Octanas Aug 13, 2015

it was amazing bookshelves: owned

's review

From a person who likes the movie very much, I simply LOVED this book.



(I have to first say that I had never read a novel adapted from a movie, so some of the aspects I will point out may be usual or normal in the ‘genre’)



At first, when I started reading the book, I was expecting it to have the same pace as the movie, which meant that the xenomorph (the ‘alien creature’ for the non-fanatics) would appear at about 50% of the book. It really surprised me when I was about 2/3 of the book and there was still no alien. But everything that I read before didn’t seem out of place, I was enjoying it a lot. And right after I finished the book, I went and watched the movie, with the purpose of comparing the two mediums, and also of enjoying the movie one more time.

That’s when I understood that the book is actually a complement to the movie, and, although it can work isolated, you get the most out of it if you watch/read both. While the book centres mostly on the characters and the ‘science fictioness’ of the universe, the movie centres itself more on the horror and the creepy and uncomfortable atmosphere. It was really cool to watch the movie and know what may have happened in the middle of some scenes, that isn’t shown in it. ‘May’ because the book also alters some of the ways some plot points are presented, it’s not an absolute faithful representation of the movie, which does not hurt it at all.



But going back to the book, it succeeds on setting the right atmosphere right of the bat. The writing is superb overall, it being capable of transmitting the terror present in almost every scene, although there were some occasions when it felt like I was reading a script for a movie (ironic, because most of those scenes weren’t even in the movie). The introduction, although it was a bit harsh for me, it was wonderful, presenting every character in a very unique way. It covered basically everything that was not covered in the motion picture, and that was great! The relationship between the characters was shown a lot more and their internal thoughts were revealed, deepening their personalities. Even minor plot points that enrich the franchises’ universe were added, making it an obligatory read if you’re an Alien fanatic.



In conclusion, this book is a great Alien book! But even if you are a big Alien fan, you might not like it, because it centres less on the actual creature. I absolutely loved it, and will certainly be reading the next novelizations.