There are a great many Aliens novels (and comics) around these days, so if you are unfamiliar with the books it can be somewhat daunting when you try to find one that's really worth reading. Well, I can help you out there; Music Of The Spears is certainly one of the better Aliens novels. It takes the typical kind of conspiracy that can be found in almost 100% of Aliens novels, changes the setting to something more original than e.g. an offworld military installation, ups the amount of political intrigue that takes place between some of the characters, and for once does not involve an entire hive of the 8 foot acid-blooded nasties.
The story follows a number of characters - a slightly-talented musician tortured by his own mind, a couple of scientists assigned to help him with his latest project, a security officer from a medical research company, a very loyal ninja, and of course an alien, as they are swept up in the tit-for-tat plotting between two senior executives at a music company. Of course, in the end the whole battle is revealed to have been something of a one-sided affair, but it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of the whole story. There is death, and there is violence, although a whole lot less than in the average Aliens story, and there are points at which what is about to happen is just too easy to guess, but all in all it makes for a very good book. It also shows that you can tell an Aliens story that is consistently dark without having to resort to huge amounts of violence.
Even if you're not a huge fan of the Aliens franchise, you should give this a try (assuming you can find it, it appears to be out of print now)
There is, at the time of writing, one copy available from the Amazon marketplace
Also, the hardback version of the comic adaptation appears to be available (probably not for long though)
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