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Alien (Alien #1)
The crew of the spaceship Nostromo are awakened from cryogenic sleep by apparent distress signals originating from an unknown planet. The astronauts land on the planet and investigate a derelict alien craft. One of the crew is attacked by an alien life form, but survives. When the crew return to the Nostromo and are safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real ho...more
Paperback, 270 pages
Published
March 29th 1979
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published 1979)
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I saw the film when I was 9 years old. It has given me nightmares well in to my 30's. This is great stuff!!!
After getting past the initial shock of watching the movie at such a young age, I went and bought the Alien Story Picture book and then in my early teen years I read the novel. It is a great read and really captures the haunting aspects of the movie. Everything you wanted was there with additional content you didn't see in the movies until Ridley Scott released a Director's Cut around 2004...more
After getting past the initial shock of watching the movie at such a young age, I went and bought the Alien Story Picture book and then in my early teen years I read the novel. It is a great read and really captures the haunting aspects of the movie. Everything you wanted was there with additional content you didn't see in the movies until Ridley Scott released a Director's Cut around 2004...more
In space, no one can hear you scream.
Seven cryogenically frozen dreamers are awakened aboard the interstellar tug Nostromo. As haziness begins to dissipate, Captain Dallas retires to communicate with MOTHER―the ships onboard computer system.
Finding themselves off course and light years away from home, MOTHER informs Dallas that an alien distress signal has been detected and that under company protocol; they are obliged to investigate it.
Landing on the uncharted planet, Lambert, Kane, and Dallas...more
Seven cryogenically frozen dreamers are awakened aboard the interstellar tug Nostromo. As haziness begins to dissipate, Captain Dallas retires to communicate with MOTHER―the ships onboard computer system.
Finding themselves off course and light years away from home, MOTHER informs Dallas that an alien distress signal has been detected and that under company protocol; they are obliged to investigate it.
Landing on the uncharted planet, Lambert, Kane, and Dallas...more
Mar 04, 2013
Octavio Villalpando
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans de Alien
Mucho se habla siempre de las adaptaciones fílmicas de obras literarias, casi siempre echando pestes respecto a la pobre calidad de las mismas en comparación con su origen. Sin embargo, también existe el raro fenómeno de las adaptaciones literarias de obras fílmicas. Y en verdad, era de esperarse, ya que no en pocas ocasiones el cine ha dado origen a historias con todos los atributos necesarios para constituir clásicos del imaginario popular. Y al igual como pasa en el caso ordinario, los frutos...more
Worth a read, well, the first part at least. Out of 270 pages, the first half comprises of the first twenty minute of the movie. And, to be honest, this is the best part of the book! Overall, the characters are not very well developed and the alien itself isn't described at all (plus, we all know the plot), but the exploration of the alien ship is fantastic; it's intriguing and suspenseful. These scenes are almost from another story - there is a mystery and danger that I never felt when watching...more
Jul 12, 2012
Frank Roberts
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
10 year old astrobiologists, Mormons
Shelves:
wicked-awesome,
sci-fi
Greatest book in the whole frickin' universe....
Now,I was 11 years old when Alien came out. My mom wouldn't let me see R-rated flicks at the time and most older friends & cousins were afraid of my mother so they wouldn't take me either. I couldn't fathom such a cruel existence - a Monster-Movie junkie being denied access to the latest, and possibly greatest, creature flick of all time. Torture. When some hair-lipped usher nabbed me trying to sneak into a matinee showing at the Lincoln Mall I...more
Now,I was 11 years old when Alien came out. My mom wouldn't let me see R-rated flicks at the time and most older friends & cousins were afraid of my mother so they wouldn't take me either. I couldn't fathom such a cruel existence - a Monster-Movie junkie being denied access to the latest, and possibly greatest, creature flick of all time. Torture. When some hair-lipped usher nabbed me trying to sneak into a matinee showing at the Lincoln Mall I...more
Mar 27, 2013
Jessica
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ebooks,
entretenidos
Si pensaban que es el libro en el que se basaron para la película me temo que estan equivocados, realmente este libro es una novelización de la famosa película de Ridley Scott, de la cual existen 3 secuelas y una precuela y es una de mis películas favoritas dicho sea de paso.
El libro se publico el mismo año que la película (1979), si bien es cierto las novelizaciones tienen muy mala fama ya que es muy difícil dotar a un libro del mismo interés que despierta la película este caso es sin duda la e...more
El libro se publico el mismo año que la película (1979), si bien es cierto las novelizaciones tienen muy mala fama ya que es muy difícil dotar a un libro del mismo interés que despierta la película este caso es sin duda la e...more
Re-read this novel after almost 30yrs!
Read it when I was quite young (1982 or early 1983, methinks). I read it BEFORE I watched the film as I was too young to see it even when it appeared on home video.
ADF is a very clear, logical writer who incorporates a good deal of plausible science in his sci-fi (I've ONLY read his movie tie-ins). Foster doesn't get caught on messy, expository (=unnecessary) detail, techno-babble or handwavium. In many ways, he's like Michael Crichton. His writing style --...more
Read it when I was quite young (1982 or early 1983, methinks). I read it BEFORE I watched the film as I was too young to see it even when it appeared on home video.
ADF is a very clear, logical writer who incorporates a good deal of plausible science in his sci-fi (I've ONLY read his movie tie-ins). Foster doesn't get caught on messy, expository (=unnecessary) detail, techno-babble or handwavium. In many ways, he's like Michael Crichton. His writing style --...more
More detail and a bit more tense than the movie. The characters are more real. I enjoyed it and would recommend.
This thing scared the bejesus out of me! Wholly mackerel! I had to grip the chair I was in. I broke into a cold sweat every time I picked this up to read it. I could NOT do it all in one sitting ' cause it was too intense. I like being scared, but seriously folks this was sheer terror. Something that could adapt to any atmosphere and is undestroyable? SHOOT me now, please? Poke me in the neck with a wooden stick HARD, repeatedly till I die before that thing gets to me!
Whew! Was all I could think...more
Whew! Was all I could think...more
I was quite disappointed, not in the story, but in the language used to convey it: so repetitive. I wanted to scream at the book "yeah, we got that 10 or 20 pages ago, move on!"
The characters, well, the author obviously attempted to create individuals but they seemed stereotypically different. X will react so and Y differently but so predictably differently it was boring.
The only scene that caught me off guard (spoiler alert!) was when crew member was found to be a robot, but I think I could hav...more
The characters, well, the author obviously attempted to create individuals but they seemed stereotypically different. X will react so and Y differently but so predictably differently it was boring.
The only scene that caught me off guard (spoiler alert!) was when crew member was found to be a robot, but I think I could hav...more
Alan Dean Foster's adaptation of the original Alien screenplay is pitch-perfect. Every nuance of character from the original film translates to the novel and is taut and frighteningly suspenseful. I would heartily recommend to fans of the film, especially as there are several scenes from the original screenplay and ended up on the cutting room flaw.
My only complaint of the novelization is some of the plot-revealing scenes from the derelict spacecraft are curiously missing - possible last minutes...more
My only complaint of the novelization is some of the plot-revealing scenes from the derelict spacecraft are curiously missing - possible last minutes...more
Alien (Film Novelization) / 0-446-82977-3
The film novelization of "Alien" is pleasantly well-written from a technical standpoint; the book possesses correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation, which cannot always be said for film novelizations. The characters are largely true to their counterparts in the movie, and both the expanded dialogue and the internal thoughts of the crew have a ring of the genuine to them.
This novelization was apparently based on an extremely early transcript of the scre...more
The film novelization of "Alien" is pleasantly well-written from a technical standpoint; the book possesses correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation, which cannot always be said for film novelizations. The characters are largely true to their counterparts in the movie, and both the expanded dialogue and the internal thoughts of the crew have a ring of the genuine to them.
This novelization was apparently based on an extremely early transcript of the scre...more
This is a classic in its style of buliding suspense horror rather then drenching reader in blood to start. It builds up slowly to its frightening end and still leaves questions unanswered as too what race was the pilot of the ship where they were found? Some questions are still unanswered in all the subsequent versions. Yes predators like to hunt them and plant them to hunt but there are unkowns to frighten still with speculative thinking. The following books sadly seem to be more of monster hun...more
"This instant classic set a tone of its own, offering richly detailed sets, ominous atmosphere, relentless suspense, and a flawless ensemble cast as the crew of the space freighter Nostromo",
When the ship lands to investigate a Destress Signal that is comming from a ship but that is only the begining of the trouble Because one of the crew gets a facehugger attached to his face and he is disabled for a while and when the hugger falls off he only survives for mere hours till dinner when he starts...more
When the ship lands to investigate a Destress Signal that is comming from a ship but that is only the begining of the trouble Because one of the crew gets a facehugger attached to his face and he is disabled for a while and when the hugger falls off he only survives for mere hours till dinner when he starts...more
I remember reading it in a room far away from everyone in the house, after midnight always(of course) and it would always give me the creeps! Such detail on the scenes and passion on the aspects of technology made it intstanly..a classic. I didnt like much "science fiction" but this book changed my perspective. A page turner, read it if you have a chance, even if you're not fan of this genre, give it a shot! ( worked for me =) ).
Jul 29, 2011
Rick Ludwig
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-pre-retirement
I read the book many, many years ago, before I saw the movie, and found it frightening. Especially well crafted was the scene where the alien blood starts penetrating the decks of the ship and stops just short of exposing them to the vacuum of space. I loved the first movie as well and felt it's dark and dusty environment and truly alien creature coupled with the very human and flawed characters set it way above the average Sci/Fi film of the time.
Read this when I was a kid, and just read it again now that my own son is finally old enough to watch the film (franchise), resparked my interest in what is to me probably the greatest sci fi horror film ever made. The book is incredible too, and contains many moments that didn't make it into the final film cut. An essential creature feature classic.
The movie "Alien" was definitely faithful to the book......this book scared the CRAP out of me in the way that I was constantly tense on knowing what was going to happen...but not wanting to know....and then reading on thru it and shuddering the whole time....I LOVED IT!!! Great...intense...horror that does it's thing in less than 300 pages....AWESOME!!!
I wasn't exactly sure what I would be getting into with this. These types of movie adaptions can go one of two ways and one way, the typical way, really sucks. This one...while I was a little disappointed they didn't expand upon anything (more Ripley would not have gone unappreciated...sorry, I am greedy) it mostly stuck to the script or at least an early form of it. There was a deliberate style in place here. Not just the script with some necessarily filler of setting and visual cues. That made...more
Based on the rather successful film, although an earlier version of said film, this is quite a good read as film tie-ins go. There is none of the usual poor grammar, spelling, sentence construction etc that often peppers such books, which was a pleasant surprise. However the language and style of writing did slow the pace of the story, particularly towards the beginning, which given the speed and style of the film itself was a little disappointing. I also found some of the writing a little repet...more
Filmové adaptace knih bývají často; kulantně řečeno; nic moc a o knižních adaptacích filmů pak rovnou raději ani nemluvě. Ovšem každé pravidlo má svou výjimku a románový přepis scénáře Vetřelce právě takovou výjimkou... není. Oproti filmovému bratříčku ztrácí především na té specifické atmosféře, čímž více vyniká béčkovost námětu, ale nabízí větší náhled do psychologie postav i spoustu informací, které do filmu přenést nešlo či ve vizuální podobě nevyniknou. Největší slabinou tak ve výsledku jso...more
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Mar 13, 2013
John
added it
Great book. Enjoyed the all the futuristic technology that wasn't mentioned in the movie.
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Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing,...more
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Mar 05, 2013 12:30pm