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Alien: The Shadow Saga #1
Alien: In den Schatten
Als Kind wurde Chris Hooper in seinen Träumen von Monstern verfolgt. In seiner Vorstellung lebten sie im Weltall. Doch das All ist dunkel und leer, wie er viel später herausfindet, als er als Chefmechaniker auf der MARION schuftet. Bis sich eines Tages ein Unfall ereignet – und etwas zum Leben erwacht, das tief in den Minen geschlummert hat. Die Hölle bricht los, und Chris Hoopers schlimmste Albträume holen ihn ein. Rettung naht durch Ellen Ripley, die letzte Überlebende des Raumschiffs Nostromo.
382 pages, Paperback
First published December 17, 2013
501 people are currently reading
5172 people want to read
About the author
Tim Lebbon
297 books1,542 followersI love writing, reading, triathlon, real ale, chocolate, good movies, occasional bad movies, and cake.
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,197 reviews
February 13, 2019
Let me start by saying that this isn’t a book I’d buy. It’s currently free over on audible and it’s the reason I didn’t sleep much last night. The audio-book is more of a dramatization rather than a simple reading, and it added so much suspense, with the chilling sound effects and creepy music: it took this to the next level entirely and made me realise that it certainly is worth buying.
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would! It slots perfectly into the Alien time lime, between the first and second Alien films. The antagonist is, once again, Ash (the android from the first film.) His body was destroyed but he managed to upload his consciousness to the ship’s computer, and he has lingered there ever since, slowly growing stronger until he dominated all the systems. He’s like a virus, infecting the ships mainframe, and he is ready to complete his original mission: bringing alien life back to Earth no matter the cost in human life.
Ripley doesn’t remember anything that happened from this book in subsequent films, and the explanation as to why at the end of this book worked quite well. It was a little forced, but still plausible. And that’s kind of important because the story does not fuck with the timeline, but instead provides a dark and disturbing story that really could have happened. It’s typical of what you’d expect from the franchise, an Alien loose on the ship systematically killing of all the crew as Ash aided it’s attempts.
Despite the formulaic approach, it was still quite exciting. It’s obvious that everybody (apart from Ripley) would die. Waiting in the shadows was the dark and fearsome creature fans have come to love in all its viciousness, and seeing it pick off the crew one by one was really quite satisfying. I sound like a sadist, but as far as horror goes this was right on the money.
It’s a solid piece of storytelling and could quite easily have been a film in the series; it would have been better than both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection without a doubt.
FBR | Twitter | Facebook | Insta | Academia
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would! It slots perfectly into the Alien time lime, between the first and second Alien films. The antagonist is, once again, Ash (the android from the first film.) His body was destroyed but he managed to upload his consciousness to the ship’s computer, and he has lingered there ever since, slowly growing stronger until he dominated all the systems. He’s like a virus, infecting the ships mainframe, and he is ready to complete his original mission: bringing alien life back to Earth no matter the cost in human life.
Ripley doesn’t remember anything that happened from this book in subsequent films, and the explanation as to why at the end of this book worked quite well. It was a little forced, but still plausible. And that’s kind of important because the story does not fuck with the timeline, but instead provides a dark and disturbing story that really could have happened. It’s typical of what you’d expect from the franchise, an Alien loose on the ship systematically killing of all the crew as Ash aided it’s attempts.
Despite the formulaic approach, it was still quite exciting. It’s obvious that everybody (apart from Ripley) would die. Waiting in the shadows was the dark and fearsome creature fans have come to love in all its viciousness, and seeing it pick off the crew one by one was really quite satisfying. I sound like a sadist, but as far as horror goes this was right on the money.
It’s a solid piece of storytelling and could quite easily have been a film in the series; it would have been better than both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection without a doubt.
FBR | Twitter | Facebook | Insta | Academia
February 10, 2023
I enjoyed this, I've never had much faith in spin-offs until now; I want to read every Alien book I can get my hands on after this.
It's well-written, tense, very fast-paced and full of action.
I think you need to at least have watched the movie Alien (1979) to appreciate this book which is set in the period between the end of Alien and the beginning of the movie, Aliens (1986).
Ellen Ripley (of the movies) plays a key role in this book but the main protagonist is Chris Hooper who is a fantastic addition to the series.
Highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the Alien movie franchise.
It's well-written, tense, very fast-paced and full of action.
I think you need to at least have watched the movie Alien (1979) to appreciate this book which is set in the period between the end of Alien and the beginning of the movie, Aliens (1986).
Ellen Ripley (of the movies) plays a key role in this book but the main protagonist is Chris Hooper who is a fantastic addition to the series.
Highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the Alien movie franchise.
August 4, 2017
I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would.
It fits in nicely to the main storyline in the films and has some teasers in there also.
It fits in nicely to the main storyline in the films and has some teasers in there also.
November 14, 2024
4 stars for the story, 5 for the Audible production. The performance was excellent, including all the sound effects, particularly the bleeps, the sweeps, and the creeps.
April 9, 2014
Okay, wow. Where to begin. This is going to be wordy.
I'm first to admit I read some trashy Fantasy/Sci Fi. I'm a sucker for a good sword, spell or space ship. I normally steer far far away from Franchise stuff though, because its usually spitting distance away from fan fiction on the internet. I'm an unabashed fan of (most of) the Scott/Cameron Alien universe though and I can even find some entertainment in the Fincher/Jeunet extensions. We won't talk about the Anderson AvP movies though. I've read both of Alan Dean Fosters novelizations of Alien and Aliens numerous times (They were staple reads during Jr High) and sadly I can talk more about the events and corporate histories of those two movies/books than I can about a number of real world subjects.
So coming to this book I didn't think much of it when I saw it was coming out but two things piqued my interest. The first was that it was claimed to be canon with the movies. Now, I'm not sure who decides that since there isn't really a single creator of the Alien world, (and I'm assuming they OKed a number of horrible acts perpetrated on it over the years as well) and then it started getting pretty decent reviews. That's literally all I knew about the book though. No plot summaries, no timelines, other than 'Alien' I went in blind.
I knew I was in trouble when within the first 15 pages the proverbial crap has hit the intake fan and someone is already LITERALLY doing a 'Game Over, man!' speech. Not good, see earlier reference to spitting distance of fan fiction. As thins went on it continued to borrow heavily from the movies. And by borrow I mean copy almost directly. Ugh. Next imagine my surprise when who shows up but Ripley. Uhm, what? They explicitly state its 37 years after the disappearance of the Nostromo from Alien. Oookay, it was 57 years later when the Narcissus (Her escape ship that she left with at the end of the first movie) is found at the beginning of Aliens and she didn't tell any wacky tales of being woken up and then put back to sleep.
So what continues from there is a pretty generic 'against all odds' sci fi. Through various evolutions the critters get on a mining ship, they go to the surface, they encounter more critters, they have seemingly impossible goals to fulfill to survive while they get picked off one by one, only a few of them make it out alive and they blow up the entire facility before returning to the ship to deal with the one leftover alien. Where have I seen that story before?
So whatever, the story isn't original, it was mildly entertaining, but it TICKS ME OFF. It claims to be canon but it introduces all sorts of things that make absolutely NO sense to the Alien universe and then wraps things up in a super convenient Deus Ex Machina to explain how it leads into Aliens that probably would have been BETTER written if Ripley had just woken up finding it was all a cryo sleep dream! I actually just reduced my rating from 2 starts down to 1 after writing that and getting even more pissed off.
I shouldn't be surprised, its a money grab book that thumbs its nose at actual fans of the series and there's really no reason for it. Even better its open ended and there's another book coming in June which I'm sure will contain more of Ripleys wacky hijnks everyone was waiting to hear about between Alien and Aliens.
There's nothing in this book to recommend it to anyone. Its barely passable sci fi on its own and for an Alien fan its just insulting. Nuke it from orbit, its the only way to be sure.
I'm first to admit I read some trashy Fantasy/Sci Fi. I'm a sucker for a good sword, spell or space ship. I normally steer far far away from Franchise stuff though, because its usually spitting distance away from fan fiction on the internet. I'm an unabashed fan of (most of) the Scott/Cameron Alien universe though and I can even find some entertainment in the Fincher/Jeunet extensions. We won't talk about the Anderson AvP movies though. I've read both of Alan Dean Fosters novelizations of Alien and Aliens numerous times (They were staple reads during Jr High) and sadly I can talk more about the events and corporate histories of those two movies/books than I can about a number of real world subjects.
So coming to this book I didn't think much of it when I saw it was coming out but two things piqued my interest. The first was that it was claimed to be canon with the movies. Now, I'm not sure who decides that since there isn't really a single creator of the Alien world, (and I'm assuming they OKed a number of horrible acts perpetrated on it over the years as well) and then it started getting pretty decent reviews. That's literally all I knew about the book though. No plot summaries, no timelines, other than 'Alien' I went in blind.
I knew I was in trouble when within the first 15 pages the proverbial crap has hit the intake fan and someone is already LITERALLY doing a 'Game Over, man!' speech. Not good, see earlier reference to spitting distance of fan fiction. As thins went on it continued to borrow heavily from the movies. And by borrow I mean copy almost directly. Ugh. Next imagine my surprise when who shows up but Ripley. Uhm, what? They explicitly state its 37 years after the disappearance of the Nostromo from Alien. Oookay, it was 57 years later when the Narcissus (Her escape ship that she left with at the end of the first movie) is found at the beginning of Aliens and she didn't tell any wacky tales of being woken up and then put back to sleep.
So what continues from there is a pretty generic 'against all odds' sci fi. Through various evolutions the critters get on a mining ship, they go to the surface, they encounter more critters, they have seemingly impossible goals to fulfill to survive while they get picked off one by one, only a few of them make it out alive and they blow up the entire facility before returning to the ship to deal with the one leftover alien. Where have I seen that story before?
So whatever, the story isn't original, it was mildly entertaining, but it TICKS ME OFF. It claims to be canon but it introduces all sorts of things that make absolutely NO sense to the Alien universe and then wraps things up in a super convenient Deus Ex Machina to explain how it leads into Aliens that probably would have been BETTER written if Ripley had just woken up finding it was all a cryo sleep dream! I actually just reduced my rating from 2 starts down to 1 after writing that and getting even more pissed off.
I shouldn't be surprised, its a money grab book that thumbs its nose at actual fans of the series and there's really no reason for it. Even better its open ended and there's another book coming in June which I'm sure will contain more of Ripleys wacky hijnks everyone was waiting to hear about between Alien and Aliens.
There's nothing in this book to recommend it to anyone. Its barely passable sci fi on its own and for an Alien fan its just insulting. Nuke it from orbit, its the only way to be sure.
June 10, 2017
I wanted to like this.
Supposedly taking place between the two films, Ellen Ripley is taken out of cryosleep sooner than what was revealed in Aliens 2. We go on another Alien adventure.
I place a great store in originality in the books I like and while I knew that this was a series, or tie in, or whatever I thought this may be a new twist on the Alien story. Does not appear to be, DNF at 25%.
Lebbon is a good writer and I see many people who enjoyed this, but I could not.
Supposedly taking place between the two films, Ellen Ripley is taken out of cryosleep sooner than what was revealed in Aliens 2. We go on another Alien adventure.
I place a great store in originality in the books I like and while I knew that this was a series, or tie in, or whatever I thought this may be a new twist on the Alien story. Does not appear to be, DNF at 25%.
Lebbon is a good writer and I see many people who enjoyed this, but I could not.
April 4, 2015
Alien: Out of the Shadows was a fast-paced and action filled book. I love the movies (rewatched Alien yesterday) and I was really looked forward to reading the book. I wasn't sure how they would, or even if they would explain how Ripley could be in this story since it takes place between Alien and Aliens, but they did. Perhaps a bit of an easy solution, but at least they explained it.
It was a great read. Perhaps not as terrifying as seeing the movies, but reading some part of the book was just at chilling as seeing it happened on the screen. Some parts was almost worse, it's awful enough to see an alien burst from a chest, reading about it and the moments up to it wasn't that nice either.
It was a great read. Perhaps not as terrifying as seeing the movies, but reading some part of the book was just at chilling as seeing it happened on the screen. Some parts was almost worse, it's awful enough to see an alien burst from a chest, reading about it and the moments up to it wasn't that nice either.
September 11, 2025
3.5
Thirty-seven years of nightmares, she thought. And now that I’m awake, the nightmare has woken with me.
I’m not the type to usually jump on the bandwagon for Sci-fi series, but the Alien series has always been my soft spot. I’ve watched the first two several times, collected the expensive but irresistibly huge DVD box set when it was released, and a few EBay collector items and limited figures. I’ve always wanted to read books on the series – the only thing that’s surprised me is I waited this long.
I’ve rea d a few books by Tim Lebbon and he’s a gifted author who usually dabbles in the horror or thriller scene. I’ve always found the Alien scene particularly creepy and an excellent example of how well science fiction and horror make a fascinating marriage of genres. There aren’t any complains about the writing style, dialogue or the characterization. No one comes across flat and all serve their appropriate purpose for the most part.
It’s fitting to start an Alien series with Ripley, and the way this was done to squeeze it in between the first and second movies cannon was creative and stylish. Sometimes there was an overdose of flashbacks to her daughter Amanda and imagined horror scenarios for her child. This especially got heavy later on – a bit too much so – but I think the point of that was setting up a particular technological technique to be seductive and reassuring rather than unrealistic.
He was the stuff of the stars, and when he was a young boy—dreaming of monsters, and looking to space in the hope that he would find them—that had made him feel special. Now, it only made him feel small.
If you got chills from the android Ash from the original movie, you’ll get plenty of him here – not in physical form, of course, but that’s not even needed with the communication with him and Ripley and some of the “letters”.
The start is interesting with a different group, and I dug the dynamics of the people when they all merged, but it did tend to slow down and drag on a bit when they were at the heart of the Alien trouble. It almost stopped feeling like a genuine alien story and it’s mainly a game of cat and mouse chasing.
The idea is creative and well executed, although the details can sometimes be a bit lackluster. It was nice to see Ripley in between voyages and how the mother angle would tie in so highly in the second movie (story) by bringing up her daughter so often and strongly. I did think the romantic element was a little false, but it also made sense because desperation and loneliness make people clatch on to any new person they can, especially to replace personal loss.
We don’t get many cool scenes with the alien mouth-thing, but we get tons of emphasis on the acid blood and the chest incubation.
Thirty-seven years of nightmares, she thought. And now that I’m awake, the nightmare has woken with me.
I’m not the type to usually jump on the bandwagon for Sci-fi series, but the Alien series has always been my soft spot. I’ve watched the first two several times, collected the expensive but irresistibly huge DVD box set when it was released, and a few EBay collector items and limited figures. I’ve always wanted to read books on the series – the only thing that’s surprised me is I waited this long.
I’ve rea d a few books by Tim Lebbon and he’s a gifted author who usually dabbles in the horror or thriller scene. I’ve always found the Alien scene particularly creepy and an excellent example of how well science fiction and horror make a fascinating marriage of genres. There aren’t any complains about the writing style, dialogue or the characterization. No one comes across flat and all serve their appropriate purpose for the most part.
It’s fitting to start an Alien series with Ripley, and the way this was done to squeeze it in between the first and second movies cannon was creative and stylish. Sometimes there was an overdose of flashbacks to her daughter Amanda and imagined horror scenarios for her child. This especially got heavy later on – a bit too much so – but I think the point of that was setting up a particular technological technique to be seductive and reassuring rather than unrealistic.
He was the stuff of the stars, and when he was a young boy—dreaming of monsters, and looking to space in the hope that he would find them—that had made him feel special. Now, it only made him feel small.
If you got chills from the android Ash from the original movie, you’ll get plenty of him here – not in physical form, of course, but that’s not even needed with the communication with him and Ripley and some of the “letters”.
The start is interesting with a different group, and I dug the dynamics of the people when they all merged, but it did tend to slow down and drag on a bit when they were at the heart of the Alien trouble. It almost stopped feeling like a genuine alien story and it’s mainly a game of cat and mouse chasing.
The idea is creative and well executed, although the details can sometimes be a bit lackluster. It was nice to see Ripley in between voyages and how the mother angle would tie in so highly in the second movie (story) by bringing up her daughter so often and strongly. I did think the romantic element was a little false, but it also made sense because desperation and loneliness make people clatch on to any new person they can, especially to replace personal loss.
We don’t get many cool scenes with the alien mouth-thing, but we get tons of emphasis on the acid blood and the chest incubation.
March 29, 2024
I really don't need another Ripley story. I liked Ripley, she was great in the first three movies, but the series should have stopped at that point. For someone to come along and horseshoe another story in there didn't quite work--again. This book didn't feel like it added to the mythos or enhanced the Ripley character.
I don't really know what I was expecting or hoping for with this one. It had aliens and lots of action, but just kind of felt like a reboot of the second alien film. And do we really need that magnificence rebooted? I understand this is supposed to take place before the second film and the events of the second film still occur, but I just don't need anymore Ripley.
The Predator films understood that people wanted to see the Predator--the movies were about that hunter alien. The alien movies seemed to think people wanted to see more Ripley. Figure out some interesting characters, throw in some face-huggers, chest-bursters, and Xenomorphs and let sleeping Ripleys lie.
I don't really know what I was expecting or hoping for with this one. It had aliens and lots of action, but just kind of felt like a reboot of the second alien film. And do we really need that magnificence rebooted? I understand this is supposed to take place before the second film and the events of the second film still occur, but I just don't need anymore Ripley.
The Predator films understood that people wanted to see the Predator--the movies were about that hunter alien. The alien movies seemed to think people wanted to see more Ripley. Figure out some interesting characters, throw in some face-huggers, chest-bursters, and Xenomorphs and let sleeping Ripleys lie.
February 22, 2015
I am usually leery of any movie novelisations or tie-ins. However, the recent announcement that South African director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie) had been given the green light by Fox to film his long-gestating Alien project coincided with my discovery of this Alien novel by Tim Lebbon, a respected fantasy and horror author. (There are two more in what is a loose trilogy, by James A. Moore and Christopher Golden). And being in the mood for a popcorn read, I thought, how bad can it be?
To my surprise, this was hugely enjoyable and accomplished – despite a half-assed marketing attempt by Titan Books to bill as this a direct sequel to Alien. Which I suppose means it is a prequel to Aliens. (Which also gives a wry nod to some of the more outré excesses of Prometheus, if you are not confused enough already).
Any fan of the movies knows, of course, that Ripley’s appearance in such a book is totally illogical: Lebbon’s answer to this dilemma is the only misstep in a generally assured and confident horror novel.
The 1979 movie by Ridley Scott – and let us not forget H.R Giger’s Alien design – is one of the greatest SF movies ever made, revelling in the genre’s gothic and pulp origins. Indeed, the Alien creature has become as iconic as Jaws, King Kong or E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
One of the greatest attributes of the Alien creature is its mystery and savagery, combined with its ability to evoke both awe and a weird sexual frisson – Scott masterfully introduced all these elements into his original movie.
Subsequent sequels tended to focus on a single element at the expense of all the others: action in Aliens, martyrdom in Alien 3, and who knows what-the-fuck in Alien Resurrection. Scott’s own Prometheus (2012) raised its nose disdainfully at the schlockier elements of his seminal original, and was a pretentious failure as a result.
Lebbon’s continuation of the original story – what happens to Ripley (and let us not forget Jonesy the ship’s cat, as well as the more-corporate-than-thou Weyland-Yutani) after they escape from the Nostromo in a shuttle craft is positioned somewhere between Aliens and Alien 3 in terms of tone and effect.
There is sufficient action to please even the most diehard movie fan, but the real achievement here is how nuanced the characters are, and what insight we get into Ripley. Surprisingly, Ripley herself has remained as much a cipher as the Alien creature itself: more a means to an end (elaborate death and destruction on a galactic scale) than a flesh-and-blood person.
Lebbon gives Ripley a nicely textured palette of pathos, anger and terror. In addition, he wisely resists the temptation to write a by-the-numbers book explaining the origin and evolution of the Alien culture: all we get are tantalising, and sometimes awe-inducing, glimpses.
Given how good this novel is – how it manages to tell a gripping, character-driven story in which a bunch of disparate characters have to deal with a terrifying manifestation of the Unknown – it remains one of the more perplexing mysteries of Hollywood as to how it has managed to fuck-up all the sequels from Alien 3 onwards. Let us hope Blomkamp and his team restore Ripley to her rightful place.
To my surprise, this was hugely enjoyable and accomplished – despite a half-assed marketing attempt by Titan Books to bill as this a direct sequel to Alien. Which I suppose means it is a prequel to Aliens. (Which also gives a wry nod to some of the more outré excesses of Prometheus, if you are not confused enough already).
Any fan of the movies knows, of course, that Ripley’s appearance in such a book is totally illogical: Lebbon’s answer to this dilemma is the only misstep in a generally assured and confident horror novel.
The 1979 movie by Ridley Scott – and let us not forget H.R Giger’s Alien design – is one of the greatest SF movies ever made, revelling in the genre’s gothic and pulp origins. Indeed, the Alien creature has become as iconic as Jaws, King Kong or E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
One of the greatest attributes of the Alien creature is its mystery and savagery, combined with its ability to evoke both awe and a weird sexual frisson – Scott masterfully introduced all these elements into his original movie.
Subsequent sequels tended to focus on a single element at the expense of all the others: action in Aliens, martyrdom in Alien 3, and who knows what-the-fuck in Alien Resurrection. Scott’s own Prometheus (2012) raised its nose disdainfully at the schlockier elements of his seminal original, and was a pretentious failure as a result.
Lebbon’s continuation of the original story – what happens to Ripley (and let us not forget Jonesy the ship’s cat, as well as the more-corporate-than-thou Weyland-Yutani) after they escape from the Nostromo in a shuttle craft is positioned somewhere between Aliens and Alien 3 in terms of tone and effect.
There is sufficient action to please even the most diehard movie fan, but the real achievement here is how nuanced the characters are, and what insight we get into Ripley. Surprisingly, Ripley herself has remained as much a cipher as the Alien creature itself: more a means to an end (elaborate death and destruction on a galactic scale) than a flesh-and-blood person.
Lebbon gives Ripley a nicely textured palette of pathos, anger and terror. In addition, he wisely resists the temptation to write a by-the-numbers book explaining the origin and evolution of the Alien culture: all we get are tantalising, and sometimes awe-inducing, glimpses.
Given how good this novel is – how it manages to tell a gripping, character-driven story in which a bunch of disparate characters have to deal with a terrifying manifestation of the Unknown – it remains one of the more perplexing mysteries of Hollywood as to how it has managed to fuck-up all the sequels from Alien 3 onwards. Let us hope Blomkamp and his team restore Ripley to her rightful place.
June 4, 2016
I listened to this on audio book. It was one of the best audio books I ever listened to. The production on this was amazing. The voice acting was top class and so was the music and effects. Highly recommended.
September 30, 2025
I've been on a Xenomorph obsession lately and this was a great little addition to the franchise. Set between Alien and Aliens, Ripley has another rather unfortunate encounter in Space. Tension, darkness and acid blood.
March 28, 2019
2.5 stars
I remember watching the first Alien movie when I was way too young and have snippets of images stuck in my memory forever. This book had the potential to be very interesting as new discoveries about the aliens were revealed but none of these were explored fully.
I also found the omnipotent antagonist, Ash, just a little too convenient and sadly he was only used as a plot device, not a real character.
However even with all my gripes I must give credit to the full cast of narrators, they did a FANTASTIC job and created a real sense of theatre. Especially the actress that played Ripley, she sounded exactly like Sigourney Weaver. Because of the stellar audio production, I have upped my rating to 3 stars.
If you are a fan of the Alien franchise, then I am sure you will love the audio version of this.
I remember watching the first Alien movie when I was way too young and have snippets of images stuck in my memory forever. This book had the potential to be very interesting as new discoveries about the aliens were revealed but none of these were explored fully.
I also found the omnipotent antagonist, Ash, just a little too convenient and sadly he was only used as a plot device, not a real character.
However even with all my gripes I must give credit to the full cast of narrators, they did a FANTASTIC job and created a real sense of theatre. Especially the actress that played Ripley, she sounded exactly like Sigourney Weaver. Because of the stellar audio production, I have upped my rating to 3 stars.
If you are a fan of the Alien franchise, then I am sure you will love the audio version of this.
May 27, 2016
This deserves higher marks for production quality. The audio version was very enjoyable. The story however wa average (not bad just average). It did fit nicely within the canon of Alien movies without distracting us with alternate stories or personalities.
It was a nice very hours of escapism.
It was a nice very hours of escapism.
May 3, 2017
The audiobook version was awesome!
January 20, 2018
As I finished this story and sat back to reflect on what I have just read, I felt conflicted.
The story itself takes place between the Movie 1 and 2 of the original trilogy, which is really cool as it adds an additional adventure between Ripley's stasis sleep and Alien2 beginning. It turns out she was not in stasis the whole time after-all.
It is a fun read, but what prevented me to agree with an average 4-star rating is that it took forever to pull me in. Half Way through to be exact. The first half of the book was flat out boring. Explosive beginning turned into boring page flips until the second half. Once that came, however, a jolt of energy shocked me and things just WENT!
Characters: 3
Characters are just about what you would expect. Nothing too fancy or too deep, yet, fun to follow. Main attention grabber to me was actually Ash. Ripley, despite being the main heroine was my 2nd favorite. There is only so much grumpiness I can take, even though I understand her experience made her who she is. Understanding and liking, however, are two different things. She was not very likable to me. Now that is not to say Ash is an angel, but me being in House Slytherin, I gravitated to him more and kept waiting for his parts more than anything else.
All others are kind of blend in and become scenery, almost. Not unusual for a Sci-Fi/Horror book, but also a detriment to earn 4 or 5 stars in my book.
Story: 3
I felt the story was actually really good. It just did not need 350 pages to tell, 200 would have sufficed. I believe T. Lebbon tried to build the tension in the first half to deliver an explosive second, like most Sci-Fi/Horror flicks. It works well in the movies, I think because of the visual effects once the monster is shown. The book through either a reading medium or an author's writing style did not accomplish that effect, so instead story just chugged along very slowly making me fall asleep and be bored in general. Once it picks up, however, it really picks up. Definitely, a well earned 3 stars.
Setting: 3
Here I feel the same mistake as with the story happened, to my reading taste buds at least. So much of the story happened on the spaceship that the setting was often boring to me as well. I think maybe these kinds of stories are just better in a visual format, but on a page, going from one room to another and another, which look pretty much the same. Let's move from one spaceship to another one docked to the side. Smaller..still the same, though. Once they were on the planet and story picked up the setting changes and all the "DAMN" "OOOOO" "WOW" moments kicked in and the setting became much more interesting, deserving a solid 3 stars in my opinion.
All things considered, if you are a fan of the Alien series, I would definitely suggest you read this, you will have fun for sure. If you are not, however, this is a tricky one. Personally, I'd say if you are not a fan, move along. There are many other Sci-Fi/Horror reads out there that are just better overall. I tried this as an experiment and really doubt, I will read Books 2 and 3 of this series.
Roman "Ragnar"
The story itself takes place between the Movie 1 and 2 of the original trilogy, which is really cool as it adds an additional adventure between Ripley's stasis sleep and Alien2 beginning. It turns out she was not in stasis the whole time after-all.
It is a fun read, but what prevented me to agree with an average 4-star rating is that it took forever to pull me in. Half Way through to be exact. The first half of the book was flat out boring. Explosive beginning turned into boring page flips until the second half. Once that came, however, a jolt of energy shocked me and things just WENT!
Characters: 3
Characters are just about what you would expect. Nothing too fancy or too deep, yet, fun to follow. Main attention grabber to me was actually Ash. Ripley, despite being the main heroine was my 2nd favorite. There is only so much grumpiness I can take, even though I understand her experience made her who she is. Understanding and liking, however, are two different things. She was not very likable to me. Now that is not to say Ash is an angel, but me being in House Slytherin, I gravitated to him more and kept waiting for his parts more than anything else.
All others are kind of blend in and become scenery, almost. Not unusual for a Sci-Fi/Horror book, but also a detriment to earn 4 or 5 stars in my book.
Story: 3
I felt the story was actually really good. It just did not need 350 pages to tell, 200 would have sufficed. I believe T. Lebbon tried to build the tension in the first half to deliver an explosive second, like most Sci-Fi/Horror flicks. It works well in the movies, I think because of the visual effects once the monster is shown. The book through either a reading medium or an author's writing style did not accomplish that effect, so instead story just chugged along very slowly making me fall asleep and be bored in general. Once it picks up, however, it really picks up. Definitely, a well earned 3 stars.
Setting: 3
Here I feel the same mistake as with the story happened, to my reading taste buds at least. So much of the story happened on the spaceship that the setting was often boring to me as well. I think maybe these kinds of stories are just better in a visual format, but on a page, going from one room to another and another, which look pretty much the same. Let's move from one spaceship to another one docked to the side. Smaller..still the same, though. Once they were on the planet and story picked up the setting changes and all the "DAMN" "OOOOO" "WOW" moments kicked in and the setting became much more interesting, deserving a solid 3 stars in my opinion.
All things considered, if you are a fan of the Alien series, I would definitely suggest you read this, you will have fun for sure. If you are not, however, this is a tricky one. Personally, I'd say if you are not a fan, move along. There are many other Sci-Fi/Horror reads out there that are just better overall. I tried this as an experiment and really doubt, I will read Books 2 and 3 of this series.
Roman "Ragnar"
February 18, 2018
I haven't watched any of the ALIEN movies nor do I want to. I received a free audio book copy of this during Audibles 25th anniversary. So I gave it a listen.
Going in with only a basic idea of the ALIEN universe I found it easy to slip into the story... well what little story there was too be had. The writing was very akin to the screenwriting of a major motion picture. Which means it was shallow, dumb, action packed and relied heavily on visual effects. The last was especially strange since this is a book and thus lacks visual effects.
This book amounts to SciFi porn.
Skip It.
Going in with only a basic idea of the ALIEN universe I found it easy to slip into the story... well what little story there was too be had. The writing was very akin to the screenwriting of a major motion picture. Which means it was shallow, dumb, action packed and relied heavily on visual effects. The last was especially strange since this is a book and thus lacks visual effects.
This book amounts to SciFi porn.
Skip It.
December 31, 2018
Alien out the shadows was overall an entertaining dramatization of the original book for audiobook.
The story follows the 'Nostramus' 40 years after Ripley comes out of hibernation. The voice-over acting is quite good, and kudos for the actress that did Ripley- she sounded exactly like Sigourney Weaver! The audio special effects are also entertaining, but in the end the story reads like a linear video-game: humans chase the Alien, but are then ambushed and killed by the Alien. The ending was pretty climatic, and overall there is some entertainment value to the piece.... specially if like me, you think Ripley was fucking badass!
He's hungry...
3 Stars
January 18, 2019
Alien: Out of the Shadows (Canonical Alien Trilogy #1)
I listened to this as an audiobook original from Audible.
I remember back when Alien (the movie) was released. Friends and I argued over whether Alien was horror or sci-fi. I was one of those that argued that it was a horror movie. Yes, the action occurs on a space ship but it is really just a monster movie; at least to me it was. I think that is why Tim Lebbon’s writing was so effective here. He is a very talented writer who usually writes horror and he brings a dark, brooding, claustrophobic and Lovecraftian tone and horror focus that I thought (like a prior reviewer noted) was very reminiscent of the film. He paints with the same colors.
Story-wise, the action here tells us what happened to Ripley after she and her cat leave the Nostromo. I found the plot meshed very well with the movie and am anxious to read the two other installments in the Caononical Alien Canon series, which apparently stick with the Ripley continuing story. I must say that there are few characters as long-suffering and resilient as Ripley, and this story taps into that.
The sci-fi elements are more fully developed here than in the film, with space ship technology, mining on far away planets, and ancient alien civilizations being very important parts of the story. I found myself wishing that the novella was longer because there were enough interesting ideas here to fill out several more stories.
Audible did a very good job on this all around. They took Lebbon’s dark story and performed it admirably. From mood music, to the very talented cast, to the realistic sound effects, this performance was top notch all the way around.
I really enjoyed this performance and give it 5 stars based entirely on how much fun I had listening to it.
I listened to this as an audiobook original from Audible.
I remember back when Alien (the movie) was released. Friends and I argued over whether Alien was horror or sci-fi. I was one of those that argued that it was a horror movie. Yes, the action occurs on a space ship but it is really just a monster movie; at least to me it was. I think that is why Tim Lebbon’s writing was so effective here. He is a very talented writer who usually writes horror and he brings a dark, brooding, claustrophobic and Lovecraftian tone and horror focus that I thought (like a prior reviewer noted) was very reminiscent of the film. He paints with the same colors.
Story-wise, the action here tells us what happened to Ripley after she and her cat leave the Nostromo. I found the plot meshed very well with the movie and am anxious to read the two other installments in the Caononical Alien Canon series, which apparently stick with the Ripley continuing story. I must say that there are few characters as long-suffering and resilient as Ripley, and this story taps into that.
The sci-fi elements are more fully developed here than in the film, with space ship technology, mining on far away planets, and ancient alien civilizations being very important parts of the story. I found myself wishing that the novella was longer because there were enough interesting ideas here to fill out several more stories.
Audible did a very good job on this all around. They took Lebbon’s dark story and performed it admirably. From mood music, to the very talented cast, to the realistic sound effects, this performance was top notch all the way around.
I really enjoyed this performance and give it 5 stars based entirely on how much fun I had listening to it.
November 5, 2023
Entertaining space listening 🎶🔰
This is a kindle e-book from the local library.
They are mining on an asteroid when everything goes wrong. They have uncovered a group of aliens 👽 and the miners are killed. The people on the spaceship go to investigate and the aliens 👽 kill many. Some survive with one woman 🚺 being pregnant.
I would recommend this novel and author to 👍 readers of space opera adventure novels 👍🔰. 2023 👒😀😡👽
This is a kindle e-book from the local library.
They are mining on an asteroid when everything goes wrong. They have uncovered a group of aliens 👽 and the miners are killed. The people on the spaceship go to investigate and the aliens 👽 kill many. Some survive with one woman 🚺 being pregnant.
I would recommend this novel and author to 👍 readers of space opera adventure novels 👍🔰. 2023 👒😀😡👽
December 26, 2018
Listening to the Audible version of the story was a lot of fun. It plays out a lot like a radio show and honesty I would love to see a mini-series or even movie adaptation of it. This is a must listen for any fans of the Alien series.
May 11, 2016
Listened to the full-cast production from Audible, and it was actually pretty darn good. Sound effects were on point too. Listened in my car, and it was pretty damn fun.
Read
July 3, 2016A wonderful imagining of the lost time period between the Alien and Aliens movies. This is part one of a trilogy and I can't wait to read the next. Tim Lebbon really knows his stuff.
July 14, 2020
basically a movie without the movie while reading like fanfic. this was entertaining, especially with the effort put in the audio production, but the plot wasn’t very original.
January 14, 2021
I really did enjoy this book! I really did! I just can't overlook the flaws in it.
Because of where this one sits in the Alien timeline, there's absolutely no suspense or tension. You know that no matter what, Ripley will be fine, nobody else will be fine, and that somehow Ripley loses her memory of only the most recent events. If you don't mind these things, and you like slowly paced books... this one may be for you, given that you're a fan of Alien.
Because of where this one sits in the Alien timeline, there's absolutely no suspense or tension. You know that no matter what, Ripley will be fine, nobody else will be fine, and that somehow Ripley loses her memory of only the most recent events. If you don't mind these things, and you like slowly paced books... this one may be for you, given that you're a fan of Alien.
December 26, 2018
Super Good.
March 22, 2014
I should begin with a full disclaimer: I'm a massive fan of the Aliens universe. From James Cameron's stunning sequel in 1986 all the way through to that massive turd of a game, Colonial Marines, released last year, if it features any of H.R. Giger's monstrosities from parts unknown, you can bet I was there with money in hand, wanting to be thrilled all over again.
So when I heard a new set of novels that were to be considered canon were to be released, I was more than interested. Learning that respected horror writer Tim Lebbon was going to be writing the first of these novels only upped the ante. And thankfully, unlike those Aliens vs Preadator films, I was not disappointed.
It's hard to know whom to give credit to here. Obviously Lebbon was hired to write this book. But I assume it was not his original idea and he was instead given a treatment to work from. I could be wrong, but whoever is responsible for somehow managing to shoehorn Ellen Ripley into proceedings in a fairly clever way deserves a pat on the back.
Lebbon is definitely responsible for the writing, however, and as with all of his work, it is top notch. He has the rare talent to describe scenes in detail with a relatively sparse amount of words, and yet his prose flows effortlessly without missing a beat.
The novel wastes not a page in flinging its protagonists into the action and the pace fairly flies through the first third. Sadly, in the second part, there's a significant downward shift in the frenetic energy, as things become quite repetitive. This was my major problem with the read, especially when certain scenes in which the characters played hide and seek with the Aliens ended up feeling like unnecessary padding. Fortunately, this issue is rectified through the final quarter of the book, as the explanation for how Ripley can be included in an official tie-in with the movies that takes place between the first and second film is finally - and satisfactorily - provided.
Recommended to fans of the films and for those who like a little sci-fi mixed in with their horror (though you still need to have seen Ridley Scott's Alien first).
3.5 Ghosts in the Machine for Alien: Out of the Shadows.
So when I heard a new set of novels that were to be considered canon were to be released, I was more than interested. Learning that respected horror writer Tim Lebbon was going to be writing the first of these novels only upped the ante. And thankfully, unlike those Aliens vs Preadator films, I was not disappointed.
It's hard to know whom to give credit to here. Obviously Lebbon was hired to write this book. But I assume it was not his original idea and he was instead given a treatment to work from. I could be wrong, but whoever is responsible for somehow managing to shoehorn Ellen Ripley into proceedings in a fairly clever way deserves a pat on the back.
Lebbon is definitely responsible for the writing, however, and as with all of his work, it is top notch. He has the rare talent to describe scenes in detail with a relatively sparse amount of words, and yet his prose flows effortlessly without missing a beat.
The novel wastes not a page in flinging its protagonists into the action and the pace fairly flies through the first third. Sadly, in the second part, there's a significant downward shift in the frenetic energy, as things become quite repetitive. This was my major problem with the read, especially when certain scenes in which the characters played hide and seek with the Aliens ended up feeling like unnecessary padding. Fortunately, this issue is rectified through the final quarter of the book, as the explanation for how Ripley can be included in an official tie-in with the movies that takes place between the first and second film is finally - and satisfactorily - provided.
Recommended to fans of the films and for those who like a little sci-fi mixed in with their horror (though you still need to have seen Ridley Scott's Alien first).
3.5 Ghosts in the Machine for Alien: Out of the Shadows.
June 6, 2014
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but it started off merely average and just went downhill from there.
(I'd love to know how much free reign the writer was given on this).
No real story, like none at all. The characters go through a mine/hive and come back up. Done.
BIZARRE character choices, like when Hoop, the LEADER of the group, voluntarily leads them into a niche because it looks interesting?
It seems only Ridley and Cameron know how to treat this oh so delicate franchise. I feel sorry for HARDCORE Aliens fans because it's constant disappointments as Twentieth Century Fox continues to label everything CANON and OFFICIAL, no matter how bad the quality.
(Dare I mention the game, Aliens Colonial Marines?!)
LEAVE RIPLEY ALONE!
Space is a vast and limitless frontier. Is it plausible EVERY interaction with our monsters requires her present? No! We fans don't appreciate it. We get sick every time you screw with the canon. Leave Ripley out of it. Her story is told.
Far too many references, subtle or direct, to the films. It's not tongue in cheek, it's barely amusing, it's ham-fisted and forced.
Ripley's repetitive Amanda flashbacks during battle? Yawn-worthy and unrealistic.
A warrior of Ripley's statue, as we see in Aliens, would be dead in two seconds if she couldn't focus on what was happening in the here and now.
Most importantly, don't watch Jim Cameron's MASTERFUL Aliens, then take all the major, climatic moments from it and shove it into a book that (apparently) takes place between Alien and Aliens!
So Ripley discovers nests? DEFEATS A QUEEN?! So the reveal of the Queen in the film is her SECOND encounter with a Queen? Is that how we respect an iconic cinematic masterpiece?!
I barely finished this book. It's was all tech and no innovation.
I gave it a star because the prose was good and the cover was cool, but I hated it.
I have a sudden urge to take a shower then watch Aliens.
(I'd love to know how much free reign the writer was given on this).
No real story, like none at all. The characters go through a mine/hive and come back up. Done.
BIZARRE character choices, like when Hoop, the LEADER of the group, voluntarily leads them into a niche because it looks interesting?
It seems only Ridley and Cameron know how to treat this oh so delicate franchise. I feel sorry for HARDCORE Aliens fans because it's constant disappointments as Twentieth Century Fox continues to label everything CANON and OFFICIAL, no matter how bad the quality.
(Dare I mention the game, Aliens Colonial Marines?!)
LEAVE RIPLEY ALONE!
Space is a vast and limitless frontier. Is it plausible EVERY interaction with our monsters requires her present? No! We fans don't appreciate it. We get sick every time you screw with the canon. Leave Ripley out of it. Her story is told.
Far too many references, subtle or direct, to the films. It's not tongue in cheek, it's barely amusing, it's ham-fisted and forced.
Ripley's repetitive Amanda flashbacks during battle? Yawn-worthy and unrealistic.
A warrior of Ripley's statue, as we see in Aliens, would be dead in two seconds if she couldn't focus on what was happening in the here and now.
Most importantly, don't watch Jim Cameron's MASTERFUL Aliens, then take all the major, climatic moments from it and shove it into a book that (apparently) takes place between Alien and Aliens!
So Ripley discovers nests? DEFEATS A QUEEN?! So the reveal of the Queen in the film is her SECOND encounter with a Queen? Is that how we respect an iconic cinematic masterpiece?!
I barely finished this book. It's was all tech and no innovation.
I gave it a star because the prose was good and the cover was cool, but I hated it.
I have a sudden urge to take a shower then watch Aliens.
December 26, 2019
This was a pretty good read, but there were some errors in the narrations small stuff but got me out of the story, the novel i would give a solid 4 stars, it is a pretty well structured and it feels very much like the first alien movie and novelization, i also heard the audiobook of this novel and the narrations was awesome but the writing suffered because of the way it was being narrated, through audio as if it was a movie an audio play really, there we didn't had access to the characters thoughts that really hampered the story and the characters were also acting as if they had already encountered the aliens before, i can reason ripley knowing what is the alien, but things like the naming as chest burster and the queen alien that following the chronology of this books she shouldn't have had any experience with, also the audio play made it the villain of the story feel a lot more like it was Ash, in the novel he was mere gambling with chances hoping to be given the things needed to complete his mission, so for that the audio play i would rate 3 stars, for the awesome narration but loses the other two stars because of the plot holes. So i would recommend this for those that like alien or a kinda fast paced action story with some drops of suspense and in a way horror.
January 29, 2015
Tim Lebbon had a hard job to do. He had to take a beloved character from an equally admired movie franchise and break into a timeline where audiences have already been told nothing has happened. That's right. James Cameron's Aliens (and one assumes, Alan Dean Foster's novelization also) comes right out and says, "look right here. Nothing. For decades!" He did a great job. Alien: Out of the Shadows is engaging and fun. It is clear he respects the source material and worked hard to write a book that stands up well as its own story. He perfectly channels Ripley and does a great job adding depth to her character by exploring her despair and anxiety in occasional dreams. The end is a little neatly tied up, but given what he had to do (like I said, recall the first scene in Aliens to imagine how Out of the Shadows must end), again, I think he did an excellent job within incredibly tight constraints.
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