As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness and isolation. Then, on planet LV178, he and his fellow miners discovered a storm-scoured, sand-blasted hell – and trimonite, the hardest material known to man.
When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns. There was evil, hibernating and waiting for suitable prey. Hoop and his associates uncover a nest of Xenomorphs, and hell takes on a new meaning. Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviors….
Ellen Ripley, the last human survivor of the salvage ship Nostromo.
Blurb from Audible.co.uk
So, to lay it out from the start, I am soooo very uneducated in the Alien universe. I have not watched the films (I know, shock horror, I will watch them one day) and my main knowledge comes from the video game. But, through that game and chatting with friends, I have enough of an understanding about the universe to appreciate this drama.
And I reeeally liked this drama. I am a MASSIVE horror fan when it comes to books but sci-fi, eeeeh. I said it in my Spaceman of Bohemia review, space holds limited appeal for me and it has to be something special to catch my eye.
The only reason I went for this audio book was because I had just come off a rewatch of a Markiplier Let’s Play of the game and figured, ‘sure, why not?’
So glad I did, this is the type of audio book I would listen to again.
SO. Set 37 years after the events of the first movie, (and before the second movie) all has gone to hell in a hand basket once again – a running theme when these lovely monsters are around. Ripley is back as the leading expert on how best to kill said monsters…. well… they can hope, can’t they.
It’s been a while since I listened to the series so forgive me for not remembering all the characters but I do know I liked them all – even if some irritated me to no end at times. I loved Hooper. I desperately wanted Hooper to survive the whole event. Did he survive? Well, you’ll have to see about that one.
The actors were brilliant. Really good performances, they made it very, very easy to be there in the scenes with them – which isn’t always all that fun when you have a crazy Xenomorph scrambling towards you and you’re in an enclosed space.
The plot was simple enough. Stuck on a ship. Monster running around. Cue the eggs. Hell breaks loose.
But, coming from someone who doesn’t know the universe that well, I felt they handled it very well. Particularly seeing as this story does not exist in the memory of Ripley in the second movie, they handle it just fine. (Space magic, you’ll see).
Also, there was a nice little tidbit involving Ripley’s daughter – who you play as in the game and thus have a connection to and wonder after her wellbeing. Mentioned in passing, and I don’t belieeeeve it to be a spoiler, we get to learn that Amanda survived the end of the game and goes on to marry without children.
Now whether that’s official and canon or just a little fan service for listeners and holds no baring, I don’t know that, I haven’t looked it up but I liked it.
The cover? Well, you know you’re not about to enter a fun world lol.
As I said, really liked the acting. Really liked the characters. I don’t actually remember anything I disliked about the drama.
So, 5 stars.
And until next time,
Ja ne~
~~ Audio book bought from Audio ~~
Rena Freefall Reviews 