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Alien: Isolation

The Alien™ Series

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Alien: Isolation

By: Keith R.A. DeCandido
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
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About this listen

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. Adventure Fiction First Contact Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Science Fiction
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I have been consistently stoked with every book in the Alien canon thus far, and I have to say I was pretty stoked to get to one about daughter Ripley. Although you kinda know what's going to happen in these books, and they're definitely not disappointing for that, the authors do a great job of keeping things interesting, weaving in twists and turns and revealing new bits of lore/history/fictional fact re the alien universe and wtf The Company and everyone has been doing. Sometimes it can be a bit of a HF but it's awesome. I recommend listening to all the books in order though. I've listened out of order mostly, except for the Covenant ones and Prototype and Isolation. There's information re the greater arch of the Aliens that makes more sense in order. Also, don't skip any just coz you've seen the movies. Also, I wish they'd make big budget flicks outta all of these. Shiiit. I the Covenant 1&2 are my favourites, and Charybdis. I also recommend Bug Hunt - a book of shorts from the Alien universe, and all the audio dramas Audible has put together. It's so awesome to have all this juicy content as a massive fan. And included in membership too. What a Gas!!! Happy hunting, mthrfckrs!!!

great to see that badassery is genetic

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I was totally enthralled with the story. Amanda Ripley is one tough cookie. The whole audio book was written and performed extremely well.

Fantastic

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I was expecting a thriller out of this novel but instead there were moments of the dry description of the game broken up by a detailed narration of a troubled childhood.

This felt like a waste of time and space… the child characters of Amanda were written in a manner that made them really cliche'd. I've met kids that are far more capable and interesting, I get the author was trying to paint a tragedy but it came across as boringly underdeveloped. The dead beat step dad theme became tiresome after only a few chapters and served to only weaken both Amanda and Ellen's characters... Why would Ellen leave her daughter in the hands of someone so irresponsible? It makes Ellen seem irresponsible as a parent.

E.Ripley's character was all about rising to the occasion under incredible circumstances. She was treated badly by her coworkers and ultimately the company because they all underestimated her ability. She survived because she is smart and capable in a crisis. The book focused far too much on Amanda's past that proved to be inconsequential. I would have rathered a fall of Sevastopol story with Amanda intermittently included as she progressed through the story presented in the game.

Amanda's interactions with the creature were all muddled. The language was lacking to describe the hopelessness and violence on display. The pacing kept being broken by some odd internal monologue that ruined any semblance of atmosphere. The creature as a majestic horror from the stars was described as a clipped inconvenience.

The video game is one of the most terrifying I've ever played. I thoroughly enjoyed the false flags, dread filled silence of anticipation between footfalls and the desperation of punching codes and bolting for safety. The author didn't seem to know how to write intense scenes and instead simply described a blow by blow of the games key moments. In fact if you took out all the past story and pointless reflections you'd have a book 2-3 hrs long.

Amanda's constant ruminations of a lack of happiness since her mother left were incongruous with her ability to rise to the occasion. The dry sarcasm was fine in the game because the situation was FUBAR but as the book tried to tie this in with the preamble it failed spectacularly to land. For such a seemingly intelligent young woman the emotional immaturity is staggering. Instead of showing how the MC has risen out of the muck we just get the same record replaying for the feels. The game set the stage for so many plot ideas and the author completely failed to realise any of them. I loved the game and the Alien series hence a rating of 3 stars (instead of worse).

Disappointing attempt to extend an incredible game

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It was ok. I found a lot of the time I was waiting for the Alien(s) to make an appearance and when they did it was ‘ho-hum… Ali-un’ as they failed to provide any sort of suspense. The title character is more likeable as a child as her adult self is very arrogant. Overall, not a bad story however nothing really new. The vocal performance was good.

Not bad

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Not as bad as some of the reviews indicated. Amanda's character is very annoying but otherwise the story is fine.

ok

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Proper storytelling and excellent narration. Fascinating background if you've played the Creative Assembly game of the same title. Plenty of the novelisations in the Alien franchise are sub par, it's a relief to listen to a thoughtful, character-rich, v well narrated text.

Textbook

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There is some good in this story. The non-action exposition scenes were fantastic. They helped build the grim corporate dystopia that the Alien films always hinted at.

However, it's hard to recommend the story because the of the action scenes. All the action and horror of the story are written so passively that it's hard to be invested.

If you really love the Alien series, it's worth it for the "slice of life" scenes, but if you're just looking for a good action or horror book, this isn't for you.

Building Better Narratives

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As Ripley's now adult daughter looks for her mother she becomes well acquainted with the Aliens that started it all. Huge body count. Exciting and entertaining.

Ripley's daughter seeks answers

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This book does an amazing job of filling in Amanda’s back story and her relationship with her mother.

But what it missed is the suspense and stress of being on the station. There were no close encounters or hiding from the alien. It felt like she was almost just casually walking through the station.

Still enjoyed it a lot though! If you’re an alien fan, you will like it.

Love the back story but missing the horror

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The videogame was an absolute masterpiece. This tries to tell that story but it really lacks the sense of fear and tension that was there in the game. A lot of the Alien scenes seem to be brushed over with light hearted tone and narrative, you never really get the sense that anyone is truly terrified of the creature. I enjoyed the extra backstory but there was probably too much of that compared to what is currently happening on the station. Overall worth a listen but doesn't quite reach its true potential.

Entertaining but lacking the typical alien tension

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