Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
It was alright, a quick and entertaining enough read. It’s the second “Aliens” franchise book I’ve read, and TBH, neither have had enough oomph to get me to read more. I bought this one because I dug the cover art and was curious because it’s the ‘official prequel to the exciting new ALIENS video game’. Unfortunately, there aren’t many ways books featuring the Xenomorphs can go. That said, the first 1/3 of the book was pretty good. The second was okay, held together well enough. The final third felt longer than necessary, but that was almost certainly because it wasn’t so much wrapping up but rather getting the station ready for the single-player(?) FPS. — It was an OK book. It was quite competently written and overall fun.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Murder, Classism
Not great, characters changing motivation frequently, a handful of plot holes and some parts that have build up but no pay off. I finished it, so it's not completely awful, but you can skip this one.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Good book
Listened to this after Cold Forge and it was very disappointing. Cold Forge was tremendous. This was flat, rushed, and used gore as an excuse for describing the characters’ actual emotions as fear.
Not sure how to evoke terror? Just put in more descriptions of blood spraying on walls! /sarcasm
Um, no. Gore =/= terror. (As an aside, if you’re looking for gory Aliens books which I know some readers like, you’re going to love this one.)
Also, the narrator of the audiobook is painful - he doesn’t take breaths between his sentences or at least it’s edited that way so when you’re listening everything just becomes one endless sentence as he tells you that the alien leapt down from the rafters the man grabbed a knife but it was too late the alien was coming straight for him the table nearby was solid metal so he rolled underneath hoping it would protect him in another instant the alien was on top of the table ramming it with its claws he gripped the knife tighter knowing he could do nothing but still unwilling to die without trying to fight for his life globs of alien spittle rained down on every side….
DUDE, take a breath!! It’s exhausting listening to this narrator.
I love all things Alien but this book is quite low on that list.
Not sure how to evoke terror? Just put in more descriptions of blood spraying on walls! /sarcasm
Um, no. Gore =/= terror. (As an aside, if you’re looking for gory Aliens books which I know some readers like, you’re going to love this one.)
Also, the narrator of the audiobook is painful - he doesn’t take breaths between his sentences or at least it’s edited that way so when you’re listening everything just becomes one endless sentence as he tells you that the alien leapt down from the rafters the man grabbed a knife but it was too late the alien was coming straight for him the table nearby was solid metal so he rolled underneath hoping it would protect him in another instant the alien was on top of the table ramming it with its claws he gripped the knife tighter knowing he could do nothing but still unwilling to die without trying to fight for his life globs of alien spittle rained down on every side….
DUDE, take a breath!! It’s exhausting listening to this narrator.
I love all things Alien but this book is quite low on that list.
I was expecting a lot less from a novel claiming to be a prequel to the video game. It's a self contained story and very enjoyable.
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed this one a bit more than Cold Forge. Ochse lingers a bit more on the experiments being performed and overall laid out a more defined setting here.