‘Alien Harvest’ – Robert Sheckley (Titan Books)

 


Page Count: 326 Pages

It feels like a while since I last had an ‘Aliens’ post here (‘Aliens: Genocide’, back in May, just in case you were wondering…) but I have been pecking away at ‘Alien Harvest’, a page here and then a few pages here. And that should be a little bit of a red flag right there. The four preceding ‘Aliens’ novels (or, one and a half omnibuses) were all very readable and, ultimately, a lot of fun despite a few misgivings here and there.

‘Alien Harvest’ though…? Honestly, it has taken me weeks to get through and if it wasn’t for my generally enjoying the franchise (and being an awkward middle-aged chap who sometimes, just won’t let a book beat him…), I’d have DNF’d this book and moved on without a second thought.

I didn’t though (because I’m awkward and needed the win) and here I am, trying to make a little sense of how I feel about ‘Alien Harvest’. Lets see how I do…

Royal jelly, the most illicit of Alien by-products, is keeping Dr, Stan Myakovsky alive. A once famous scientist fallen on hard times, Stan is fighting off the repo-men and and trying hard to patent the cybernetic ant that will reinstate his reputation. Julie Lish is beautiful, mysterious and totally amoral. She has a plan so outrageous that there might be one chance in a chance in a million to pull it off.

Together, they make an attempt to grab the ultimate treasure – royal jelly from an Alien Hive.

Now I’ve got no idea about the original publication order of the ‘Alien’ novels but I guess that whether ‘Alien Harvest’ came after ‘Genocide’ or not, it makes sense to have two ‘heist’ novels in the same omnibus. Unfortunately for ‘Alien Harvest’ though, it sits firmly in the shadow of ‘Genocide’ and despite a few entertaining moments, doesn’t quite hold up its end of the deal in this collection.

I think the big problem for me is that ‘Alien Harvest’ comes across like it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be and I can’t help but wonder if that’s down to the comic book source material (and whether there was enough of it). It’s been a good thirty(ish) years since I read the comics so don’t really know for sure.

What I do know, from where I’m sat anyway, is that instead of focussing on the heist itself, ‘Alien Harvest’ spends time being a little bit noir, a little bit ‘Oceans 11’ (kind of), a little bit ‘ruminating on the nature of sentience’ and a touch of ‘marriage of convenience that somehow becomes more’; all seasoned with little moments where Stan Myakovsky gets nice and high off his supply of Alien Royal Jelly. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a dog that appears out of nowhere (literally, no-one knows where it came from) and bonds with the ‘Alien’ robot, only to die horribly (off-screen) when it becomes apparent that it is serving no purpose at all.

Any one of these elements would make a decent, fresh, concept for an ‘Alien’ novel but throwing them all together, like this, doesn’t give the plot a chance to explore any of them and see where they end up. The bit where they are actually in the Hive is worth the read but damn, there was a lot of stuff to wade through that just felt like filler (because it never got the chance to become anything else).

And, breathe… Sorry, rant over ;o)

Not my favourite ‘Alien’ novel then, I wonder if if I’d have felt any different if they’d left the dog on board the ship… ;o)

Comments

  1. Bookstooge30 June 2026 at 10:03

    That's a bummer it didn't work better for you. But that's the danger of franchise fiction. It relies on the franchise to carry it through and authors know this and write accordingly :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graeme30 June 2026 at 14:18

      Tie-In authors must operate under a lot of constraints (certain characters never die etc) so I reckon it must be tough to tell an original story in somewhere like the Star Wars universe or even 40K (loads happens but nothing must ever change). This book just tried to fill in too many gaps with things that weren't what we came for. If in doubt, fill an 'Aliens' book with more Aliens if there's a gap needs filling! ;o)

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