Alien: River of Pain (Book 3) - Reviews

Started by Perfect-Organism, Nov 18, 2014, 10:36:08 PM

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Alien: River of Pain (Book 3) - Reviews (Read 41,945 times)

Prez

Quote from: HuDaFuK on Jan 12, 2018, 02:41:36 PM
Yeah, the book had a couple if nice touches, but overall I thought it was such a missed opportunity I didn't end up liking it too much. Seemed like there was so much more hinted at in the film that really should've been in there. Marachuk, Newt trying to survive alone, the woman the Marines find alive in the hive... Overall I thought it could've/should've been a lot more tense and horrifying, instead of a poor Aliens imitation.

Kinda hoping Perfect Organism's new audio drama, Proximity picks up on some of those points you mentioned. Chapter 1 was good.

Nostromo

Bought the River of Pain story on Audible, easily one of the best Alien stories of all time for me...At chapter 25 now, I can't seem to make it past one chapter, sleep gets me everytime.

ralfy

I heard the radio drama, and it's great!

SpanishAdam

Do you need to have read the previous two to read this? I'm reading the first one and it's a bit of a slog, so thought I may be best off jumping to this one since it sounds more interesting than the second.

Engineer

Quote from: SpanishAdam on Aug 19, 2018, 10:15:16 AM
Do you need to have read the previous two to read this? I'm reading the first one and it's a bit of a slog, so thought I may be best off jumping to this one since it sounds more interesting than the second.
No. River of pain was a stand alone story. Nothing in out of the shadows or sea of sorrows is mentioned in river of pain. You can dive right in.

HuDaFuK

It definitely sounds like the most interesting of the three.

Unfortunately, it also does the worst job of living up to it's potential.

Perfect-Organism

My opinion isn't usually swayed on certain sweeping alien-related subjects, but I have to say that my opinion of this book has somewhat diminished over time.  Mostly, it's because some things just felt shoe-horned in and that just leaves a sour taste in hindsight.  Other than that, the book was well enough written, with a good pace, relatable, distinguishable, and memorable characters.  It was a missed opportunity in some regards but a good fun read, and an even better audible audio drama.

Engineer

Yea tbh out of the shadows was the one I was most hesitant to read, but that one actually turned out to be my favorite of the three.

Perfect-Organism

Out of the shadows was a book whose premise was so far fetched that it induced eye-rolling, and yet, it was so well written that, once you suspend the remainder of your disbelief, indeed it was the best book of the three.

Engineer

I thought including Ripley was a terrible idea. But it worked out better than I thought it would. And thinking back on it, Tim Lebbon actually did an amazing job with ripley's Characterization; it was a good transitional piece for Ripley, somewhere between the terrified survivor of alien and the rambolina of aliens.

SpanishAdam

I'm about halfway through it and it's boring the hell out of me. I think maybe I spoiled myself by reading Cold Forge first, so Out of the Shadows just seems kinda naff. River of Pain sounds interesting though which is why I wanted to skip the second.

After that I'll need to think carefully about what I want to read next!

Engineer

I'd recommend giving the audiodramas a listen. Not to be confused with the audiobooks (you'd be surprised how many people confuse the two). The audio dramas are extremely well done, and I enjoyed them more than the books actually... for all 3. I still enjoyed out of the shadows best in the audiodrama format.

Either way, cold forge was excellent, probably my favorite novel in the EU now, so yea that'll be a tough act to follow no matter what you pick up to read. I really hope the cold forge is next to get the audiodrama treatment! :-)

SpanishAdam

I'm about halfway through River of Pain so far and I am very pleased with it. Whilst Out of the Shadows was a slog to get through, this one seems to be pretty decent. It also succeeds in filling in some gaps from the movies, such as explaining how the incident in Hadley's Hope coincidentally happened around the same time as Ripley getting back to Earth.

I'm not sure I like Newt in this though. She's not too bad, but I think they're making her childlike in a cartoonish way. It doesn't spoil the story, but when I read her parts they sometimes seem slightly off.

Either way, RoP seems to be a good read so far.

SM

SM

#208
It wasn't a coincidence.  The incidents at Hadley happened because they found Ripley.

The Cruentus

Quote from: SM on Sep 24, 2018, 08:22:59 PM
It wasn't a coincidence.  The incidents at Hadley happened because they found Ripley.

It is funny how despite her best efforts, Ripley is an unintentional walking cause of doom, even if indirectly.
Tells the board about the Aliens, Burke uses that info and the whole colony on acheron is dead. Ripley goes back to save Newt and brings back a Queen, which leads to bringing back an Alien to fury 161 and killing everyone there. Her clone brings about the queen, they breed, auriga folks die.  :laugh:

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