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michaelpatrickhicks 's review for:
Alien: Sea of Sorrows
by James A. Moore
[Updated 5/3/2018]
Having now listened to the Audible Original Drama adaptation of James Moore's Sea of Sorrows, I've bumped up my rating to four-stars. The Dirk Maggs production was, in my opinion, a significant improvement over the prose novel. As with the prior two Alien Audible Originals, Sea of Sorrows is performed by a full cast of actors, including Stockard Channing, complemented by sound effects and musical score. And like the prior two entries, it sounds freaking incredible and makes for an intense listen that will make you feel like your surrounded by Xenomorphs, worried that a facehugger might try to leap out of your speakers.
Story-wise, I appreciated the changes and shift of focus that this audio drama brought to the table. Much of the original prose novel was centered around the empathic Decker, and it would surely be difficult to sustain an audio drama built around stuff that occurs so much inside one guy's head. Maggs has slightly shifted the focus a bit more toward the mercenaries that have abducted and pressed Decker into service on behalf of Weyland-Yutani. While I had complained a bit in my original review that Sea of Sorrows was rather derivative of the Aliens film, I found it easier to digest during this second go-round. I'll chalk that up being more familiar with the story beats and the movie-like (minus the visuals) presentation Audible has afforded it.
Although it's been a couple months since I read Moore's book, I feel like Maggs made some pretty big changes in the story itself, trimming a lot of fat, shifting scenes around slightly and giving us a stronger ending than what had been written originally, in addition to tying this story a bit more fully into the narrative begun in [b:Alien: Out of the Shadows|29972711|Alien Out of the Shadows (Canonical Alien Trilogy, #1)|Tim Lebbon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462072122s/29972711.jpg|24670995]. Maggs also wastes no time getting us right into the action, starting immediately with Decker's abduction, which occurred in the prose work after an extended introduction to Decker, his abilities, and his history with Weyland-Yutani and LV-178.
Maggs and his cast put the pedal to the metal early and often, giving us another strong entry in Audible's adaptations of these Titan books. I'm hoping we get plenty more of these suckers in the years ahead, and if I may be so bold, I'd recommend Alex White's recent [b:Alien: The Cold Forge|36475917|Alien The Cold Forge|Alex White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517517365s/36475917.jpg|58185417] for next year's Alien Day release.
[Original review follows]
[Begin transmission]
I don’t really have much to say about this one. It just kind of exists within the realm of ALIEN tie-in fiction. SEA OF SORROWS is certainly readable, but it doesn’t add much in the way of originality or freshness.
Set 400 years after the first ALIEN flick, Weyland-Yutani still wants an alien to call their own and set loose a score of mercenaries on a defunct mining colony we visited previously in Tim Lebbon’s book. Forced into the mission is Decker, a very distant relative to Ellen Ripley who the aliens can sense and hate and want to kill. He’s a low-level empath and can feel the aliens in return. Unfortunately this plot conceit feels a bit superfluous to the whole thing, with the book trying to retread the familiar action of movie-sequel ALIENS.
It’s moderately satisfying if all you’re looking for are alien kills, soldiers taking baths in acid, and occasional glimmers of evil corporate subterfuge, but it’s certainly not breaking any new ground on any of the franchise’s previously established conceits. It just is what it is and doesn’t aim any higher than that.
Having now listened to the Audible Original Drama adaptation of James Moore's Sea of Sorrows, I've bumped up my rating to four-stars. The Dirk Maggs production was, in my opinion, a significant improvement over the prose novel. As with the prior two Alien Audible Originals, Sea of Sorrows is performed by a full cast of actors, including Stockard Channing, complemented by sound effects and musical score. And like the prior two entries, it sounds freaking incredible and makes for an intense listen that will make you feel like your surrounded by Xenomorphs, worried that a facehugger might try to leap out of your speakers.
Story-wise, I appreciated the changes and shift of focus that this audio drama brought to the table. Much of the original prose novel was centered around the empathic Decker, and it would surely be difficult to sustain an audio drama built around stuff that occurs so much inside one guy's head. Maggs has slightly shifted the focus a bit more toward the mercenaries that have abducted and pressed Decker into service on behalf of Weyland-Yutani. While I had complained a bit in my original review that Sea of Sorrows was rather derivative of the Aliens film, I found it easier to digest during this second go-round. I'll chalk that up being more familiar with the story beats and the movie-like (minus the visuals) presentation Audible has afforded it.
Although it's been a couple months since I read Moore's book, I feel like Maggs made some pretty big changes in the story itself, trimming a lot of fat, shifting scenes around slightly and giving us a stronger ending than what had been written originally, in addition to tying this story a bit more fully into the narrative begun in [b:Alien: Out of the Shadows|29972711|Alien Out of the Shadows (Canonical Alien Trilogy, #1)|Tim Lebbon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462072122s/29972711.jpg|24670995]. Maggs also wastes no time getting us right into the action, starting immediately with Decker's abduction, which occurred in the prose work after an extended introduction to Decker, his abilities, and his history with Weyland-Yutani and LV-178.
Maggs and his cast put the pedal to the metal early and often, giving us another strong entry in Audible's adaptations of these Titan books. I'm hoping we get plenty more of these suckers in the years ahead, and if I may be so bold, I'd recommend Alex White's recent [b:Alien: The Cold Forge|36475917|Alien The Cold Forge|Alex White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517517365s/36475917.jpg|58185417] for next year's Alien Day release.
[Original review follows]
[Begin transmission]
I don’t really have much to say about this one. It just kind of exists within the realm of ALIEN tie-in fiction. SEA OF SORROWS is certainly readable, but it doesn’t add much in the way of originality or freshness.
Set 400 years after the first ALIEN flick, Weyland-Yutani still wants an alien to call their own and set loose a score of mercenaries on a defunct mining colony we visited previously in Tim Lebbon’s book. Forced into the mission is Decker, a very distant relative to Ellen Ripley who the aliens can sense and hate and want to kill. He’s a low-level empath and can feel the aliens in return. Unfortunately this plot conceit feels a bit superfluous to the whole thing, with the book trying to retread the familiar action of movie-sequel ALIENS.
It’s moderately satisfying if all you’re looking for are alien kills, soldiers taking baths in acid, and occasional glimmers of evil corporate subterfuge, but it’s certainly not breaking any new ground on any of the franchise’s previously established conceits. It just is what it is and doesn’t aim any higher than that.