Review: Fear the Alien Part II

So I actually finished this book soon after I posted the review of the first part, but I've been lazy so I didn't get around to writing a review until now.

The next story up was called, "Sanctified" by Mark Chapman. This was sort of unusual as it is told from the point of view of an Enginseer trying to thwart and alien boarding of his ship. I liked this because it was different. It was cool to see the Enginseer's cold calculating methods for taking down the aliens. Very enjoyable story.

After that there was, "Faces" by Matthew Farrer. I really wanted to like this story as I have just finished the first Arbitor Calpurnia novel and I liked that. I think the real reason I didn't like the story was because I just didn't get it. It was too weird for me, and I just don't know if I'm smart enough to get this story. I'm sure there are tons of people out there that liked it, but it was just too odd for me.

James Gilmer's "Unity" was another weird story, but in a very good way. This reminded me of some of Stephen King's old short stories. This was very dark, and had a very, "horror" feel to it. It is the tale of a space marine and an IG sniper trying to regroup after a failed attack on world that had just recently been taken over by the Tau. Boy to the Kroot seem like bad-asses in this story. I can't go too much into it without spoiling anything, but Gilmer did an excellent job of building the suspense and finishing it the way the story really needed to end.

"The Core" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the opposite side of the coin to "Prometheus Requiem". The Night Lords are on the same Hulk as the Salamanders. One of the things I really liked about this story is the fact that while the books do overlap, they are separate stories and each could be read without reading the other. They weren't mere reflections of the other story, they were unique, and the interactions they had were brief and only part of the full story. The only down side I saw with this story is that if you have read, "Soul Hunter," but have not heard the audio book, "Throne of Lies," you may be disoriented with some of the changes that taken place. I think, however, if you haven't read either, this story will work fine.

The last story is Andy Hoare's "Ambition Knows no Bounds". This was a nice story about a Rogue Trader that happens upon this world that seems to have some tombs on it. So they go to check it out. Cue the green lights and thats when the fun starts. This was a pretty well paced book and I thought the ending was very humorous in a very black way. I liked it.

So there you have it. All the stories in this anthology. Most of them were pretty good. I think the closest thing to a "bad" story was "Faces," and I think thats just because it wasn't my kind of story. I give this four severed Mon-keigh skulls out of five.