ALIEN: Out of the Shadows (Novel 1)

[Ultramorph]

I'm about 175 pages in, and I can say that I don't hate it like I was expecting. There are groan-inducing cliches, but I'm enjoying it as a standard Alien experience story. I'm mildly interested to see how some of the bigger elements of the plot turn out.

I'm also sort of curious about where the second and third books will take us, though my guess is that the whole "Ripley's descendants" thing will be handwaved with "The Company lied about Amanda having no offspring to keep Ripley from just walking away." Here's hoping "River of Pain" will bring us back to LV-426!

[Glaive]

...wow...sounds like a must-read...

[Corporal Hicks]

It seems a little better than the DH Press aliens books.........but most of the Bantam Aliens books seem to be superior quality.

Yeah, I'm thinking that atm. I'm at about 200 pages. The Ripley thing isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would - still don't see the need for her inclusion though. I do quite like Hoop and the new characters so far.

[Xenomrph]

I got my copy in the mail yesterday, I'm hoping to give it a whirl over the weekend.

[HuDaFuK]

Mine's on its way too, should arrive today so I'll have it this evening.

Thanks people for not spoiling stuff in this thread!

[BountyHunter]

Just ordered this.  Hope it's good.

[Mr. Clemens]

Anybody else noticing a lot of typography problems? Often, when a word starts with 'f' I'm noticing that there's a space inserted after the second letter of the word. "fi sh" (page 11), "fi nished" (page 15), and "fl ickered" (page 23), for instance. Not a big deal, but odd, and pretty jarring.

[predxeno]

The existence of typos isn't particularly surprising these days, lots of books have them.  Also, I highly doubt we'll be seeing Ripley's ACTUAL descendants, more than likely it's a poor analogy for successors.  I haven't finished the book yet but it may be referring to the surviving characters of this first story... assuming there are any, besides Ripley of course.

[Ultramorph]

Finished yesterday. Spoilers ensue.

Spoiler

I actually wound up really enjoying this book. Even though I would argue that having Ripley was unnecessary, Lebbon at least wrote the character well, and I legitimately came to like Hoop and the supporting characters. I also dug the Prometheus elements, even the somewhat on-the-nose stuff like "Why would God create the aliens?" or "This was the first time man had encountered evidence of intelligent alien life (nod nod wink wink)." The entire sequence with the dog-aliens and their pyramid was the high point for me, especially since I thought the novel would dodge dealing with alien intelligences. The star maps and dog-aliens "pointing at the sky" was a nice way of tangentially tying them in to Prometheus. I personally love the idea of a number of long-extinct alien civilizations existing in this universe. Lebbon succeeded in making the dog-aliens interesting and sympathetic, particularly when we're first introduced to the family that killed themselves to avoid the aliens. The whole sequence had a great Space-Jockey-meets-Pompeii vibe.

Even the excuse they found to wipe Ripley's memory made just enough sense for me to give it a pass. My only big complaint was that Ash felt very unneeded and under-utilized. I'm looking forward to Sea of Sorrows, even if I'm still skeptical of the whole "Ripley's descendants" thing.

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[RakaiThwei]

Chances are I likely won't read the book, so the spoilers won't bother me.

I have to ask, is it hinting that the Engineers had created the dog-type aliens or something? Because more and more, it's looking like that future Alien installments are going to be referencing Prometheus here on out.

[Ultramorph]

Chances are I likely won't read the book, so the spoilers won't bother me.

I have to ask, is it hinting that the Engineers had created the dog-type aliens or something? Because more and more, it's looking like that future Alien installments are going to be referencing Prometheus here on out.

I would have put that in spoiler tags, but no, it doesn't imply that.

[RakaiThwei]

I would have put that in spoiler tags, but no, it doesn't imply that.

Thank God...

No Prometheus in-joke intended.

[HuDaFuK]

My copy arrived yesterday, started reading last night. Only a couple of chapters in so far though, so it's too early to really form an opinion.

[Glaive]

Broke down and ordered this yesterday...May the Great Engineer have mercy on my soul...

[Corporal Hicks]

I didn't see them as "cannon fodder" in the plot summary that was posted, but I'll reserve judgment until I read the book for myself.

By and large, they're not. There's segments portraying them as very Raptor-like in their hunting. The bits where they do get killed are often in close quarters, utilizing plasma torches and etc. I finished the book earlier today. In short:

Spoiler

Better than the recent DH Press stuff. Characters are really likeable. Really liked Hoop. Felt very "Alien" in setting and exercusion - maybe a little bit too repetitive on plot devices from Alien but worked alright. Liked the new alien species - hope to actually have them fleshed out in the next book otherwise this'll just feel like a light rehash of Alien. Aliens are treated alright.

Ripley and Ash...don't see the point. The book would have been fine without them. That said, Lebbon handles Ripley pretty well. Builds up to the big red button moment in a good fashion and it makes sense within the context of the story. Ash is very underused but what I did see of him, I liked. I'd say 3.5 outta 5.

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