Alien: Isolation by Keith R A Decandido

Alien: Isolation by Keith R.A. DeCandido
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 2 days

Pages - 336

Publisher - Titan books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

The product of a troubled and violent youth, Amanda Ripley is hell-bent on discovering what happened to her missing mother, Ellen Ripley. She joins a Weyland-Yutani team sent to retrieve the Nostromo flight recorder, only to find space station Sevastopol in chaos with a Xenomorph aboard. Flashbacks reveal Amanda’s history and events that forced her mother to take the assignment aboard the Nostromo.


My Review

So if you are a fan of the alien franchise we all know Ellen Ripley, well this one is her daughter Amanda. She has always wanted to find out what happened to her mum, we flip from present day (her time) to the past leading up to before Ripley left, the last message sent and her ship going missing. Amanda will follow leads, paths and eventually head towards what seems like an actual solid piece of information that will actually give her answers to what happened to her mum.

The bouncing back and forward in time did take you out of it a little but if you are a huge fan I think you can forgive it. We see snippets of Ripley the civilian and her home life and through Amanda's eyes what life was like having a mum missing a lot of the time.

After many exploitations Amanda has a lead and team mostly set on the same path which takes her to a station with the flight recorder from Ripley's ship, the Nostromo. What Amanda isn't expecting is to come face to face with the same entities we have met through the franchise. She has her mums kickass attitude and strength when it comes to facing dodgy people and then unimaginable monsters.

I hadn't realised this was a game although I do know there are alien games out there, the franchise is huge. Anything with aliens and or relating to Ripley I am willing to give a chance, I mean they are the ultimate killing machines, add to that a chance to know a wee bit more about Ripley, absolutely. I know this one won't be for everyone but I liked it, not quite as fast paced or action as previous books but still worth reading in my opinion, 4/5.

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Alien River of Pain by Christopher Golden

Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - Titan

Source - bought

Source from Goodreads

When Ellen Ripley finally returns to Earth, she learns that the planet LV-426—now called Acheron—has been colonized. But LV-426 is where Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo found the original Xenomorph—the killing machine known as the Alien.

Protected by the Colonial Marines, the colonists seek to terraform the storm-swept planet. Two such residents are Anne and Russell Jorden, seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth. On Acheron, Anne gives birth to the colony’s first newborn. Rebecca Jordan, also known as Newt.

The wildcatters discover a vast, decaying spaceship. The horseshoe-shaped vessel is of particular interest to Weyland-Yutani, and may be the answer to their dreams. But what Anne and Russ find on board proves to be the stuff, not of dreams, but of nightmares.


My Review

Right guys just to be clear this book is NOT the story of Ripley and the marines going to LV-426 but rather what happens before they get there. The book does open with Ripley and ends with her chat with Gorman and Burke but the meat of the book is the colonists and them pre, during and post finding the ship Kane encountered in the the first movie Alien.

We meet Newt, her parents/brother and some of the adults and soldiers (not those from the movie Aliens) and get to know more of the people, not just wee Newt. I always said I would love to know more about them and the book did give us a fair bit about them,the horror and helplessness against the feriocious Xenomorphs.

What I did like and wasn't expecting was there was more input from the company and representatives than just a message from Burke to check it out. I love anything that gives us a bit more about the franchise be it characters/xenomorphs or any additional bits about them we didn't know.

I am such a huge fan of the series/franchise that I don't think there would be one book/show/movie that I wouldn't try/tune into. When you are a big fan you sometimes let things slip/go but there wasn't any huge complaints or free passes, I think it is a decent offering and liked the Ripley link pre and post main story. I was just a bit disappointed because I thought it was going to be the marines and Ripley going in, I will check out the other books because I love them but also I may yet find the Ripley/Marines book! 4/5 for me this time and I have a few on the tbrm and now knowing there are AVP books too I will be getting them, how could I not!

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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!

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