Book Review: Alien - Enemy of my Enemy

Alien: Enemy of my Enemy is an extended piece of written media set in the universe of Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise.  Written by Mary SanGiovanni, an author with an extensive history in the horror/thriller genres; Enemy of my Enemy follows an extended cast of characters as they seek to survive an outbreak of Xenomorphs on a moon colony.  The book was published by Titan Books and released in February 2023. It’s worth highlighting that my interest in the Alien franchise is sporadic as I find the series ranges considerably in quality depending on the film.  I never really considered picking a book up in the series until just recently after watching and enjoying the newest film in the franchise; Alien Romulus.

The plot behind Enemy of my Enemy follows the perspective of medical researcher Dr. Siobhan McCormick.  Siobhan works for Seegson, a pharmaceutical company with a research station based out on BG-791; an orbiting moon which is set on a gradual collision course with the planet Hephaestus.  Also based on the moon colony is a security division of colonial marines, led by Sgt Alec Brand.  Together, McCormick and Brand join together along with his squad of marines when a distress signal is received from a neighboring research station belonging to Weyland Yutani. As the group investigate the facility, they soon learn the scientists here were experimenting with Xenomorphs and as you would expect, things got out of control really quick.  As the group realize they are trapped on the moon and running out of time, they must work together to survive the Xenomorph hoard and escape the moon before it collides into Hephaestus.

The narrative scope of this book is solid, if slightly predictable. I think my main issue with this book and many other Alien media is they are more inclined to rehash a lot of familiar elements from previous films, especially the original.  The idea of a female scientist, working with colonial marines to investigate a moon-based facility which has been overrun by Xenomorphs is basically the plot of the second Alien film. I think when the story deviates from the familiar elements it does provide some considerable quality.  I think what the written format is able to achieve compared to film too is it gives moments a lot more room to breath. I think this is showcased a lot in the way SanGiovanni is able to define a lot of these characters over the course of this story.  There’s a lot of effort put into fleshing these characters out and given them a decent back story.  This makes it even sadder when the story begins to cut these characters short when they encounter the Xenomorphs.  On that note too, it’s great how SanGiovanni is able to construct tension and horror throughout her sequences so well, it showcases her experience as a horror writer in many ways.

The book does tend to go up and down when it comes to pacing the story out too. I think it tries to justify a decent page count by treading back on itself and story beats unnecessarily.  I get there’s a need to flesh sequences out but it feels unevenly structured for the most part.  In terms of tone, I can’t fault Sangiovanni on that front. She gives the story all the necessary tension and brutality that any encounter with a hive of Xenomorphs requires. It doesn’t feel exaggerated in any sense either, there’s few moments of levity throughout the course of the story but it helps by giving the reader time to breath and fleshing out the characters too.

I don’t think Enemy of my Enemy is a bad Alien story, I just feel it is too similar to many alien stories that came before it.  What works for the story is when it tries to do different things and puts focus on fleshing the characters and events out. What elements it retreads are not all that satisfying but it’s hard to argue it’s not competently constructed in any sense.  It is for all intents and purposes a solid Alien story with intriguing set pieces and a great range of characters. If you are considering picking it up just go into it knowing your likely not going to experience nothing you haven’t already experienced with prior Alien media.