Alien: Isolation

The Alien™ Series

By: Keith R.A. DeCandido

Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen

The action-packed official adaptation of Alien: Isolation and a revealing look into the lives of Ellen Ripley and her daughter, Amanda Ripley.

The product of a troubled and violent youth, Amanda Ripley is hellbent to discover what happened to her missing mother, Ellen Ripley. She accepts an assignment with a Weyland-Yutani team being sent to retrieve the Nostromo flight recorder from space station Sevastopol, which they find out of control due to a Xenomorph that was brought there with the recorder. A conspiracy unfolds, revealing ever greater threats - including an entire Xenomorph hive. Over the course of the novel, Amanda’s history is revealed beginning with her childhood. Her father Alex’s battle with alcoholism caused her mother, Ellen Ripley, to sue for divorce. Ellen was forced to take off-world assignments, ultimately leading to her assignment aboard the Nostromo. Left behind, Amanda became determined to find out what happened to her mother, learning more and more about Ellen and the events that led up to her disappearance. Along the way, Amanda develops a fast friendship with Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks (from the Alien: Defiance Dark Horse series).

©2019 Keith R. A. DeCandido (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Frustrated Irritated and Confused

I found myself getting frustrated and irritated with the main charaster. She definitely is not Ellen Ripley. The flashbacks are a bit confusing and interrupt the flow of the story at odd times.

Must Have!

After playing the video game I had to give this book a try! Loved it! Incredible narrator! Awesome plot line and story! I always wanted to hear the story from Amanda’s perspective. Gives great exposition on Ellen Ripley’s life prior to her being on the Nostromo! Let’s make this a movie! Fantastic book!

not as bad as Expected

few annoying hiccups in the writing, but way less then I anticipated after reading other reviews. was presently surprised.

Idk if balance is a factor is space lol, maybe with spinning and near a gravitational body it could cause gravity "therefore balance is a factor. but I would of used the word dexterity, orientation, or like spacial awareness. only real complaint, was written ok, last chapter said a lot fast and had to play it 3 times to understand what happened, BUT that may JUST Be Me.

Big Disappointment

I wanted to like this book. Some of the other reviews sounded so harsh and critical of Amanda specifically that I assumed it was a bias issue. I feel I owe them an apology because this book was nothing but a disappointment. I gave the book a 3rd star purely for the voice actress. I appreciated, and was impressed a few times by, the range of voices she brought to the reading. Sound design was also pretty good.

What happened to Amanda as a child is horrific/heartbreaking, so of course she would have trauma to process. You expect her to crack some jokes or reference what she has been through, but the author turned emotional vulnerability into non-stop whining.

There's even a template it seemed like (example: repeating similar versions of phrases like "Well, nothing else had ever gone right in her life so why would it now?" and "...but then again, her mom had promised she'd be home for her 11th birthday, so why should she trust anyone else?"). Every few minutes, you'll get some instance of a thing going the way she doesn't want/wrong or a person asking her to trust them right before betraying her or dying. It gets grating fast.

Besides the overall lackluster character development, the book felt disjointed. As someone else said, it can be hard to follow. I had to rewind quite a bit because of the sudden changes between flashbacks versus main story. Bland, 2-D characters did not help because several of them bled together and were hard to tell apart as the story progressed. I think this idea would have worked better as separate novels. Since the author crammed 2 primary stories into 1 book, you get a lot of moments that feel cut off that would have made each story more interesting had they been given the chance to develop. This issue extends to pacing as well; some chapters drag on pointlessly and some rush through what could have been solid scenes.

I came into this book having played the game, but didn't expect a perfect adaptation or anything. My complaint there is that there is no true sense of isolation whatsoever throughout the book and that kills most of the tension. Someone is always talking or reflecting or lecturing or giving trial testimony. Exposition was clunky and since the book is dialog/internal thought-heavy, there are a lot of forced moments added to conversations or flashbacks meant to introduce/catch up new readers.

Great story and narration.

Great story and narration. I would appreciate fewer F bombs, because I have to keep turning off the book when my children come near.

amazing

I absolutely loved it, I listened while working, and had my attention the whole time.

Very good listen. Great addition to the AU

Definitely worth a listen. I played the game first so the visual I had while listening was great. Even if you haven’t played the game but know the history or have seen the movies you’ll enjoy this book. The end had a lot of questions for me though. Especially how it ties in with the second movie but overall it was enjoyable.

Interrupted

ever read or watch or listen that seems to lean too heavily on flashbacks? well you got it here. I appreciate the game for not punishing you this way, but it really just kills the pacing and tension. the number of times have to grind through a meaningless flash.... listen...we get it, Amanda looked hard for her mom. lord, can we get back to the Aliens??? lucky the performance was so good.

meh. sarah good keith no so good

told in a back and forth method of now on the station and then as a kid the story works hard to break immersion. all the description is flat and utilitarian. sarah does great voice work, all the characters are very distinct and well acted

Fantastic

Fantastic novelization of the game Alien Isolation. If you are a fan of the franchise or the game or especially if you’re a fan of both, I highly recommend reading.