Alien cover art

Alien

The Official Movie Novelization

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Alien

By: Alan Dean Foster
Narrated by: Peter Guinness
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About this listen

Alan Dean Foster is the acclaimed author of movie tie-ins for Star Wars, Alien and Transformers. He was awarded the IAMTW Grand Master Scribe Award in 2008. He is also a best-selling science fiction and fantasy author in his own right, including the popular Pip & Flinx novels and the Founding of the Commonwealth series.

©2014 Alan Dean Foster (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Scary

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Whilst it can't hold a candle to the movie, this is still a decent effort. I think the main problem is the distinct lack of alien description. Nothing regards how it looks, moves or kills. Most of us have a clear mental vision of the alien, but if you don't, I'm not convinced the book leads the listener in the right direction.

Peter's accents are almost comical too, and you cant help but compare his phrasing to the movie and think to yourself, 'Ripley wouldn't say it like that'.

So, coming from someone who loves the alien series, a decent effort but didn't really get my pulse racing.

Not quite as good as the movie

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The early part of the story seems to be padded with pointless techno babble and yet it doesn't include the "Space Jockey", the story does pick up later and is enjoyable despite the overused thesaurus. The narration is good and raises the quality considerably
The bonus first hour of the "Aliens" audiobook was another plus

Patchy Story but good Narrator

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Adapting a film in to a novel seems like a strange concept, but Alan Dean Foster is a pro. It's no surprise he went on to do the same for Aliens, Alien 3 and Covenant.

For anyone who loves the original Alien film, this manages to capture much of the atmosphere, and elaborates appropriately on the characters providing a bit more insight into their personalities and motivations.

Alien Dean Foster

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Alan Dean Foster's gripping and intelligent novelisation of the the original Alien is a great standalone slice of sci fi terror, it will work for those new to the franchise and those who have loved the film since its original release, like me.
Those in the latter category will enjoy all the familiar beats of the story, and be intrigued by all the differences, as I was, between this novelisation and the film as it was shown in cinemas.
So Alien tells the story of a crew of seven piloting a massive refinery through space, with the commercial towing vessel 'the Nostromo.' Interrupted from their hyper-sleep of their homeward trajectory by a distress signal (they think), they investigate it at source, on a desolate world. They find a derelict alien ship, and a dreadful accident occurs. The result is a cat and mouse on board the Nostromo between the ultimate alien predator and the hapless crew.
So as I said there are key differences between the novel and film as seen: There are more and earlier confrontations between Ripley and Science Officer Ash where Ripley voices her suspicions. And that character is given more dialogue and more to do. There are more scenes of Kane being examined post face-hugger by the crew. That creature has different design features, including suckers that help it grip flesh, and a lidless, protected eye.
Lambert never strikes Ripley for attempting to keep quarantine, and that character is less wet. There's an extra scene of Parker attempting to trap the Alien in an airlock and the mystery of the Alien being warned by a Klaxxon. And the grown Alien itself is weirdly undescribed. We learn it is humanoid and big and has acid blood but that is about it. I think that at the time of writing the creature design was still tightly under wraps, even from Alan Dean Foster himself. There is a bit more about the Company and how it is answerable to the 'Guild' and 'the Board.' The opening scene includes an intriguing discussion and a bit of extra world building about the abilities of 'pro-dreamers' as opposed to normal dreamers,
What the novel excels in is characterisation, and a sense of mounting dread and suspense. The pace never flags, whilst the slow burning dread of the film is here also.
Peter Guinness does a fantastic job of narration, great voice acting that brings to mind the movie representations whilst breathing new life into theme, and brings gravitas and urgency to the narration.
The audio book comes also with a generously lengthy teaser for the sequel 'Aliens.'' Great story, great book, great listen.

Seven dreamers, one nightmare.

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Peter Guinness lends his voice to a fine narration if the Alien novelization, although the voices all sounded similar. The book adapts some things from the Director's Cut, but keeps is still gripping and thrilling. The last chapter also contains a preview of Aliens, which should definitely have been its own chapter.

Made some changes to movie. Good narration

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