The first thing you need to know about Alien: Echo (out now from Macmillan Imprint) is that it’s a YA novel. Which, right out of the gate, is kicking down barriers. Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) has written the first young adult book set in the Aliens universe, so you kind of need to approach this book with certain expectations.

It’s going to focus on young, teenage protagonists. It’ll have a smidge less violence and gore than other Aliens stories might. And it’ll focus a smidge more on young romance than… well, pretty much any Aliens story.

But Grant has crafted a story perfectly suited to the existing franchise that both expands the mythos and avoids treading the same ground we’ve seen time and again.

I’ve harped on this before, but in the 40 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters, the Xenomorphs have appeared in films, books, comics, and video games and killed JUST. SO. MANY. colonial marines, Weyland-Yutani scientists, and innocent civilians.

And no one ever seems to learn.

Let’s be real for a second. Whether you’re talking about the dozens of Dark Horse comics or any of the “expanded universe” novels, there’s a fairly rote Aliens template:

1. Someone discovers something.
2. Grunts go in.
3. Xenomorphs appear.
4. Scientists/grunts investigate.
5. Everyone dies.

There are also predictable story beats along the way. No one recognizes an egg when they see it. There’s a… process of discovering the whole acid-for-blood thing. Everyone assumes people are A-OK once the facehugger falls off. Everyone constantly underestimates the Xenomorphs and overestimates their weapons. Scientists make dumb decisions. Civilians make dumb decisions. You want to smack the ever-loving shit out of at least half a dozen characters for being so godawfully stupid.

Now, I adore the Aliens franchise, but oof. So many of these stories blindly follow mindless paint-by-number patterns.

Mira Grant eschews practically all of these cliches in Alien: Echo and delivers a truly original story populated by smart, believable characters ACTING IN SMART, BELIEVABLE WAYS. Shocker, I know.

Olivia and Viola Shipp are 17-year-old twins. As the children of xenobiologists, they’ve been planet-hopping with their parents since they were born. They haven’t stayed still anyplace long enough to truly make friends or consider it home. But they have each other, and really, that’s all either of them needs.

Currently on the planet Zagreus, the Shipp family lives on a self-sustaining homestead outside the resident colony’s protective walls. Zagreus is home to all manner of beasties that will kill you in a heartbeat, which is why the Shipps are there. They’re meant to study the local biology.

Olivia (our protagonist) is the public face of the Shipp family since she travels into the colony for school. Viola has been ill since childhood and can’t leave the house. And the parents are always working.

In short, the Shipp family are seen as awkward outsiders to the rest of the colonists. But Olivia desperately wants to fit in. She desperately wants friends. And she’s desperately in love with Kora, the most popular girl in school.

Ultimately, an orbiting ship crashes to Zagreus and the Xenomorphs arrive. And then it’s a race to survive. But that doesn’t even happen until roughly halfway through the book.

I’ve seen complaints about the book not really “feeling” like an Aliens story since it focuses so much on Olivia, her family, her budding relationship with Kora, and life on Zagreus. But that’s precisely why it’s such a breath of fresh air in what’s otherwise become a stale universe.

If the franchise is going to survive, we need more stories like Alien: Echo – stories that flesh out the universe and give us something more than unstoppable killing machines.

Olivia is smart. Viola is smart. Their parents are smart. Olivia’s relationship with Kora is forged by realistic teenage passion (and necessity). And all of them – Olivia, Viola, Kora – are astonishingly brave AND SMART in the face of mortal danger.

I know I’m repeating myself here, but seriously, Alien: Echo feels like an antidote to something like Prometheus where every single character is intensely stupid and unlikable.

Sure, there are dumb characters who say and try to do the predictable thing in familiar situations, but Grant avoids the franchise trappings and we get unfamiliar outcomes. Just when you think, “Oh, I know what’s going to happen next,” she surprises you with a hard swerve to the left.

The aliens are here. They’re scary and threatening and murdery, but they’re not central to this story. Alien: Echo isn’t a story about the Xenomorphs or the conniving Weyland-Yutani corporation. It’s about the Shipp sisters, and it’s a breathtakingly welcome addition to the Aliens universe.

*I listened to the audiobook version of Alien: Echo on Audible, which is narrated by Kate Marcin and runs about 8.5 hours. If you’re an audiobook listener, I highly recommend it.