Fear the Alien – Book Review

A slightly older book from Black Library, Fear the Alien is a short-story anthology with stories about … wait for it … aliens!

Like the game of Warhammer 40K, Black Library is heavily Imperium (and Space Marine) biased in their publications, at least in the number of publications. That alone made me want to take a look at this book to see how different authors handle the Xenos.

That said, there are still plenty of Imperials, Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines in this book. And while there are a several interesting and unusual ideas to be found, Fear the Alien probably isn’t the best Black Library short story collection out there.

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The Imperium of Man has many enemies among the stars, but none are reviled so much as the alien. Dangerous races seek to destroy humanity wherever they turn –the brutish orks, the ravening hordes of the tyranid, the unrelenting necrons and the mysterious forces of the tau and the eldar. Across the universe, humanity and their defenders, the Space Marines, seek to eradicate these xenos threats. Yet all they can hope for is another day of survival – for to stand against the alien is to enter an unending war…

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#1 – The Xenos-Anthology

Black Library have published plenty of short story anthologies, including some tightly focused on Space Marines or other aspects of the Warhammer 40k-universe. However, while there are some Xenos-focused books (such as the Dark Eldar series), Black Library books about Warhammer 40K aliens are generally further in between.

Not all stories in Fear the Alien truly scratch that itch for Xenos-fiction, but enough of them do. Still, the stories are mostly a mixed back and I doubt there are many readers who will like them all (though I could be wrong).

A short overview of the stories in this book.

• ‘Gardens of Tycho’ by Dan Abnett (4/5)

Not much Xenos, but a strong start nevertheless. Dan Abnett once again paints a vivid picture of a town on the fringes of the Imperium, complete with several memorable characters and good action.

Dan Abnett knows what he’s doing and this is another story well worth reading.

• ‘Fear Itself’ by Juliet E. McKenna (4/5)

I believe this is the only Black Library work ever published by Juliet E. McKenna, which is a pity, as it’s a good story.

The Imperial Guard defend a bastion against a Tyranid onslaught. Classic 40K-material, but told very well. The story keeps a nice pace, alternating between internal tensions among the Guardsmen and fights with the Tyranids.

There is a whole subplot about “combat trauma” (hence the title) which felt well-researched and an under-appreciated facet in 40K.

• ‘Prometheus Requiem’ by Nick Kyme (3/5)

Terminators in a Space Hulk. It’s hard to find a more iconic theme for a Xenos-anthology. Nick Kyme knows his Salamanders, and I was surprised at how “un-heroic” some of them end up being. The squabble, bicker and fight, disobey order and, ultimately, get themselves mostly killed. Maybe that was the point, though it’s an odd one to make with Salamanders.

On the upside, there are a few great scenes playing off gravity and a nice twist to the “Genestealer”-side of things that every Space Hulk story must have.

Last but not least, there is also a Night Lords-tie in with Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s story in the same book (see below). I can get behind the idea of a “cross-over”, but it felt bolted on to the actual plot and made the thing longer than it needed to be.

• ‘Mistress Baeda’s Gift’ by Braden Campbell (3.5/5)

A story of a jaded Dark Eldar Archon trying to woo a Widow-Archon he has fallen in love with. It sounds silly. It is silly. It’s still a surprisingly good story if you don’t take it too seriously.

I actually like Warhammer 40K a bit more tongue-in-cheek at times, but I guess there might be a few people who will hate this story for the very same reason.

• ‘Iron Inferno’ by C.L. Werner (3/5)

A war between the Imperium and the Orks, told partly from the perspective of an Ork Kommandoz Boss.

C. L. Werner works hard to tell a tale that is both “Orky” and still readable for more than the little fun-entries in the Ork Codex. That said, the story feels fairly contrived for the sake of a painfully obvious twist-ending.

Not the best story in the book, but the only one about Orks (and from an Ork perspective), so it has that going for it.

• ‘Sanctified’ by Mark Clapham (2.5/5)

A story about a Techpriest who has to take on the fight against a handful of Dark Eldar that have invaded his ship.

It’s pretty much a plot-by-the-numbers, and neither the main character nor the villains were particularly compelling.

There is nothing truly “wrong” with this story, but it didn’t really do anything for me either.

• ‘Faces’ by Matthew Farrer (1/5)

Ughh…

Well, here’s a story that tries to be more clever than it actually is.

In a nutshell, a few humans loot the masks of a Harlequin troupe, and carnage ensues as the masks start messing with their minds.

That does sound like an awesome plot, I admit, but it doesn’t work here, at all. As Matthew Farrer tries to convey the confusion of his protagonists, he keeps jumping this-way and that-way, often in mid sentence, ultimately resulting in a tiresome read.

By the time the plot was actually revealed, I was only hoping to be done with it.

• ‘Unity’ by James Gilmer (3/5)

The uneven couple of a Raven Guard Marine and a Guard Sniper team up, lost behind (Tau) enemy lines. Though the Xenos-enemy here are nominally Tau, it’s mostly Kroot, and it does a good job showing how nasty Kroot can be.

The Raven Guard-Imperial Guard buddy-team didn’t really work for me.

• ‘The Core’ by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (2.5/5)

Don’t get me wrong, Aaron Dembski-Bowden writes like a god, especially if he’s writing about First Claw, but there is literally no story in this story.

Where Nick Kyme’s Prometheus had to tack-on the “Night-Lords” cross-over in an unwieldy fashion, “The Core” has no other story. Period. First Claw go in, shoot Genestealers, leave. And they listen in on the things happening in the Nick Kyme story via Vox. That’s about it.

• ‘Ambition Knows No Bounds’ – Andy Hoare (3.5/5)

Finally, the book ends on a strong note with another “iconic” Xenos-story, in this case a greedy Rogue Trader foolishly trying to plunder a Necron tomb. Necron’s make a brief appearance in Braden Campell’s story too, but here they get their proper little story.

It’s not as original a story as some of the previous ones (though I guess that comes with telling a classic tale), but it delivers about everything one would expect from an “exploration-of-mysterious-alien-ruins-story.

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#2 – Thoughts

Would I recommend Fear the Alien?

Guardedly yes. If you are in the mood for something slightly more adventurous, have a go (which might seem to contradict my opinion, the Matthew Farrer’s highly experimental “Faces” was a failure, for the most part, though perhaps you’ll disagree).

For one thing, Fear the Alien does (at times) break some of the more routine (Space Marines/Heresy-heavy) Black Library routine, and that can only be a good thing. If some stories end up being less fun than they could be, than that is probably the price for having more experimental and unusual stories in the first place.

Z.