Reviews

Alien: River of Pain (Novel #3) by Christopher Golden

john87's review

3.0

Note: this is a review of the audible audio drama.

After the previous two lackluster entries in the "canonical trilogy" I decided to opt for the audible drama of River of Pain instead. I'm glad I did as the production was really well done (spotty accents notwithstanding) and elevated the material from being mere run of the mill filler to an enjoyable Alien romp that really nailed the atmosphere of the films, Alien 3 in particular.

However when it's not delivering tense and bombastic sci-fi horror & carnage it can get bogged down in some of the minutiae of the characters' day to day; leading to it feeling more like a glorified soap opera set in the Alien universe more than anything. Another issue, exclusive to the audio drama, were the kid actors that didn't always land the mark.

Otherwise it's a fun albeit predictable ride which I'd very much recommend over reading the actual novel itself. If only to hear more of Jonesy's oblivious purring.

metrica's review

4.0

Adds a bit of texture to the Hadley's Hope events that lead to Newt (NOT Rebecca!) being the lone survivor but not much to the lore. Surprisingly this is the weakest of the trilogy but not by much. The voice actors range from excellent (Anna Friel, Holly from Land of The Lost, and the two children) to pretty terrible.

zimb0's review

3.0

Some dumb dialog but I would love to listen to more.

bradach's review

4.0

This was my second favorite book out of the newer three Alien books, Out of the Shadows being my favorite and Sea of Sorrows my least favorite. It was intense, atmospheric, and the Aliens are written well, as opposed to Sea of Sorrows where they just seem too easy to kill, and thus not scary at all. The first half is rather slow moving, but the pay off is great. Christopher Golden is also a better character writer than Lebbon or Moore and the characters were more relatable and better written in this book than Out of the Shadows or Sea of Sorrows. I found myself caring whether most of them lived or died. This book, however, suffered more so than Out of the Shadows and Sea of Sorrows with being predictable, mainly because the outcome is mostly known given you know this is a direct prequel of the events of 'Aliens' on LV-426 (aka Acheron). It still is nice to understand the background of Hadley's Hope and what transpired during the disaster though. Without spoiling anything, there is an unexpected event towards the end that could open up possibilities for future Alien movies, so what you think will happen while reading it is not necessarily what will happen.

modkuraika's review against another edition

4.0

I didn't like this quite as much as Sea of Sorrows, but as another midquel that bridges the gap between Alien and Aliens, the fall of Hadley's Hope in detail was an interesting story to explore, and didn't have some of the contrivances that Out of the Shadows did. Although, I could've done without the recapping of Ripley's time on the station. I've seen Aliens a bunch of times so that just felt repetitive. Although the subtle changes in the dialogue to make it line up with the first book were at least appreciated.

angelikareadsavariciously's review

5.0

This one almost made me cry...it was so good! If they could make every Alien book like this trilogy, I would be in heaven!

amy_da1sy's review

adventurous medium-paced

3.0

the_weirdling's review

3.0

An adequately enjoyable account of the events between Alien and Aliens. Not a great novel, but it was enjoyable enough that I will consider looking at others in the series.

orion1225's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

xtazziex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

4.0