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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Introduction
Buckle up, fellow space explorers! We’re about to dive deep into the chilling, acid-dripping depths of the Alien universe with Alien: Sea of Sorrows, the second installment in the Shadow Saga trilogy by James A. Moore. As someone who grew up with a pulse rifle in one paw and a chestburster plushie in the other, this series holds a special place in my ice-cold heart. Watching Alien when I was just a young pup, barely able to see over the theater seat, left an impression that still sends shivers down my fur. I’ve followed Ripley’s nightmare from LV-426 to the fury of the Queen herself in Alien 3, and let me tell you, the Xenomorphs are as much a part of my world as the endless blizzards of HowlStrom. So, how does Sea of Sorrows stack up in this iconic universe? Let’s break it down, piece by piece, like a Xenomorph dissecting an unlucky colonist.
Buckle up, fellow space explorers! We’re about to dive deep into the chilling, acid-dripping depths of the Alien universe with Alien: Sea of Sorrows, the second installment in the Shadow Saga trilogy by James A. Moore. As someone who grew up with a pulse rifle in one paw and a chestburster plushie in the other, this series holds a special place in my ice-cold heart. Watching Alien when I was just a young pup, barely able to see over the theater seat, left an impression that still sends shivers down my fur. I’ve followed Ripley’s nightmare from LV-426 to the fury of the Queen herself in Alien 3, and let me tell you, the Xenomorphs are as much a part of my world as the endless blizzards of HowlStrom. So, how does Sea of Sorrows stack up in this iconic universe? Let’s break it down, piece by piece, like a Xenomorph dissecting an unlucky colonist.
No where near as good as the other books in this series. And how do the Alien’s know that Decker has some of Ripley’s 300 years ago DNA? That’s like homeopathy and I’m not buying it. Plus the other characters aren’t well developed so care very little about them. I’m assuming their guns are more advanced and that’s why they manage to kill so many aliens?
Another enjoyable romp into the Alien universe, this time with a long removed descendent of Ripley in the empath Decker. Strong-armed by WY into a 'bug hunt' with a crew of mercenaries, Decker's empath abilities add an interesting new angle to explore in the Alien format.
The concept of our MC was interesting but I find that it was quite enjoyable and fun. There’s some pretty good humor in this and I’m just a sucker for aliens anyway.
This was another fun listen. The voice acting is wonderful and the sound effects/atmospherics are really where this series shines. This one picks up a few hundred years after #1 in the series and if you think it will be hard to follow because of that you are going to be pleasantly surprised just how easy it is to keep up. All the events of #1 are recapped and then expanded upon by a very interesting story line involving fresh new characters and a surprise ending to the first. I am going to listen to #3 now as it goes back now and directly sequels to the #1 story. Cannot recommend as a read novel but can definitely recommend as the Audible version.
Alien: Sea of Sorrows takes us back to LV-178, now known as New Galveston, roughly 340 years after the events of Alien: Out of the Shadows, and over a century after the events of Alien Resurrection.
Weyland-Yutani have returned, and are back to their old habits: seeking out specimens of Xenomorph XX-121 at the expense of many innocent lives.
We follow Alan Decker, an engineer with a special ability. He's an empath, and this ability means he can feel the "emotions" of the Aliens. When the old mines on New Galveston, and the ship within them, are rediscovered, he is tasked with aiding a squad of mercenaries in retrieving Xenomorph specimens.
But things won't be so simple, and the Aliens can sense Decker too. What's more, he is somehow connected to the Destroyer; the woman who attempted to wipe out the Aliens on LV-187: Ellen Ripley.
This was a decent story. Not great, not bad, but decent. I did enjoy it. Generally speaking, the plot moved at a good pace, and it was mostly well-written. I was easily able to read the book 100 pages at the time, without feeling like I was slogging along.
It did get a bit confusing at times with so many points of view throughout, especially when events occasionally overlapped between scenes. They were easy enough to interpret, but the rapidity of changing scenes did mean it could be a bit difficult to keep up with sometimes.
There were quite a few scenes written from the perspective of the Aliens' collective mind. These occasionally got repetitive, and perhaps felt a little unnecessary, but they also did a good job of portraying their single-minded desire to kill "the Destroyer". The author also didn't fall into the trap of humanising their thoughts too much; they still felt somewhat alien.
Occasionally the writing style seemed to become a bit simplistic, with little variation in structure. Description was also sometimes rather limited, leaving some scenes feeling a bit empty, but the author compensated elsewhere with vivid scenes of death, combat and emotional upheaval.
Internal monologues, too, were very well-written, and really helped me to get into the heads of the characters.
On the subject of characters, however, none of them seemed particularly likeable. Perhaps it was intended as a reflection of a corporate-run future where greed and selfishness are the only ways to get ahead, but I personally struggled to find any redeeming traits, even in Decker. They weren't all awful people, they were just unlikeable.
But that may entirely be down to my own personal interpretation, and I feel that other people may connect differently than me. As we all know, different personalities will connect or clash with certain other personalities.
The book also seems a little unimaginative in regards to it resetting things to the status quo that existed before Resurrection. Weyland-Yutani are back; the Colonial Marines exist again. It's all very familiar. I can't help but feel this time setting was chosen only as a means to justify Decker somehow being related to Ellen Ripley, perhaps as a grandson of her clone (unconfirmed).
It would perhaps have been better served by having Decker not being related, and instead being connected to Hoop from Out of the Shadows - he had kids waiting for him at home. Then it could have also been set in the space between Alien 3 and Resurrection instead, where the status quo would not have needed to be conveniently restored.
That said, this is a good, enjoyable book, with an effective story full of twists, turns, and tension. I would recommend picking it up, without a doubt.
My only remaining gripe is that it is meant to also connect to River of Pain, yet I don't actually understand how, even with the ending of that novel (which I will not mention here). Oh well. Still a good book.
Weyland-Yutani have returned, and are back to their old habits: seeking out specimens of Xenomorph XX-121 at the expense of many innocent lives.
We follow Alan Decker, an engineer with a special ability. He's an empath, and this ability means he can feel the "emotions" of the Aliens. When the old mines on New Galveston, and the ship within them, are rediscovered, he is tasked with aiding a squad of mercenaries in retrieving Xenomorph specimens.
But things won't be so simple, and the Aliens can sense Decker too. What's more, he is somehow connected to the Destroyer; the woman who attempted to wipe out the Aliens on LV-187: Ellen Ripley.
This was a decent story. Not great, not bad, but decent. I did enjoy it. Generally speaking, the plot moved at a good pace, and it was mostly well-written. I was easily able to read the book 100 pages at the time, without feeling like I was slogging along.
It did get a bit confusing at times with so many points of view throughout, especially when events occasionally overlapped between scenes. They were easy enough to interpret, but the rapidity of changing scenes did mean it could be a bit difficult to keep up with sometimes.
There were quite a few scenes written from the perspective of the Aliens' collective mind. These occasionally got repetitive, and perhaps felt a little unnecessary, but they also did a good job of portraying their single-minded desire to kill "the Destroyer". The author also didn't fall into the trap of humanising their thoughts too much; they still felt somewhat alien.
Occasionally the writing style seemed to become a bit simplistic, with little variation in structure. Description was also sometimes rather limited, leaving some scenes feeling a bit empty, but the author compensated elsewhere with vivid scenes of death, combat and emotional upheaval.
Internal monologues, too, were very well-written, and really helped me to get into the heads of the characters.
On the subject of characters, however, none of them seemed particularly likeable. Perhaps it was intended as a reflection of a corporate-run future where greed and selfishness are the only ways to get ahead, but I personally struggled to find any redeeming traits, even in Decker. They weren't all awful people, they were just unlikeable.
But that may entirely be down to my own personal interpretation, and I feel that other people may connect differently than me. As we all know, different personalities will connect or clash with certain other personalities.
The book also seems a little unimaginative in regards to it resetting things to the status quo that existed before Resurrection. Weyland-Yutani are back; the Colonial Marines exist again. It's all very familiar. I can't help but feel this time setting was chosen only as a means to justify Decker somehow being related to Ellen Ripley, perhaps as a grandson of her clone (unconfirmed).
It would perhaps have been better served by having Decker not being related, and instead being connected to Hoop from Out of the Shadows - he had kids waiting for him at home. Then it could have also been set in the space between Alien 3 and Resurrection instead, where the status quo would not have needed to be conveniently restored.
That said, this is a good, enjoyable book, with an effective story full of twists, turns, and tension. I would recommend picking it up, without a doubt.
My only remaining gripe is that it is meant to also connect to River of Pain, yet I don't actually understand how, even with the ending of that novel (which I will not mention here). Oh well. Still a good book.
There's nothing new here. Nothing at all. It's entertaining enough but it's the same scenes in all of these between-movie dramatisations.
This one was interesting and was my least favorite out of all the alien books I have read. I don't know, I believe that the whole empathy power threw me off from the story. Once a supernatural aspect is added to a story, it can either enhance the story or take away from the original concept. For me, this book was the latter, it took away from the horror of normal humans trying to escape this biological weapon in an unnatural environment. This is disappointing since the first book in the series was a great start and had me hopeful for the whole series. Another point that made this book harder to read was that there were way too many characters to focus on. Other Alien books traditionally have a smaller cast of characters to focus on. Are there side characters, yes, but they don't take from the main characters of the story. In this story, there is a large set of characters that each chapter focuses on and takes away from the main character.