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A review by lewis666
Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A surprisingly competent and fun little prequel book to the 1986 James Cameron movie "Aliens" highlighting the events on LV-426 with Newt, her family and others before it all went to shit.
Admittedly some of the characters were lost on me, waiting to get back to whatever Newt and her family were doing. But a couple stood out in their own way, while following the same, usual structure the Alien franchise has which is "big company bad, good innocent people expendable" and it works. Takes a while for the Xenomorphs to show up, but lord is it fun when they do. Christopher Golden's writing is also very well done.
My small issue with the book is what was the point in Ellen Ripley's involvement? She's in the book a little bit, but the chapters dedicated to her are strictly ripped from the movie "Aliens" itself so I struggled to understand how much that really added to it overall, despite maybe how hers and Newt's paths inevitably align. But that's slim, the story itself held enough weight for me. Overall a really fun read!
Admittedly some of the characters were lost on me, waiting to get back to whatever Newt and her family were doing. But a couple stood out in their own way, while following the same, usual structure the Alien franchise has which is "big company bad, good innocent people expendable" and it works. Takes a while for the Xenomorphs to show up, but lord is it fun when they do. Christopher Golden's writing is also very well done.
My small issue with the book is what was the point in Ellen Ripley's involvement? She's in the book a little bit, but the chapters dedicated to her are strictly ripped from the movie "Aliens" itself so I struggled to understand how much that really added to it overall, despite maybe how hers and Newt's paths inevitably align. But that's slim, the story itself held enough weight for me. Overall a really fun read!