ALIEN Sea of Sorrows by James A Moore

Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 352

Publisher - Titan Books

Source - from my boxset

Blurb from Goodreads

As a deputy commissioner for the ICC, Alan Decker’s job is to make sure the settlements on LV178 follow all the rules, keeping the colonists safe. But the planet known as New Galveston holds secrets, lurking deep beneath the toxic sands dubbed the Sea of Sorrows.

The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has secrets of its own, as Decker discovers when he is forced to join a team of mercenaries sent to investigate an ancient excavation. Somewhere in that long-forgotten dig lies the thing the company wants most in the universe—a living Xenomorph.
Decker doesn’t understand why they need him, until his own past comes back to haunt him. Centuries ago, his ancestor fought the Aliens, launching a bloody vendetta that was never satisfied. That was when the creatures swore revenge on the Destroyer… Ellen Ripley .


My Review

Aw guys I know a lot of folk didn't like this one and you need to suspend belief but I mean don't we do that anyways. I love the aliens books/movies so it is a bit like my shark/zombie love, I accept just about anything so with that being said, lets get to it.

This is book two from my boxset and whilst they are from different authors they are from the same universe. This one is X amount of years after the previous, the aliens are still going and they remember Ripley, she isn't in this one but one of her descendants are! So Decker is working on a settlement, something happens and the company are up to their dastardly deeds. After some very questionable behaviours and manipulation Decker is headed back to LV-178 to help the squad acquire what the company have wanted for years, an alien for themselves. Decker has this empathy type "power" that will aid them with the aliens however this connection comes at a cost. The xenos can sense him too and they know him as "the destroyer" akin to Ripley the one who caused them so much pain/hurt/death and he will pay.

The aliens hate humans and really any life that isn't theirs but this for Decker is something else and we hear from the xenos in this one. How they think, focus, what drives them but the whole revenge hate destroy thing reminds me of Jaws 3, this time it is personal. Mind the shark travelled X amount to wipe out Brodie's family (I think it was the third movie) so it had echos of that.

It has strong vibes of the second movie too, the team of professionals who are tooled up and fantastic at what they do, then they meet our bad boys and it all goes to pot. I think if you enjoy the movies/alien universe you will like this one. I did get a wee bit annoyed at some of the choices of these guys but I get that all the time. Its the old watching true crime and giving it all pfft they are so dumb to leave XYZ sitting being a CSI specialist on the couch in my jammies skelping a pot noodle lol. Faced with the perfect killing machine I am sure I would be toast in the first chapter but you still sit high and mighty and judge lol, 3.5/5 for me this time. Looking forward to whatever the next book brings!

View all my reviews

Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon

Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 347

Publisher - Titan books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness and isolation. Then on planet LV-178, 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.


My Review

You guuuuuuuuuys! You know I love horror and the Alien movies are some of my faves - Ellen Ripley is one of the most epic characters in horror/sci-fi especially against one of the most deadly enemies. Here the book is set just after Alien movie, the original and before Aliens (the one with the marines) and to be honest I am so here for it.

Ripley ends up on LV178 I think it was, they were mining for trimonite, a substance really hard and I imagine like steel or something to that effect. Of course there is contact with our known apex predators and infection hits. For reasons to become clear later Ripley is pulled from her hyper sleep and docked into a nightmare she barely survived.

Tense, creepy, shocking and I LOVE that we get a bit more of Ripley's metal/character and again a horrible situation against the deadliest adversaries. I think this hits a few things that fans would have liked that we didn't see in the first movie and maybe even a few nods to the second.

And you know me, even briefly, bringing a cat, especially the legend that is Jonesy back D E lighted, and *gasp* the aliens are not the only adversary, if you are a fan of the series/movies I think you will really enjoy this, 4.5/5 for me!

View all my reviews