Alien: Covenant - The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean FosterMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 1 day
Pages - 345
Publisher - Titan Books
Source - Book shop
Blurb from Goodreads
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with Alien: Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien adventure. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise. But it is actually a dark, dangerous world.
When they uncover a threat beyond their imaginations, they must attempt a harrowing escape.
Acclaimed author Alan Dean Foster also returns to the universe he first encountered with the official novelization of the original Alien film. Alien: Covenant is the pivotal adventure that preceded that seminal film, and leads to the events that will yield one of the most terrifying sagas of all time.
My Review
So if you have seen the movie Alien Covenant you pretty much know everything that is coming in the book, it is a novelization of the film. However, there are wee snippets that are new, the movie starts with David, the synthetic, coming to and speaking to his creator. In the book we get a little bit more insight to this, story tweaks and that is why I do love reading books of movies I have enjoyed, you do get changes and wee bits more information.
So, Prometheus we saw Doctor Elizabeth Shaw and David left alive, this book/movie opens with another synthetic, identical to David however this is Walter and a new crew and ship. The crew are headed to a destination with colonists asleep on board. When the ship comes across a signal and investigate the planet it looks even better than their destination. However they are attacked, injured and come across David from Prometheus but no sign of Doctor Shaw. As David starts to tell them of his time on the planet and the creatures they have just escaped the crew find themselves in danger from all corners.
Oooooh I do love Alien movies and after reading this one I want to see if there are more of these books for the previous movies. There are quite a few subtle changes and I think, for the most part, they work better with the book. I won't go into them as I don't do spoiler reviews however we are offered more insight into David, his motives and rational and his relationship with Doctor Shaw.
Atmospheric, tense, dark, deaths abundance and if you enjoy the movie(s) I think you will enjoy the book as I feel you do get more out of it. The only thing I would *warn* about is a rape type reference that unless I missed it I don't think was in the movie. I also don't think it particularly added anything except a bit more bizarre behaviour for what it is referenced to and it isn't anything in any kind of detail. The interactions and scenes with David and Walter were really good and I would have liked a bit more between the two synthetics because they were so alike and so different in many respects, their scenes together highlighted so much contrasts. 3.5 stars for me this time, despite only watching the movie last week I was still drawn in and turning page after page wanting to see what was coming even though I knew. I will be looking more up by this author and absolutely checking out more in the series.
I have not seen the film yet. I want to see it.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that Alan Dean Foster is still doing novelizations! I remember reading multiple novelizations written by him in the 1980s. In fact, I read his novelization of the original Alien film back then. He has also written some great original science fiction. It is good to hear that he is still writing.
Oh Brian I need to look them out, gives a bit more insight into the movies. Had never heard of his before xxx
DeleteI really enjoy to read that book it's amazing, actually I was looking to watch harry potter NZ, and I found your blog.
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