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Alien 3
- The Official Movie Novelization
- Narrated by: Peter Guinness
- Series: Alien, Book 8, Alien™: The Novelizations, Book 5
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Summary
Fury 161 is a wretched planet - a penal colony and an industrial complex manned by violent prisoners. When an escape pod from the USS Sulaco crash-lands there, Ellen Ripley appears to be the only passenger left alive.
Then inmates begin to die, all at the hands of another survivor - a creature which encounters Ripley and spares her life! Desperate to know why, she seeks out an answer - and discovers terror unlike any she's ever known.
Science fiction master Alan Dean Foster returns to the Alien universe to reveal the ultimate destinies of Ellen Ripley and her eternal foe, the xenomorph known as the Alien.
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What listeners say about Alien 3
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- dee
- 18-09-20
Tense and exciting!
This is based on the Alien 3 screenplay, so no real surprises, but it is still exciting.
The narrator struggled with Ripley's voice and when attempting male US voices. However, he was ok when sticking to a variety of male English voices.
I enjoyed this, but not much as the dramatised Alien stories on Audible.
6 people found this helpful
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- Jon
- 22-09-17
Beats the film...
I hate a lot of Alien3. It doesn't help it that I love Aliens. And my favourite character's role is, well, marginalised. No spoilers here.
But, the book makes a lot more sense as to why Paul McGann's character gets top billing in the film, as well as offering more of the motivations to what people are thinking.
That said, it does remind you that the two most interesting characters are removed from the plot too soon, and Ripley does feel a little bit of an afterthought until the finale, which feels a little bit undercooked compared to the screen.
Worth your time though.
4 people found this helpful
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- Sue
- 17-06-16
Really Enjoyed It.
It's nice to get that little bit of extra narrative to support the pictures in your head. Alan Dean Foster does a great job. I loved the phrase "Inimical simultaneity" very much.
Peter Guiness is particularly excellent narrating and a perfect choice as he played Gregor in the film. He has a wonderful voice and a beautiful rhythm. Perfect diction, I could listen to him reading the phone book.
I wonder how he felt narrating his own demise?
11 people found this helpful
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- Fin
- 29-06-21
Big time Alien Fan Here
Yep…. You literally couldn’t ask for more from this. It’s the movie novelised. Great narrator, some bits are slightly fleshed out. Really enjoyed it. Will definitely listen again.
There are some Alien novels I wasn’t a fan of but this isn’t one of them.
1 person found this helpful
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- Paul Sampson
- 09-07-20
Faithful Rendition of the Movie
I love a Movie adaption audio book that fleshes out the characters and adds to the backstop, unfortunately this audio book does neither.
Having said that it is a faithful rendition of the movie and the performance of the narrator is really, very good.
1 person found this helpful
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- Lupine 99
- 29-10-19
Stasis interrupted, fire in cryogenic compartment.
As a long time fan of Alien 3, i've watched the movie dozens of times and read the book several times too, so naturally I was curious to see how the audiobook held up.
Overall, it was good - my only complaints are that some scenes did not have suitable pauses between them and that was a little jarring. Like a scene would end and the next would begin almost instantly without pause. Secondly, the narrator did not capture Ripley right - his version seemed too melodious an imitation.
Yet saying that, his narration of Superintendent Andrews was spot on, almost uncanny - so good and bad points there.
The story follows the 'Assembly Cut' version of the movie and overall does a good job of it. The bad points do not spoil the enjoyment of the listen enough to not recommend it. Try it. 😊
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 18-09-19
Fantastic
Alien 3 was my least favourite film, this book however is my favourite in the trilogy. Peter Guinness narration is outstanding, I couldn’t stop listening
Well done
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 25-06-19
Better than the film.
Better than the film. Goes more into the background of the world of alien. Worth the listen.
1 person found this helpful
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- Toadjuggler
- 04-06-17
Suprisingly good
I really enjoyed this, it's a good reproduction of the movie's storyline (the Assembly Cut version) with plenty of extra detail and good characterisations. Alan Dean Foster is a bit of a hack and some of his word choices are a bit, well, odd but Peter Guiness's narration is superb, absolutely spot on,
1 person found this helpful
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- Tim
- 17-05-22
a better audio book than a film.
a good listen! the story makes a far better audio book than the film was.
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- Midwestbonsai
- 18-04-16
Brilliant work, yet again
This is the movie I did not remember as well as the first two. I know I have seen it at some point but after listening to the first three books, now I really want to watch it again.
The great part about these novelizations is that I can already see the characters. I know them and have know them for years. This book made me have all the feels. The beginning was tragic, yet again, and Ripley is set on another quest to kill aliens. Thank goodness she is more determined than ever but the beginning of this really made me feel for her.
Not having an idea of this book made it all the more scary. I was on the edge of my seat wondering where there danger was going to come from. Surprisingly there are quite a few characters in this that are heroic and even outshine the marines! I was worried at times but at others so glad that Ripley had some of these individuals around her. Although, she gets herself into quite a few messes in this one. Being on a prison world filled with me, what else would Ripley do?
This book held up to the first two, which is surprising. The second is still my favorite but the plot twists and the things that happen in this one were not foreseen. Brilliant work, yet again, by Peter Guinness. His voice lets the listener fall into the story and forget that there is a real world around them. The terror is really felt when the alien shows its ugly head!
Not my favorite of the three but still on par with the first. Great storytelling and very good narration.
Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog
[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]
12 people found this helpful
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- Richard
- 29-12-15
If you're seen the movie, you're good.
Peter Guinness's performance was the best part of the book. He makes the story interesting.
4 people found this helpful
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- Corrin
- 16-08-16
Better than the theatrical release.
It's essentially the rare (until recently) assembly cut of the film, with a few surprises and additions along the way. Considering the film went through production hell, I'm impressed it ended up as cohesive as it did, and the book only serves to help fill in the gaps even the assembly couldn't fix.
As a side note, the narrator sounds almost exactly like Warden Andrews from the film. Awesome! :D
3 people found this helpful
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- Dwayne McClellan
- 17-02-17
Ripley has been ended
But the story doesn't end, great series and I recommend the series for any aliens franchise
2 people found this helpful
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- David K. van Hoose
- 25-01-22
On the Edge of Your Seat Story
This story is fast moving and will keep you on the egde of your seat. The story nicely wraps up the story of the first contact with the Aliens.
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- Patrick Hinebaugh
- 30-04-21
Good narrator, but the story was okay
The narrator was good if you dont mind accents. Couldn't tell if it was Brittish or Australian still very understandable and didn't take anything away from the story. The story, however, left much to be desired. The beginning was super depressing, there was multiple mentions of rape(not into that) and the end was super depressing.
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- Zachary
- 04-12-20
A decent adaptation
This is a decent adaptation, but with enough changes to keep you guessing as to exactly how things will play out. If you liked Alien 3, you will like this.
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- Brian M
- 23-02-20
Much better than the film.
For once a film novelization adds some gems not in the film which was refreshing especially since the film was somewhat meh to begin with.
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- Patricio Munoz
- 08-06-19
Adds meat and potatoes to the Assembly Cut story
Alien 3 (Theatrical Version) was a disappointment, but the later released "Assembly Cut" was far more enjoyable. This audio book is basically the Assembly Cut with more dialogue. It's quite insightful and enjoyable to listen to. It is a must listen for any true Alien fan. :-) Enjoy!
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- Steven
- 25-07-16
A Surprisingly Good Adaptation of a Dull Film
I know this is a review for the novel of Alien3, but the book is based on the movie, so I unfortunately have to provide insight into both.
So, I remember seeing Alien 3 back when I was much younger. I had seen and fell in love with Aliens 2. The military/commandos storming the rogue planet of LV426, from the drop ship, just left me enamored. I went back and watch the first Alien movie, it was good, more suspense, but at that time there was something about the tactical marines with the assault rifles, and gear that just "made" aliens for me. So that being said I went to watch the next installment...Seems logical, yea?
Boy does this film garner a lot of hate. Back then, I just couldn't get into it. It looked, felt, and just came off as being sub-par to the last movie. The cgi (or attempt there to) of the alien, made me cringe, and I came away bored, uncaring about the characters, and weirded out by the sudden ending decision. Overall? 15 year old Chris wanted nothing to do with it...
Fast forward to where I am now 28...I was in the mood for a good sci fi book that wasn't something too new but had some history. So I was sifting through Barnes n Noble aimless in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section and came across an Aliens Omnibus. While this thick book is a collection of non-movie stories, it got my wheels turning, that I should read the alien series.
Well figuring that the movie that I've seen the least of, should be what I read. Since I'll go into it with less cinematographic references. So...I chose Alien 3.
Now here is where the great divide between the written word and film comes. The book/novelization of Alien3 is a well written book. It's not winning any awards, but the author creates a very creepy, world and given what he has to work with, makes one hell of a good attempt to flesh out the characters around our lead, Ripley. The great thing about the book is that the author allows for a bit more grieving period for her and her inner thoughts about the death of Newt, Hicks and even Bishop. The book really makes good use of this, as even prisoners introduced are given much more character in the novel than they are in the book. And because I hadn't seen the movie in so long, it was almost a new story to me. I knew what the basic plot was, but it left me so dry that I pretty much blanked the details out of my mind. So reading this was a much needed breath of fresh air to the story.
I got a bit too ahead of myself. I figured, oh let me go back and watch the movie again...Maybe I don't remember it right...or maybe with some years on me, I can appreciate it more... Um..no it's still as awful as I remember it. The music is cool, that's about it. The book of alien 3 fills in what the movie just couldn't / didn't do. It paints a much better "scene" to alien3 and allows the reader to fill in the gaps him or her self. The movie gives us a very raw film that is so distracting, it takes away from the story and just leaves me pondering how this film followed up Aliens 2. Honestly the whole story line of the egg on the drop ship puzzles me, and is such a stretch, that it already feels like alien3 is a big "what if" scenario. In fact in the book, I don't even believe the author touches on the 'how' of the alien being aboard.
Any who, the book is a good read. Seriously, if you're going to do the alien movies...skip 3, and read the book of it. You'll get a much better appreciation of the story and what the setting and world should have felt like. The visual crap fest that was the movie, was too much for me..
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