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Alien: The Shadow Saga #1-3
The Complete Alien Collection: The Shadow Archive (Out of the Shadows, Sea of Sorrows, River of Pain)
An omnibus of tightly coordinated novels revealing the terrifying events that occur between the Alien and Aliens movie hits.
Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns of planet LV-178. There was evil, hibernating—and waiting for suitable prey. Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviours… Ellen Ripley, the last human survivor of the Nostromo .
Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has secrets of its own, as Decker discovers when he is forced to join a team of mercenaries sent to investigate an ancient excavation. Somewhere in that long-forgotten dig lies the thing the company wants most in the universe—a living Xenomorph. Decker doesn’t understand why they need him, until his own past comes back to haunt him. Centuries ago, his ancestor fought the Aliens, launching a bloody vendetta that was never satisfied.
River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Protected by the Colonial Marines, the colonists of planet Acheron seek to terraform the storm-swept planet. Two such residents are Anne and Russell Jorden, seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth. The wildcatters discover a vast, decaying spaceship. The horseshoe-shaped vessel is of particular interest to Weyland-Yutani, and may be the answer to their dreams. But what Anne and Russ find on board proves to the stuff, not of dreams, but of nightmares.
Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns of planet LV-178. There was evil, hibernating—and waiting for suitable prey. Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviours… Ellen Ripley, the last human survivor of the Nostromo .
Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has secrets of its own, as Decker discovers when he is forced to join a team of mercenaries sent to investigate an ancient excavation. Somewhere in that long-forgotten dig lies the thing the company wants most in the universe—a living Xenomorph. Decker doesn’t understand why they need him, until his own past comes back to haunt him. Centuries ago, his ancestor fought the Aliens, launching a bloody vendetta that was never satisfied.
River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Protected by the Colonial Marines, the colonists of planet Acheron seek to terraform the storm-swept planet. Two such residents are Anne and Russell Jorden, seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth. The wildcatters discover a vast, decaying spaceship. The horseshoe-shaped vessel is of particular interest to Weyland-Yutani, and may be the answer to their dreams. But what Anne and Russ find on board proves to the stuff, not of dreams, but of nightmares.
- GenresScience FictionHorror
864 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2023
104 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Tim Lebbon
294 books1,534 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 20, 2024
Excellent read. I throughly enjoyed each of these books in the book. Haha. It was just nonstop action, violence, blood, guts all that fun stuff. Really thrilling. Inspired me to want to get more invested into the franchise.
May 18, 2023
When I first heard about this “trilogy” set in the 57 year gap between Alien and Aliens, it sounded both interesting and a bit gimmicky. For the expanded universe of Alien, this is fertile ground that presents a lot of possibilities; however, I feared it would simply be a three part history of the colonization of LV426/Hadley’s Hope/Acheron with a focus on how the xenomorphs overtook the colony. A lot of corporate history. A lot of desperate battles. As I started Out of the Shadows, I was pleasantly surprised to find it set in an entirely different corner of the universe--planet LV-178--with new and interesting characters. And even though the inclusion of Ripley was more or less unnecessary, Tim Lebbon wrote her incredibly well. In fact, the seismic shift from the Ripley of the first to the Ripley of the second movie makes more sense after this reading. Sea of Sorrows was more or less a direct sequel to Out of the Shadows (although, one with a significant time gap) that, again, introduced some interesting characters. This second work deals with similar themes while remaining its own unique work; however, Ripley again makes her presence known in a very interesting way. River of Pain, the third novel, is well-written but the least enjoyable. Its timeline is so very close to the Aliens movie that the outcome is too prescribed: the author is given very little room within which to be creative. That being said, the fall of Hadley’s Hope is a story that had to be told and in this novel it is told well.
Not quite a trilogy, these three novels are--according to the publisher--a “tightly coordinated” collection. All three are firmly set in the Aliens universe with Ripley at the heart surrounded by two great evils--the xenomorphs and the ubiquitous “Company” Weyland-Yutoni. Furthermore, each story left a place open for further development of characters and plot lines. Overall, these were some of the best books I’ve read in the Alien/Aliens Series.
Not quite a trilogy, these three novels are--according to the publisher--a “tightly coordinated” collection. All three are firmly set in the Aliens universe with Ripley at the heart surrounded by two great evils--the xenomorphs and the ubiquitous “Company” Weyland-Yutoni. Furthermore, each story left a place open for further development of characters and plot lines. Overall, these were some of the best books I’ve read in the Alien/Aliens Series.
May 30, 2025
These three books take place after the first movie, Alien, and lead right into the second, Aliens.
Out of the Shadows: It's okay.
Sea of Sorrows: Picks up years later on the same planet from Out of the Shadows. Little wonky with the empath stuff, but it is not too overdone.
River of Pain: First half of the book is a slog. Then it's all out action till the end.
Out of the Shadows: It's okay.
Sea of Sorrows: Picks up years later on the same planet from Out of the Shadows. Little wonky with the empath stuff, but it is not too overdone.
River of Pain: First half of the book is a slog. Then it's all out action till the end.
July 28, 2025
These three books while loosely tied together, were a great trilogy and I highly recommend them for fans of the films!
December 14, 2023
I'll try to be brief on this one, since I'm reviewing 3 books in one.
This whole series was an awesome expansion to the Alien franchise, and each story could have made a fun and interesting movie. All of these stories sort of piggy-backed off of each other, so I understand them publishing them together in one big clumsily-sized book that was difficult to carry around, but what can ya do?
Out of the Shadows-- This felt the most like an Alien book. Small crew, damaged ship in a decaying orbit, danger down on the planet below. The overall story was exciting, well crafted, and took you a lot of places with a lot of characters with varying degrees of likeability and trustworthiness. Ripley appeared in this story, which added some deeper lore to her, and also added a lot of confusion. I won't spoil anything, but I thought the addition of Ripley, and the plot device used to shoe-horn this book into the canon of the franchise was the weakest point. But that's a minor complaint that I can overlook, since the rest of this story was so enjoyable.
Sea of Sorrow-- The planet from Out of the Shadows is now inhabited, but strange things are happening below the surface. A team is assembled to go looking for answers. And this time, there's a whole lot of men with big guns to get gobbled up. A lot of critics seem to rank this one as the weakest. For me, it was my favorite story in this cluster. The pacing was fast, and I have a soft spot for stories about dozens of bad asses fighting for their lives as they're picked off one by one. If Out of the Shadows was paying homage to the first Alien, then this one was definitely taking inspiration from James Cameron's sequel. The downside was that the protagonist felt like a little bit of a Mary Sue, and his back story had a lot of "Oh c'mon!" moments. Otherwise, a good read, and I cruised through this one the quickest.
River of Pain-- This was the story I initially bought the entire book for. I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi, but I was excited to read a story about the last stand of the colony, before the events of the Aliens film. That was the premise-- what happened to the colony on LV-426 after the discovery of the alien ship, and what events transpired leading up to the arrival of the Colonial Marines. While I enjoyed this story, I personally found it to be the weakest of the three. The focus was too much centered around Captain Brackett (aka Captain Drama). He was made up to be the protagonist, but I found him completely unlikeable. He deliberately transferred to the planet to meddle in the marriage of his ex-girlfriend (who had already been happily married with two kids for 10 years), and spent most of the book needlessly interloping on an established family, with the conscious intent of being a homewrecker because of his own unresolved issues. That's not a good person-- that's a person with no maturity, introspection, or self control. When he wasn't doing that, he was constantly challenging leadership and management in every single procedure, and then when management would change those procedures based on Brackett's recommendations, he'd have a problem with THAT then. The whole story leading up to the action, he pretty much just ran from one end of the colony to the other, stamping his foot, making people feel stupid, and finding problems to complain about like a Karen. Did I miss something? Was I ever supposed to like this guy? Overall, he was superfluous to the outcome of the story, and I can't help but feel that I would have enjoyed this installment more if the protagonist had been someone a bit more likeable. It was still a fun read, however, and I have my fingers crossed that we'll some day get to see the last stand of the colony on the big screen.
This whole series was an awesome expansion to the Alien franchise, and each story could have made a fun and interesting movie. All of these stories sort of piggy-backed off of each other, so I understand them publishing them together in one big clumsily-sized book that was difficult to carry around, but what can ya do?
Out of the Shadows-- This felt the most like an Alien book. Small crew, damaged ship in a decaying orbit, danger down on the planet below. The overall story was exciting, well crafted, and took you a lot of places with a lot of characters with varying degrees of likeability and trustworthiness. Ripley appeared in this story, which added some deeper lore to her, and also added a lot of confusion. I won't spoil anything, but I thought the addition of Ripley, and the plot device used to shoe-horn this book into the canon of the franchise was the weakest point. But that's a minor complaint that I can overlook, since the rest of this story was so enjoyable.
Sea of Sorrow-- The planet from Out of the Shadows is now inhabited, but strange things are happening below the surface. A team is assembled to go looking for answers. And this time, there's a whole lot of men with big guns to get gobbled up. A lot of critics seem to rank this one as the weakest. For me, it was my favorite story in this cluster. The pacing was fast, and I have a soft spot for stories about dozens of bad asses fighting for their lives as they're picked off one by one. If Out of the Shadows was paying homage to the first Alien, then this one was definitely taking inspiration from James Cameron's sequel. The downside was that the protagonist felt like a little bit of a Mary Sue, and his back story had a lot of "Oh c'mon!" moments. Otherwise, a good read, and I cruised through this one the quickest.
River of Pain-- This was the story I initially bought the entire book for. I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi, but I was excited to read a story about the last stand of the colony, before the events of the Aliens film. That was the premise-- what happened to the colony on LV-426 after the discovery of the alien ship, and what events transpired leading up to the arrival of the Colonial Marines. While I enjoyed this story, I personally found it to be the weakest of the three. The focus was too much centered around Captain Brackett (aka Captain Drama). He was made up to be the protagonist, but I found him completely unlikeable. He deliberately transferred to the planet to meddle in the marriage of his ex-girlfriend (who had already been happily married with two kids for 10 years), and spent most of the book needlessly interloping on an established family, with the conscious intent of being a homewrecker because of his own unresolved issues. That's not a good person-- that's a person with no maturity, introspection, or self control. When he wasn't doing that, he was constantly challenging leadership and management in every single procedure, and then when management would change those procedures based on Brackett's recommendations, he'd have a problem with THAT then. The whole story leading up to the action, he pretty much just ran from one end of the colony to the other, stamping his foot, making people feel stupid, and finding problems to complain about like a Karen. Did I miss something? Was I ever supposed to like this guy? Overall, he was superfluous to the outcome of the story, and I can't help but feel that I would have enjoyed this installment more if the protagonist had been someone a bit more likeable. It was still a fun read, however, and I have my fingers crossed that we'll some day get to see the last stand of the colony on the big screen.
July 13, 2025
This omnibus of three novels, connected, really, only by taking place between the original movie and the sequel, is a real mixed bag.
“Out of the Shadows”: 3/5 stars. It focuses on Ripley’s experiences after jettisoning herself from her ship in the first movie. If you have seen “Aliens,” the ending is partially ruined for you (as you know what has to happen). It was okay…but felt like it repeated a lot of ideas from the movie franchise. And the ending…ugh.
“Sea of Sorrows”: 1.5/5 stars. This one was a slog for me. The protagonist, Decker, was thinly drawn, and his being an empath was silly and barely used. I appreciated the author trying to allow the reader to get a sense of the hive-mind if the aliens, but there was little characterization, the action was repetitive, and it just didn’t work for me.
“River of Pain”: 4/5 stars. This fills in the story of Newt and her family prior to the beginning of “Aliens”. I loved that the aliens didn’t show up to the midway point; there was a ton of character development, and although I knew what had to happen due to the movies, this was a strong read for me. Not perfect, but a really solid piece of genre writing that really developed Newt’s character drastically.
“Out of the Shadows”: 3/5 stars. It focuses on Ripley’s experiences after jettisoning herself from her ship in the first movie. If you have seen “Aliens,” the ending is partially ruined for you (as you know what has to happen). It was okay…but felt like it repeated a lot of ideas from the movie franchise. And the ending…ugh.
“Sea of Sorrows”: 1.5/5 stars. This one was a slog for me. The protagonist, Decker, was thinly drawn, and his being an empath was silly and barely used. I appreciated the author trying to allow the reader to get a sense of the hive-mind if the aliens, but there was little characterization, the action was repetitive, and it just didn’t work for me.
“River of Pain”: 4/5 stars. This fills in the story of Newt and her family prior to the beginning of “Aliens”. I loved that the aliens didn’t show up to the midway point; there was a ton of character development, and although I knew what had to happen due to the movies, this was a strong read for me. Not perfect, but a really solid piece of genre writing that really developed Newt’s character drastically.
April 28, 2024
Sigh.
I'm DNF-ing this beast. I read the first novella, by Lebbon, and in many ways it's one of the best titles I've read in the Alien series. I struggled through it despite the quality writing, characterization, and plot. It was down to the arc and its placement in the overall storyline and my familiarity with that storyline, really.
The 2nd novella, by Moore, is a No-Can-Do for me, at least for now. It is an embodiment of one of my favorite tropes, but handled in the one way I cannot abide.
Then I checked out the final title in a very cursory way to see if I wanted to cheat ahead, but it looks on its surface like a rehash, so no.
I will say that the Lebbon piece is really good, but bleak. And I did finish it ... I'll say 4 out of 5 for Lebbon, and the big cosmic pause button for the rest of it.
Maybe when allergy season is over I can revisit, but I'm guessing I won't care enough to do so.
I'm DNF-ing this beast. I read the first novella, by Lebbon, and in many ways it's one of the best titles I've read in the Alien series. I struggled through it despite the quality writing, characterization, and plot. It was down to the arc and its placement in the overall storyline and my familiarity with that storyline, really.
The 2nd novella, by Moore, is a No-Can-Do for me, at least for now. It is an embodiment of one of my favorite tropes, but handled in the one way I cannot abide.
Then I checked out the final title in a very cursory way to see if I wanted to cheat ahead, but it looks on its surface like a rehash, so no.
I will say that the Lebbon piece is really good, but bleak. And I did finish it ... I'll say 4 out of 5 for Lebbon, and the big cosmic pause button for the rest of it.
Maybe when allergy season is over I can revisit, but I'm guessing I won't care enough to do so.
November 11, 2024
NO SPOILERS!
I usually don’t write reviews, but this was so good that I just had to. First book was great, second was really good, and third was phenomenal. I love the Alien franchise and these read/feel exactly like the movies and games within the Alien universe; the retro-futurism vibe is there, the sci-fi/1980s space setting is perfect, and the action and suspense is fantastic. Highly recommend, especially if you want to get more into the Alien universe lore, or are just a fan of the movies in general.
I usually don’t write reviews, but this was so good that I just had to. First book was great, second was really good, and third was phenomenal. I love the Alien franchise and these read/feel exactly like the movies and games within the Alien universe; the retro-futurism vibe is there, the sci-fi/1980s space setting is perfect, and the action and suspense is fantastic. Highly recommend, especially if you want to get more into the Alien universe lore, or are just a fan of the movies in general.
January 10, 2024
Pleasantly surprised
I'm not a fan of reading books about movies I've seen a hundred times, but this trilogy hit the spot. A very slow build in each book all end like a Rollercoaster. The surprise of the 3rd book had me smiling from ear to ear, wishing they had made the 3rd book a movie. Good stuff !!!
I'm not a fan of reading books about movies I've seen a hundred times, but this trilogy hit the spot. A very slow build in each book all end like a Rollercoaster. The surprise of the 3rd book had me smiling from ear to ear, wishing they had made the 3rd book a movie. Good stuff !!!
April 1, 2025
After reading 3 collections of Aliens, I feel confident enough to say, that this series will give you everything you want out of Alien gore and ramping story arcs typical of this genre. Predictable yet solid.
May 12, 2024
I enjoyed this collection of 3 books. I'd love to see more of books that address or rather, live in the Alien universe.
February 5, 2025
SO GOOD. Perfectly scratched my ALIEN itch.
September 28, 2023
This collection of 3 books was written very well. It had my attention from beginning to end. I am not a fast reader, and so it probably took me longer than it would've others. However, I tried to use every available moment to read, even my lunch times at work. For me, this is extraordinary. I am not a novel reader. I love reading theological books. There are many novels that I had started, but soon afterwards gave up on.
The only criticism I have is not about the writing, or storylines, but the packaging of this 3-in-1 book. I wish they put these three books in storyline chronological order.
The storyline of Out of the Shadows is after the Alien movie.
River of Pain happens before the Aliens movie.
Sea of Sorrows seems to be after the Alien: Resurrection movie.
The only criticism I have is not about the writing, or storylines, but the packaging of this 3-in-1 book. I wish they put these three books in storyline chronological order.
The storyline of Out of the Shadows is after the Alien movie.
River of Pain happens before the Aliens movie.
Sea of Sorrows seems to be after the Alien: Resurrection movie.
May 29, 2023
Well-written stories with plenty of action, my only complaint would be that reading the three stories back to back as a full omnibus made me think the aliens lack a lot of versatility in terms of storytelling. Each story essentially boils down to group of people scared of the aliens and underestimate them, then get picked off one by one, some acid blood gets splashed about, and there are horrible moments with face-huggers. An enjoyable read but looking forward to something new now!
March 17, 2023
Amazing Read!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews