The Complete Aliens Omnibus Volume 4
Authors: Yvonne Navarro/SD Perry
Publisher: Titan Books
Pages: 608
ISBN: -13: 978-1783299072
Reviewed by: Sandra Scholes
As Aliens the Complete Omnibus Volumes 1, 2 and 3 were so popular there would be an obvious sequel omnibus set in the Aliens universe. Music of the Spears by Yvonne Navarro has their story set in 2124 in a dystopian New York where part of the population is homeless or addicted while the super rich try to outdo each other despite the fact they should be happy.
Damon Eddington is a man full of hate for artists who are better than him, more popular but who have less talent. The reviewers who slated him in the gutter press annoyed him and as a way of repaying them his latest piece; Symphony of Hate is set to change their minds.
In this future, music has changed to the point where the public liked only synthetic sounds, hellrock, bloodrock or music played by androids and worse, re recorded music from the greats sung by androids, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin and Cobain. One man Jarlath Keene he hates, but tolerates him as the head of Synsound. Damon demands to use an Alien scream on one of his new tracks, but it falls on deaf ears. Jarlath ponders what it would be like to bag an Alien and use it, after all so he sends Akiro to MedTech to steal an egg.
I liked the futuristic setting for an Alien story where I found it hard to feel sorry for what might happen yo the main characters.
Berserker by JD Perry is closer to what we are used to with marines entering space to find out other intelligent life only to be killed and mutilated by the alien threat. Here a Berserker team is recruited by a company to destroy aliens though instead of marines these are ex-cons and an armed exoskeleton with a human brain. The spaceship Nemesis is sent to one of the largest Alien hives with one order; to kill the Aliens but leave the terminal intact. The crew has Jess, Candyman and Teape who are all dangerous insane henchmen who are perfect for the job.
Both of these stories are different yet written with fans in mind. They show the basic human need for seeking out new life and conquering new worlds, but where Aliens is concerned there is only one way the stories can end as the life they seek is much more intelligent than they are. As it was different I enjoyed the first one more as I've never read one about a music company before. The interest in this was too strong to pass up.
