'Massively damaged in Aliens and Alien3 , the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down forever. His creator, Michael Bishop, has other plans. He seeks the Xenomorph knowledge stored in the android’s mind, and brings Bishop back to life—but for what reason? No longer an employee of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Michael tells his creation that he seeks to advance medical research for the benefit of humanity. Yet where does he get the resources needed to advance his work. With whom do his new allegiances lie?
'Bishop is pursued by Colonial Marines Captain Marcel Apone, commander of the Il Conde and younger brother of Master Sergeant Alexander Apone, one of the casualties of the doomed mission to LV-426. Also on his trail are the “Dog Catchers,” commandos employed by Weyland-Yutani.
'Who else might benefit from Bishop’s intimate knowledge of the deadliest creatures in the galaxy?'
The Aliens franchise has been a personal favourite of mine since a very irresponsible uncle let me watch the second film at no what must have been no more than five years old (I cant remember the exact age, only that it's one of the earliest films I can remember seeing). I came to the franchise through the second film, and as such it's become my favourite, and I love the cast of characters that surround Ripley throughout. One of those I always liked was Bishop, and knowing how the film ends up and how much of a good guy he is I always feel bad for him in the beginning when Ripley knows a plate out of his hands. He deserves some good.
Well, it seems like Aliens: Bishop is setting things right for him, at least a bit. Set after the events of Alien 3, which saw the artificial human broken and smashed beyond repair, the book follows a number of plot threads that work towards bringing Bishop home.
Not long after the events of the film, Bishop wakes up inside a lab, his mind installed into a new body thanks to his creator, Michael Bishop (who we also last saw in Alien 3). Bishops last memory is asking Ripley to shut him off, saying that he might be able to be repaired, but he'd never be perfect again. But it turns out when powerful people want what you know amazing things can happen. Instead of being fixed up Bishop is in a younger, stronger body. A fresh start. His 'father' tells him that he did this because he needs Bishop's help, that he needs the Xenomrph knowledge that he;s carrying inside him.
Whilst Bishop is reluctant to just give this knowledge over, Michael assures him that it's purely for medical research, and that he has no interest in using the aliens as a weapon the way others in Weyland-Yutani do. He's even left the company behind, having defected over to the Chinese superpowers. Bishop wants to believe his creator, and the two of them agree to work together, slowly unlocking the secrets of the Xenomorph whilst Bishop holds the cache of data hostage, waiting to trust Michael fully before giving it over.
Meanwhile, on a Colonial Marine cruiser, Marcel Apone, younger brother of Bishop's former commanding officer, is searching for the android. He wants to learn more about what happened to his brother and his unit, as well as learning all he can to help him destroy the Xenomorphs. New to his unit is Private Karri Lee, an Australian refugee who joined up to get her mother and brothers out of the camps and into a decent home. Having blackmailed herself into a passing grade, she's tested like never before when Apone's unit go after Bishop, forcing her to push herself further and harder than ever before.
There's also a sub-plot about the crew of a Vietnamese smuggling ship who get captured by the Chinese military and forced into a chamber where alien eggs are waiting for them, and the one member of the crew who manages to survive the experience. All three of these stories end up coming together in a violent, bloody finale.
The new Aliens books from Titan have been expanding the universe in fun and exciting ways, and bringing Bishop back into things feels like a great addition to this expanding and evolving new timeline that's being crafted. And for those who might be worried about a beloved Aliens character who died in Alien 3 being brought back to life in a new piece of media, don't be, this is a far step away from Aliens: Colonial Marines and their awful handling of a similar idea.
This is my first T.R. Napper novel, and I didn't know what to expect when I picked it up. I was, to be completely honest, a little worries about what might happen in the book. I liked Bishop and wanted him to be handled well. And Napper does do that. He manages to make Bishop feel new and interesting, having expanded his character in new directions, whilst also keeping him true to what we've seen of him before. Pretty much every line of dialogue he says in the book you can hear Lance Henriksen saying as he's managed to capture Bishops voice.
The other characters are all blank slates, and Napper has pretty free reign to do what he wants with them, and ends up creating an interesting cast. Karri Lee is my favourite of the new characters, and I loved learning more about her over the course of the book. Her backstory was engaging, and at times heartbreaking, and her reasons for doing what she does are very understandable ones. It's also great to see her evolving relationships with the other members of her unit. She's also one of the few queer characters I can think of in the Aliens universe, and if we see more of her in the future I'm hoping that this is something that gets expanded upon beyond a few mentions.
Some of the other characters, like Xuan go through a very rough time, and her experiences as a victim in the book are awful to read. There are times where you're expecting her horrific death to come at any moment, or where you're expecting her to end her own life. Despite this she manages to have a quiet strength to her that keeps pushing her to survive. She doesn't rail against the injustices being forced upon her, she doesn't have a big cathartic moment where she gets to rage against those that harmed her. Instead, she has a much more realistic journey, one where her pain and trauma are going to be following her for long after the book is done.
Other great characters include the arsehole smart-gunner who tries to make Karri's life hell, but ends up as a character you want to see live and whose relationship with Karri is worth seeing, and the Chinese officer being forced by her commanders to do terrible things but knows they're wrong, who ultimately tries to do the right thing. The book also features the return of another character who appeared in Alien 3, who ended up stealing most of the scenes they're in.
The reason I'm talking about the characters over say the horror, or action, of an Aliens book is that despite the book featuring lots of both of those, the majority of the book deals with characters. This is a character driven narrative, one where we spend time getting to know these people, watching them push themselves, evolving into better people. As a result, you care about them when the chaos and the killing begins, and you end up worried for them when the Xenomorphs show up. Not every Aliens book goes out of its way to do this, and this is precisely the reason why this one was so good to read.
Aliens: Bishop could have been a cheap cash-in on nostalgia, another attempt to bring back a beloved character and give the fans something sub-par in exchange for their time and money. But what we got is a great character study, and one of the most enjoyable Aliens books from Titan. I really hope to see more in the series from Napper, and I hope that we get more stories with this cast of characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment