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Alien: River of Pain cover art

Alien: River of Pain

By: Christopher Golden
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
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Summary

When Ellen Ripley finally returns to Earth, she learns that the planet LV-426 - now called Acheron - has been colonised. But LV-426 is where Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo found the original Xenomorph - the killing machine known as the Alien.

Protected by the Colonial Marines, the colonists seek to terraform the storm-swept planet. Two such residents are Anne and Russell Jorden, seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth. On Acheron, Anne gives birth to the colony's first newborn - Rebecca Jordan, also known as Newt.

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 onboard proves to be the stuff not of dreams but of nightmares.

©2014 Christopher Golden (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Alien: River of Pain

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story and excellently read

Really enjoyed it, I've already read the book and enjoyed the story, but I think that being able to listen to it being read to you gives your imagination more freedom to see the story .
The book is very well read.
I enjoyed this version even more than the audible original live action radio play version.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The untold story of Hadley's Hope

I really enjoy these looks into other parts of the Alien Universe. I couldn't help but feel sad listening to the colonists, knowing their fate. Great story. I'll never watch the Aliens movie the same again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a good prequel to an excellent film.

I was a little confused at the begining as to what story I was listening to. Soon realised the initial chapters were giving more depth and context. The story itself takes a bit of time to get going, but when it does it's well worth the wait. If you ever wondered what happened to the colony on Zacheron, this is the book for you.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting take on the last days of Hadley's Hope

This is definitely a good read/listen for those interested in the preceding events to James Cameron's Aliens. Though it presents some new canon, such as there already having been both a colonial marine and Wetland Yutani scientific presence on the colony of Hadley's Hope, the story resolves in a way makes both RoF and Aliens enjoyable.

However, the story is quite predictable and misses out on building on the initial premise of the failing maintenance of the atmospheric processors on Acheron possibly leading to further catastrophic events, similar to how Alan Dean Foster's novelization of Alien presented the issue of dwindling O2 supplies during the hunt for the xeno on the Nostromo.

The performance of Jeff Harding is very good, with a lot of separation between acting out the different characters.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fills in a nice gap in the Alien story

This book fills in the gap between the end of Alien and the start of Alien 2, so basically what happened to the settlers, whose fate Ripley is sent to discover in the second film. This is the third Alien story I have had from Audible and once again I have really enjoyed it. The story rattles along well and the narrator does an excellent job bringing the characters to life.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Aliens prequel

This book essentially expands on the very early stages of what happened to Hadley's Hope (on LV-426, now called Acheron in a ridiculous fate-tempting bit of naming), showing how Newt's family came to be the ones to bring the aliens into the colony.
The Jordan family are basically self-employed scavengers who are mysteriously given some specific coordinates to investigate, and are promised they can keep anything they find. When they come across the giant Space Jockey ship, they can't believe their luck. And personal greed overtakes common sense (an important contributor to any plot) and the father ends up with some new facial attire.
The book very cleverly fills in the gaps between this and how Newt comes to be the only survivor in the colony before being discovered by Ripley.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story which is sympathetic to the originals

A well written installment which slots into the existing timeline just before the events of the second movie. So many elements which line up with already established scenes and happenings from the first two movies as well as the more recent prequels. Newts character is very fitting and the author has done an excellent job of bringing her family and indeed the colony to life with the addition of some really great characters and a good, engaging storyline.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Alien done right (a movie in waiting)

The title says it all. This is how to write an Alien story. It does have a couple of minor negatives but overall other authors should take note.

This is set just prior to the film Aliens and you may be asking, well we know what happens... well this is where this story shines.

The characters are well fleshed out and not interchangeable as in other Alien stories. The story is also well paced and the author is able to still draw tension, threat and hope from a great story we thiyght we kind of knew.

My small gripe with it would be is the author includes scenes from the movies as a kind of timeline narrative. This is completely and utterly not needed. It pulls you away from the main story and adds nothing. The last couple of chapters drag the story out for no reason. And a little anticlimactic. The story should have stopped earlier. There is an extremely obvious point for it to stop as we know what happens after that.

But my small gripes aside, as a filmmaker I can easily see this as a movie we never asked for but really should be make. Overall cracking stuff.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator ruins Ripley

So this narrator thinks all women, but especially Ripley, speak like breathless little girls on the verge of tears all the time. It's so frustrating - has he that low an opinion of women? Do we all sound like that to him?
Story itself is fine, standard Alien fare - I'm listening to fall asleep so I'm not looking for literary excellence, and since I've never written a novel, I'm not going to critique something that sells so well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great for alien fans

If you love the alien franchise you will love this book tells the story of what happend on lv426 before Ripleys return with the marines and the downfall of Hadleys Hope

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