle scene against Spears was awesome. I do like that characters get banged up in this book, both good guys and bad guys.
What I Disliked: He relies on nightmares a little too much. I know the title is Nightmare Asylum, but I think there were seven or eight, and that was a bit too much. Interesting flashbacks on the villain, I liked the first kill, could have gone without the lost virginity story. The novel takes the pretty girl distraction trope way too far, with her naked on her back, spreading her legs wide, too far! I did like that the book calls out how stupid the soldiers are who think a woman would act that way.
Recommendation: I would recommend Nightmare Asylum for fans of the Alien film series. There are some pretty great action scenes, and Ellen Ripley gets callbacks and makes an appearance with a tease of more to come at the end.
Rating: Aliens - Nightmare Asylum I rated 3.8 stars out of 5.
The plot continues with Wilks, Mitch, and Billie having just made it off Earth before the aliens took over. The transport ship has a destination, but the stowaways don't know where. They find out that they're on a transport ship that is shipping frozen bodies with alien infestations to a research base light years away, but the aliens break out before the destination. Leaving the stowaways to fight for their lives. Upon reaching the destination, they find out that a General Spears is training the aliens to fight by using behavioral psychology by burning and threatening the queen to burn her eggs. The plan is to take these fighting aliens and retake Earth. But Spears needs more aliens to be born, so any failure gets sent to the egg hatching room.
What I liked: There's some good humor, a truly evil bad guy in Spears, whose plan and execution are compelling to read. Pretty easy to visualize. Mentions of Ellen Ripley and how it is just rumored that she went to a prison planet. I do like that Ripley has reached folklore status for dealing with aliens. Great action beats, it reminded me of a Matthew Reilly novel in terms of pacing. I like that Spears acknowledges Wilks would have made a good Sargent as he puts up a good fight. I love the way Spears is written as a psychopath, but sees himself as the hero and the only person who can save Earth. I like the way he controls the alien queen. I like that we learn more about the Xenomorph DNA. If an alien queen dies, one of the hive can evolve and be queen. Billie's scene in outer space with the alien was intense. The final battle scene against Spears was awesome. I do like that characters get banged up in this book, both good guys and bad guys.
What I Disliked: He relies on nightmares a little too much. I know the title is Nightmare Asylum, but I think there were seven or eight, and that was a bit too much. Interesting flashbacks on the villain, I liked the first kill, could have gone without the lost virginity story. The novel takes the pretty girl distraction trope way too far, with her naked on her back, spreading her legs wide, too far! I did like that the book calls out how stupid the soldiers are who think a woman would act that way.
Recommendation: I would recommend Nightmare Asylum for fans of the Alien film series. There are some pretty great action scenes, and Ellen Ripley gets callbacks and makes an appearance with a tease of more to come at the end.
Rating: Aliens - Nightmare Asylum I rated 3.8 stars out of 5.
November 1, 2021
Not as action packed as the first, more suspenseful, but a great read none the less.
June 22, 2017
The second entry in the ALiens series of books/comics released in the aftermath of Aliens (the movie) but before Alien3, that continues the story of Newt and Hicks (sorry: Billie and Wilks) from Aliens: Earth Hive: a novel in which (spoiler!) scientists thought it would be a good idea to bring an Alien Queen to planet Earth while a military expedition is en-route to their home-planet, with the Alien on Earth then escaping and over-running the planet.
On reading this, this seems to have a more claustrophibic setting than the expanse, starting with Billie, Wilks and Bueller trapped on a cargo-spaceship heading towards an unknown destination: a ship that also contains three of the Aliens. When they get to their destination, things don't get any better, as they encounter a crazy general with an insane plan to control 'his' Aliens to take back planet Earth - a plan which, of ocurse, does not go by the book.
In short: pure sci-fi junk food.
On reading this, this seems to have a more claustrophibic setting than the expanse, starting with Billie, Wilks and Bueller trapped on a cargo-spaceship heading towards an unknown destination: a ship that also contains three of the Aliens. When they get to their destination, things don't get any better, as they encounter a crazy general with an insane plan to control 'his' Aliens to take back planet Earth - a plan which, of ocurse, does not go by the book.
In short: pure sci-fi junk food.
February 22, 2009
This book was a fantastic read...in that a lot of fantastic things occur in it. Sure the heroes, Billie and Wilkes are back from book 1 in the series, are larger than life and luckier than a bum hitting the jackpot but outside of that is the Aliens themselves. The buggers never cease to amaze me in what they can do and how much they can learn. What I enjoyed most, outside of the frequent throwbacks to the movie series, is that nothing ever works out the way the heroes want it to. Sure they manage to get out of some narrow fixes but not they way they plan to. Why? Because the villain in this book is a smart and tricky fiend. General Spears is an insane man and not a person that I would ever want to meet. His idea of a great army is a bit frightening as well...stupid but frightening. Now, I'm anxious to get to the third book in this really good Aliens trilogy (the other one sucks).
August 18, 2014
Turns out, Star Wars isn't the only franchise with an extended universe. Like the concept of the Alien movies, but hate how crappy they get? You're in luck! These books pick right up where Aliens left off. Once Aliens 3 came out and killed off two of the characters off screen, Dark Horse went back and changed their names in the comics, but never mind that.
The writers do a fantastic job of capturing what makes the aliens so creepy. They tie in a weird, Freudian returning-to-the-womb thing, and suddenly it takes on a whole new level of disturbing. This is horror without jump scares, just creepy looking monsters and very psychological setups.
Oh, and they finally take over the Earth, but like any good zombie story, the real monster is inside the heart of man. That's what Aliens 3 SHOULD have been.
The writers do a fantastic job of capturing what makes the aliens so creepy. They tie in a weird, Freudian returning-to-the-womb thing, and suddenly it takes on a whole new level of disturbing. This is horror without jump scares, just creepy looking monsters and very psychological setups.
Oh, and they finally take over the Earth, but like any good zombie story, the real monster is inside the heart of man. That's what Aliens 3 SHOULD have been.
May 29, 2019
Essentially a shaggy dog story (there's an insane general who's breeding xenomorphs to become perfect soldiers ... take a wild guess how the book ends when he finally takes them out onto the battlefield) with Wilks, Billie & Mitch just trying to survive the insanity going on around them. I know I read the first graphic novel that the first of these novels was based on, but this one didn't ring any bells so I think this was new to me. Some good visuals here and there, but as usual overwritten (how many cutaways to the general doing/thinking the same thing do we need, for god's sake?). When you can FEEL the word count being met in certain chapters, that's not a great sign.
Still, I made it through.
Still, I made it through.
July 8, 2017
Great book! I was pleasantly surprised that the book was an actual sequel to the first book "Earth Hyve"! I didn't know that so that was good.
I finished the book really fast (I don't really read fast).
The book continues where it left off on the 1st one, with Wilks, Billie and Bueller. Great characters, you get to know them better as the story goes on. They pickup the fight against general Spears, whom you will get to know better as well. He has these flashbacks and that's nice to read.
The whole story is original and captivating.
Without giving away spoilers: the end has a nice surprise that made we want to pick up the next book!
I finished the book really fast (I don't really read fast).
The book continues where it left off on the 1st one, with Wilks, Billie and Bueller. Great characters, you get to know them better as the story goes on. They pickup the fight against general Spears, whom you will get to know better as well. He has these flashbacks and that's nice to read.
The whole story is original and captivating.
Without giving away spoilers: the end has a nice surprise that made we want to pick up the next book!
July 4, 2019
Things get slightly better in the second instalment of the “Perry” series of Aliens novels, but only slightly. Scenes ripped almost directly from the movies still abound (at one point the main female character does a jarring redo of the “looking in the bathroom mirror” scene from the third instalment, complete with “her hair used to be down to her shoulder, but she cut it real short”), and every now and then a horrible crime against the written word occurs (“The LED number 4 on the magazine readout gleamed redly at her.”), but overall it is an entertaining mishmash story set in the franchise universe that smacks mainly of Alien: Resurrection.
December 1, 2012
It is an interesting book in the series, and fleshes out the Aliens story from the movies. The main characters story line has the same issues of setting up impossible situations that they magically get out of with strained fatalistic humor. The opposition is still either functionally mentally disabled or deranged sociopaths.
The story is part of the comic books, which were much better done. They would be a better read then this book.
The story is part of the comic books, which were much better done. They would be a better read then this book.
October 11, 2020
Alien: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Aliens: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Alien 3: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Alien 4: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Promethius: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Hive Earth: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Nightare Asylum: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Maybe it is time to switch up the formula...
Aliens: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Alien 3: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Alien 4: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Promethius: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Hive Earth: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Nightare Asylum: Greedy people want aliens for themselves.
Maybe it is time to switch up the formula...
January 17, 2013
Possibly the worst one of the Alien series of books, only the one where someone is trying to use the aliens sounds as music is worse.
Still enjoyed it and love the alien franchise.
Still enjoyed it and love the alien franchise.
June 1, 2023
I read Aliens: Earth Hive in middle school and was disappointed in it basically for not being as cool as Aliens. Recently though, about 30 years later, I decided to give the book another shot and see if my bias was unfair. I mean I wasn't expecting much but I've read some pretty awful Aliens books recently (like Phalanx and the novelization of the first Alien 3 script) that I figured it couldn't get much worse. And I was right, although Earth Hive was pretty lame 90s sci-fi garbage it was somewhat entertaining for the same reason. Unlike those more recent Aliens books which are also garbage it at least didn't take itself as serious. The way it ended I was curious to see which way it went so I decided to read the next 2 books in the trilogy.
This book was much worse though still not as bad as those more recent books. It's not nearly as fun as the first book and much dumber. Some crazy Colonial Marine General wants to try to create an army of Xenomorphs to combat the Xenomorphs that have taken over Earth. For some insane reason he and some of his soldiers actually think this will work even though the plan is full of holes and turns out exactly how you'd guess, disastrously. He's smart enough to foil the protagonists at every turn but not smart enough to see the obvious when it comes to Xenomorphs. In the films you hear that the company wants them for their weapons division but you never really get any specific plan, it's vague and I always figure it's more along the lines of them probably dropping them on some trouble maker planet and let nature take it's course. Not something stupid like a general thinking he can lead them a Xenomorph army into battle with nothing but a cigarette lighter to protect him. Sure, he had the queen and her drones somewhat behaving on the military base by burning her eggs if they misbehaved but after taking her away from her eggs to another planet he lost that leverage and thought he could keep her in line by holding up a little flame and reminding her he was the guy with fire when she has no eggs to threaten. And even if they'd obeyed it would still be a small band of Aliens against a worldwide infestation. In order to create an army big enough to retake Earth you'd need to infect and kill a lot of human hosts when seemingly the majority of the human race has already been killed by the originals. Let's say they did succeed and clear the planet of the original Xenomorphs, now you've got just as many coerced Xenomorphs that you have to round up from Earth. It just makes no sense but the stupidity of it at least made it somewhat entertaining in silly B-Movie sort of way. Especially when he's trying to teach them to shoot guns.
This book was much worse though still not as bad as those more recent books. It's not nearly as fun as the first book and much dumber. Some crazy Colonial Marine General wants to try to create an army of Xenomorphs to combat the Xenomorphs that have taken over Earth. For some insane reason he and some of his soldiers actually think this will work even though the plan is full of holes and turns out exactly how you'd guess, disastrously. He's smart enough to foil the protagonists at every turn but not smart enough to see the obvious when it comes to Xenomorphs. In the films you hear that the company wants them for their weapons division but you never really get any specific plan, it's vague and I always figure it's more along the lines of them probably dropping them on some trouble maker planet and let nature take it's course. Not something stupid like a general thinking he can lead them a Xenomorph army into battle with nothing but a cigarette lighter to protect him. Sure, he had the queen and her drones somewhat behaving on the military base by burning her eggs if they misbehaved but after taking her away from her eggs to another planet he lost that leverage and thought he could keep her in line by holding up a little flame and reminding her he was the guy with fire when she has no eggs to threaten. And even if they'd obeyed it would still be a small band of Aliens against a worldwide infestation. In order to create an army big enough to retake Earth you'd need to infect and kill a lot of human hosts when seemingly the majority of the human race has already been killed by the originals. Let's say they did succeed and clear the planet of the original Xenomorphs, now you've got just as many coerced Xenomorphs that you have to round up from Earth. It just makes no sense but the stupidity of it at least made it somewhat entertaining in silly B-Movie sort of way. Especially when he's trying to teach them to shoot guns.
October 5, 2025
Me ha costado terminarlo porque al ir leyendo los capítulos me vino de golpe toda la historia del cómic que leí hace siglos y sabía exactamente todo lo que iba a pasar, así que el elemento sorpresa desapareció en seguida. Si además comparamos su contenido con la primera parte, 'Alien Hive', creo que sale perdiendo, esta novela es mucho más repetitiva y da la sensación de que no avanza nada la trama, es como si estuvieran andando en círculo lidiando con las mismas situaciones y con el mismo escenario una y otra vez. Otro aspecto negativo es que el autor aquí se niega directamente a desarrollar a los personajes y cada vez se van pareciendo menos a Hicks y a Newt, básicamente podrían ser cualquiera.
El único esfuerzo por dotar de alma a un personaje lo encontramos en el villano, el general Spears, pero también cae en la redundancia. Sí destacaría en positivo los primeros capítulos en los que transcurre la problemática travesía por el espacio, donde el grupo tiene que lidiar con unas amenazas imprevistas. Las ideas que se sueltan después sobre amaestrar a la reina y formar un nuevo ejército no están del todo mal, pero tampoco convencen del todo, hay cosas que me parecieron ridículas cuando las leí de adolescente y que me siguen pareciendo un disparate absurdo ahora.
ENGLISH
I had a hard time finishing it because as I read the chapters, the entire story of the comic I read ages ago came flooding back to me, and I knew exactly what was going to happen, so the element of surprise disappeared immediately. If we also compare its content to the first part, Alien Hive, I think it comes out on top. This novel is much more repetitive and gives the impression that the plot doesn't advance at all; it's as if they're going in circles dealing with the same situations and the same scenario over and over again. Another negative aspect is that the author here flat-out refuses to develop the characters, and they become less and less like Hicks and Newt; they could basically be anyone.
The only effort to give a character a soul is found in the villain, General Spears, but it also falls into redundancy. I would highlight the positive aspects of the first chapters, which feature the problematic journey through space, where the group must deal with unexpected threats. The ideas that are later floated about taming the queen and forming a new army aren't entirely bad, but they're not entirely convincing either. There are things that seemed ridiculous to me when I read them as a teenager and that still seem absurd to me now.
El único esfuerzo por dotar de alma a un personaje lo encontramos en el villano, el general Spears, pero también cae en la redundancia. Sí destacaría en positivo los primeros capítulos en los que transcurre la problemática travesía por el espacio, donde el grupo tiene que lidiar con unas amenazas imprevistas. Las ideas que se sueltan después sobre amaestrar a la reina y formar un nuevo ejército no están del todo mal, pero tampoco convencen del todo, hay cosas que me parecieron ridículas cuando las leí de adolescente y que me siguen pareciendo un disparate absurdo ahora.
ENGLISH
I had a hard time finishing it because as I read the chapters, the entire story of the comic I read ages ago came flooding back to me, and I knew exactly what was going to happen, so the element of surprise disappeared immediately. If we also compare its content to the first part, Alien Hive, I think it comes out on top. This novel is much more repetitive and gives the impression that the plot doesn't advance at all; it's as if they're going in circles dealing with the same situations and the same scenario over and over again. Another negative aspect is that the author here flat-out refuses to develop the characters, and they become less and less like Hicks and Newt; they could basically be anyone.
The only effort to give a character a soul is found in the villain, General Spears, but it also falls into redundancy. I would highlight the positive aspects of the first chapters, which feature the problematic journey through space, where the group must deal with unexpected threats. The ideas that are later floated about taming the queen and forming a new army aren't entirely bad, but they're not entirely convincing either. There are things that seemed ridiculous to me when I read them as a teenager and that still seem absurd to me now.
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