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Alien

(Alien Movie Novelizations #1)

Alan Dean Foster

4.09 · Rating details · 17,749 ratings · 465 reviews

Based on the screenplay by Dan O'Bannon. The crew of the spaceship Nostromo wake from cryogenic sleep to distress signals from an unknown planet. One is attacked when they investigate a derelict alien craft. Safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real horror about to begin. ...more

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Paperback, 270 pages

Published March 29th 1979 by Grand Central Publishing (first published 1979)

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Jun 24, 2012 Frank Roberts rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: 10 year old astrobiologists, Mormons

Shelves: sci-fi, wicked-awesome, hazy-reviews-from-youth

Greatest book in the whole frickin' universe!!! (of course, having read it over 30 years ago this won't be a highly detailed review...)

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- Greatest book in the whole frickin' universe!!! (of course, having read it over 30 years ago this won't be a highly detailed review...)

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 still refused to accept defeat. But I had to take a new tack.

Not too far down the hall from the cinemas was Walden Books, one of my favorite loitering spots; even got locked in the store one night while sitting on my ass reading stuff. Walden's had the next best thing to a 16mm reel of Alien: a whole section devoted to print paraphernalia of Alien.* They had one hell of a licensing juggernaut for a movie kids weren't supposed to see on their own. Action figures, trading cards, playing cards, comic books, posters, pop-up books, place mats, picture books and one novel (written after the fact). Those last two got me as close as I ever was going to get to the movie until it came out on VHS (which would be contingent on ma getting us a VCR...)

I gorged on the novel in a weekend and I pawed through the picture book in the store so many times I had a pretty good visual of Alien in my head when I decided to start lying to my sixth grade classmates and claim to have seen the movie. Of course, the book was a fleshed out, literary realization of Dan O'Bannon's, et al, screenplay. Which meant that it had events and dialog which didn't actually occur in the film. Which also meant I referenced "scenes" which kids who had actually seen the movie didn't remember.

Naturally this all led to puzzled looks and accusations that I hadn't seen Alien at all. Backed into a corner, I defended my falsehoods by accusing them of covering their eyes cause they were chicken; or that they were in the bathroom barfing during the scenes in question. Then I took a bus back to the Lincoln Mall cinemas, bought a ticket to some lame "Benji" sequel and took another stab at sneaking into Alien. Success this time - I was in!!! Forgot to pee, however, but there was no way I was going out to the restroom and risk not getting back in. When it was all over I felt like things were going to rupture out of me too. But I was going back to school on Monday with a rock solid impersonation of John Hurt hatching that space bug out of his chest.

As for the book itself - best literary experience I'd had at that point in life; even better than "How to Eat Fried Worms" or The Hardy Boys stuff.

*Walden Books was also where I first experienced the Rocky Horror Picture Show...

For a current feel of claustrophobia, dread and creatures trying to kill people (all in a funny way) check out

Jackass on a Camel ...more

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Nov 16, 2015 Alex ☣ Deranged KittyCat ☣ rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Movie fans

Shelves: audiobooks, mystery-thriller-horror, 2017-favorites, novelizations, adult, aliens, sci-fi, kick-ass-ladies, all-time-favorites

Most of us know what Alien is about. If you don't, shame on you. The 1979 movie is a classic, and you should watch it.

description

I've known about the novelization for a few years now, so I said it was finally time to give it a try. It didn't disappoint, even if the beginning was a bit rough. Once the action starts, everything runs smoothly.

As with all novelizations, we get a lot more details and nuances. And the facehuggers are described in great detail. A bit too great if you ask me, but that's a matter o ...more

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Oct 05, 2013 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-in-series, 4-star, a-own-book-form, movie-seen, horror, part-of-series, reviewed, movie-was-better, science-fiction, got-in-2013

Alien…a classic, epic movie. Created from a screenplay, they turned around and made the movie, then made the book off the movie/screenplay – one rarely thinks of this book offspring when they hear the word “Alien.” The movie is better too, but for fans of the series, especially completionists, this spawned book is a good addition to the shelves.

I won’t go into the details of the story – what’s the point? If you don’t know the story of Alien, rent it immediately or miss out. The book stays pretty Alien…a classic, epic movie. Created from a screenplay, they turned around and made the movie, then made the book off the movie/screenplay – one rarely thinks of this book offspring when they hear the word “Alien.” The movie is better too, but for fans of the series, especially completionists, this spawned book is a good addition to the shelves.

I won’t go into the details of the story – what’s the point? If you don’t know the story of Alien, rent it immediately or miss out. The book stays pretty faithful to the film. This didn’t work for the beginning, though, as reading about drug out technical aspects of landing, planning the course, and positioning lasted far too long and bored me. After page forty or so, my interest finally shipped off.

The scene where Lambert, Dallas, and Kane explore the alien vessel and find the chamber is especially eerie and great. In written form, I was able to appreciate the impressiveness and uniqueness of the ship much more than when staring at it on the screen. I think this was due in part to the author taking such time to detail the structure and how truly alien it was, emphasizing this fact further than the movie did. Creepiness was laid on thick as Kane explores the chambers; in written form that daunting climb down seemed longer in length, it’s suspense richer.
After the first half, the book starts changing small things from the movie, which is fine. Overall the deaths in the book were lackluster to the movie though. There wasn’t as much suspense and impact. There is even more kitty emphasis. Mother plays a smaller part, especially at the end. The chase scenes were great and made sense (in other words, they weren’t in trouble because they were acting stupid like some stories rely on, they were acting with intelligence but happened to be up against something stronger than they.)

And of course, there was no underwear showdown!

Character wise, Ridley was less likeable. She is flatter, bitchier, and her arrogance irritated me as well as the crew. Dallas is as likeable in written form as the flick. I cared more about Parker and Brent reading about them. Ash was well done and further fleshed out.

Oddly the alien’s appearance isn’t discussed hardly at all. Weird, right? The author goes into detail about the egg, the facehugger alive and dead. Ash eagerly dishes out revelations and theories about the being’s abilities and superiority, but when it comes to the adult’s alien appearance, it’s ridiculously vague. Was it because the author struggled with the right wording on describing the unique creature right? Writing error and accidentally leaving that description out despite the many chances to include it? Did they want to leave that particular surprise for the movie buffs, what? It bugs me.

Overall fans should read it if they own it or stumble across a copy. The book doesn’t add in any missing pieces or further insight but it’s still an enjoyable read. The characters, even the alien, are flatter – but the action segments work and it’s a fascinating story. It also has made me in the mood to watch the movie again.
...more

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Apr 03, 2016 11811 (Eleven) rated it really liked it

I think this is the first film novelization I've ever read. The idea never appealed to me before but this was pretty damn good. It successfully captures the suspense and subtle terror of the film which I am now anxious to watch again. This Foster dude can write and I already bought his sequel, Aliens, even though I'm not a huge fan of the film version on that one. Amazon currently has it for $2 though so I figure it's worth checking out.

Recommended space horror. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Sean O'Hara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, horror, aliens, first-contact

If you ever want to see how much movie novelizations have changed in the last forty years, you can't go wrong with Alan Dean Foster's work. Pick up his adaptations of the most recent Star Trek movies and you'll find what is essentially just the script reformatted to prose form -- and not just any script, but the final draft continuity script. No deleted scenes, no character development based upon production notes, and certainly no original input from the author.

But go back to the novelizations h ...more

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May 14, 2018 Luca Signorelli rated it really liked it

One of the least pretentious and most effective SF books I've ever read, and probably the best film novelization I'm aware of. Follows the Ridley Scott movie quite closely, bit gives the "truckers in space" spin of the characters much greater depth, albeit Ripley is less likeable than in the film. The first part of the story (including the planetoid landing and the alien relic exploration) is given much more space than in the movie, while the second part is more compressed. A nice page turner! ...more

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Oct 01, 2020 Inkspill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-speculative-fict

I’ve now seen the Director’s Cut of this movie – and when I finished watching it I knew I wanted to revise this.

To watch the movie again, wow!! phenomenal does not cover it – the sets, especially the intricate detail (the kind that requires a labour of love), reminded me of how visual impact matters to Ridley Scott. I could watch this movie frame by frame, the mise-en-scene is stunning in its brooding dark palette.

Though, watching this with surround sound could have completely distracted me to I’ve now seen the Director’s Cut of this movie – and when I finished watching it I knew I wanted to revise this.

To watch the movie again, wow!! phenomenal does not cover it – the sets, especially the intricate detail (the kind that requires a labour of love), reminded me of how visual impact matters to Ridley Scott. I could watch this movie frame by frame, the mise-en-scene is stunning in its brooding dark palette.

Though, watching this with surround sound could have completely distracted me to note how the narrative structure does not follow the mainstream Hollywood rules. I’m not sure if this was common in the 70’s, just looking through the list of films for that decade on Wikipedia, it’s a possibility as there’s a real mix of movies with mainstream and indie story structure.

What made this viewing experience interesting this time is watching it after reading this novella. It’s published 35 years after the movie (and I’m guessing based on the theatrical release) but it still manages to recreate the tension and suspense, as I noted in my original review here:

This novella has the same opener but with wonderful extra details; whilst the crew sleep in their individual pods, what they dream about is explored. To the last page, there are these little interesting character details, like Dallas who avoids trying to make decisions, and how sharp Ripley is; leaving me wonder if things would have been different if she was in charge.

Then there is all the techy stuff, I was completely blown away by the detail and the description of it, showing how much work Alan Dean Foster had put into this. He didn’t stop at just retelling the movie’s story, his novelisation, page after page matched the cinematic experience, not just visually but in tension too. It’s the little touches, like the banter between Parker and Breet being the calm to the storm that builds up and the terror to come. Or how I'm made to believe that Ripley, now in her shuttle, is safe to be shocked by what’s to come.

However, as far as the fear factor is concerned, this novella cannot complete with the movie’s sound and visual experience, but what it does do beautifully is act as a movie companion (filling in the gaps between those jump-cuts) for viewers who are not used to reading the story when watching an indie story structure. ...more

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Feb 28, 2014 Scott Rhee rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, movie-tie-in, science-fiction

I don't normally read novelizations, but when I do, I read Alan Dean Foster's novelizations. (Okay, that sounded like a beer commercial…)

Part of the reason is that Foster seems to single-handedly write ALL movie novelizations, especially those in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre. So, if you're going to read a novelization, more than likely, it's been written by Foster.

Ridley Scott's "Alien" is, in my opinion, one of the best horror movies ever made. It's so creepy and horrifying, it gives me goos ...more

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Jun 29, 2019 Isa Lavinia rated it did not like it

Shelves: why-the-hype, sci-fi, boring, disappointment, horror, mestrado, monstrous-feminine

It literally only got interesting on page 171...
Tragic considering how great the movie is.

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Sep 20, 2019 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This adaptation of the original screenplay for the first Alien film; tries hard to capture the terror and pacing of the movie. It succeeds to a degree. Some of my favorite movies are based on novels. Official movie novelization is not really as successful in my opinion. So I've reserved a Blu-ray of the film at my local library to give it another view as it's been years since I've seen it. ...more

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Dec 10, 2013 Mark rated it liked it

Recommends it for: fans of the movies

Recommended to Mark by: the movie

Shelves: scifi, cinema

A novelsisation of the movie that scared the living daylights out of me, and that after I read this book. I did read the book before since there was no chance in a snowballs' hell my mother was allowing me to see the actual movie in cinema. So as a good kid I found a 2nd hand copy and read the book before I ever saw the movie, and when I did on VHS I did not tell anybody at home, my sisters being snitches and such.

Alien the brilliant visual conception of GIGER and it does fall short in the book ...more

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Dec 22, 2019 Estevam (Impish Reviews) rated it it was amazing

it is pretty good, the acess to the characters thoughts really enhance the experience, and the scene with the chest burster is very agonizing, i would say this one is for people who liked the movie and would want to have a more intimate relation with the characters.

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Sep 16, 2014 Graham rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Not a bad novelisation as they go but not a patch on the film. ALIEN is the first of a trilogy by Alan Dean Foster, in which he based his novelisations on the screenplays rather than the finished movies. As H. R. Giger came up with the look of the alien after the screenplay was finished, we're left with little to no description of the adult alien here; just a bogeyman's hand reaching down to catch its unsuspecting victims.

Given that Ridley Scott's film is a widely acknowledged sci-fi/horror mast ...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, sci-fi

More detail and a bit more tense than the movie. The characters are more real. I enjoyed it and would recommend.

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Jan 02, 2021 Shannon rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, science-fiction, book-to-film, z-based-on-another-work, thriller, series-started, series-undecided, read-in-2021

This was a bit of an odd read as it's a novelization of the film Alien, and that is a film that I know very well. So well that I could pick out every time the dialogue was different, and almost any differences in terms of the plot. I'm sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

One reason I enjoy reading adaptations after seeing a film is to learn more about the characters. In this case, that didn't work out to well because I learned things I wish I hadn't (usually in a gender crap way). Anothe ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Love of Hopeless Causes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, gunpowder

I just lost a review I'd been working on for two hours, so now I'm honked off. Conclusion: if you want to read books that don't make you sleepy, try those with a single point of view that don't have a cast of a thousand dullards.

Alien is highly enjoyable for those who like such things. Five stars, if not for the mushy beginning and universal point of view. No doubt Foster could write a better book, but it wouldn't match the script and deadline conditions he was probably under. Corporations suck ...more

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Jan 12, 2021 Adam Christopher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-2021

A master class in the art of movie novelisation.

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Feb 14, 2012 Donovan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, thriller, horror

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 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.
If you want to spook yourself while enjoying a great sci-fi story, then this for you. The atmosphere is gritty with a feeling that this is all plausible and set in the not-too-distant future.

Plot ***Spoilers***
The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo is on a return trip from Thedus to Earth, hauling a refinery and twenty million tons of mineral ore, and carrying its seven-member crew in stasis. Upon receiving a transmission of unknown origin from a nearby planetoid, the ship's computer awakens the crew. Acting on standing orders from their corporate employers, the crew detaches the Nostromo from the refinery and lands on the planetoid, resulting in some damage to the ship. Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert set out to investigate the signal's source while Warrant Officer Ripley, Science Officer Ash, and Engineers Brett and Parker stay behind to monitor their progress and make repairs.

Dallas, Kane, and Lambert discover that the signal is coming from a derelict alien spacecraft. Inside it they find the remains of a large alien creature whose ribs appear to have been exploded outward from the inside. Meanwhile, the Nostromo's computer partially deciphers the signal transmission, which Ripley determines to be some type of warning. Kane discovers a vast chamber containing numerous eggs, one of which releases a creature that attaches itself to his face. Dallas and Lambert carry the unconscious Kane back to the Nostromo, where Ash allows them inside against Ripley's orders to follow the ship's quarantine protocol. They unsuccessfully attempt to remove the creature from Kane's face, discovering that its blood is an extremely corrosive acid. Eventually the creature detaches on its own and is found dead. With the ship repaired, the crew resume their trip back to Earth.

Kane awakens seemingly unharmed, but during a meal before re-entering stasis he begins to choke and convulse until an alien creature bursts from his chest, killing him and escaping into the ship. Lacking conventional weapons, the crew attempt to locate and capture the creature by fashioning motion trackers, electric prods, and flamethrowers. Brett follows the crew's cat into a large room where the now-fully-grown Alien attacks him and disappears with his body into the ship's air shafts. Dallas enters the shafts intending to force the Alien into an airlock where it can be expelled into space, but it ambushes him. Lambert implores the remaining crew members to escape in the ship's shuttle, but Ripley, now in command, explains that the shuttle will not support four people.

Accessing the ship's computer, Ripley discovers that Ash has been ordered to return the Alien to the Nostromo's corporate employers even at the expense of the crew's lives. Ash attacks her, but Parker intervenes and decapitates him with a blow from a fire extinguisher, revealing Ash to be an android. Before Parker incinerates him, Ash predicts that the other crew members will not survive. The remaining three crew members plan to arm the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism and escape in the shuttle, but Parker and Lambert are killed by the Alien while gathering the necessary supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence and heads for the shuttle with the cat, but finds the Alien blocking her way. She unsuccessfully attempts to abort the self-destruct, then returns to find the Alien gone and narrowly escapes in the shuttle as the Nostromo explodes.

As she prepares to enter stasis, Ripley discovers that the Alien is aboard the shuttle. She puts on a space suit and opens the hatch, causing explosive decompression which forces the Alien to the open doorway. She shoots it with a grappling gun which propels it out, but the gun is yanked from her hands and catches in the closing door, tethering the Alien to the shuttle. It attempts to crawl into one of the engines, but Ripley activates them and blasts the Alien into space. She then puts herself and the cat into stasis for the return trip to Earth. ...more

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May 02, 2013 Tina rated it liked it

Shelves: horror-legit

Worth a read, well, the first part at least. Out of 270 pages, the first half comprises of the first twenty minutes of the movie. And, to be honest, this is the best part of the book! Overall, the characters are far better developed in the movie 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 wh ...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Eyehavenofilter rated it really liked it

Shelves: other-worlds

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

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Sep 09, 2020 Pixi Jo rated it really liked it

Shelves: bad-advice, monster-mash, kill-em-all, sci-fi-fantastic, series, the-adventure-is-strong-in-this-one, suspenseful, apocalypse-how, life-and-death-biff-baff, horror

Honestly the movie creeped me out big time! I saw 'Aliens' before I saw 'Alien' so I thought I was ready for the experience but crumbs, my tummy still tightens up at the thought of a wee alien embryo making it's home in my belly and then deciding it's time to move on in life...seriously you think tapeworms are bad? At least the two of you are in it together - aliens however are extremely selfish!

Anyway...

When I saw this book I was like, "Yes Please, Swiss cheese!" and read the whole thing quick ...more

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May 30, 2020 Erik rated it really liked it

This is sort of the "Shake and Bake" of books: Take one famous movie script, add one very decent author, shake the two together to make the script a pleasing, more palatable read, and Ta Daaa! You get a very nicely done book that mirrors the movie but adds some polish and chrome.

I'm not going to get into the storyline... everyone alive today knows it. Foster does shine this story up though and manages to add some subtle flavors that really do enhance the experience. I really enjoyed the read, a ...more

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Nov 29, 2020 Jason Ramey rated it really liked it

“I’m not afraid of the dark I know. It’s the dark I don’t that terrifies me.”
― Alan Dean Foster, Alien: The Official Movie Novelization

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Jan 26, 2020 Hand of Fear rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The film surpasses the book in every single way, the writing in this book is simplistic and boring.

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Sep 01, 2017 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, horror

It was a good complement to the movie, and a competent novelization. Hard to capture the atmosphere or intense atmosphere and creepiness of the movie, though.

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Aug 03, 2020 Rishabh rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020

4.25 stars

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Jan 22, 2020 James Big Cat rated it it was amazing

Edit- just re-watched the movie and it made me appreciate the book even more

Great read for the fans, this one mostly fleshes out the crew of the Nostromo and doesn't add much else.
My favorite part was the scene that took place from Jones the cats POV lol ...more

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Sep 17, 2013 Matt Byrde rated it really liked it

Shelves: aliens, sci-fi, books-before-movies, strong-female-protagonist, horror, fiction

I was about 13 when I first read Alien, not being allowed by my parents to see the movie as it was probably too scary for my young and fragile little mind. I found a copy at the library, the old 1979 hardcover version with cover art depicting a lone astronaut navigating an alien tunnel. As the cover didn't have the now iconic green, glowing alien egg design from the movie poster, my Mom probably didn't see this book as a movie tie-in, but instead another in the long line of benign astro-mystery, I was about 13 when I first read Alien, not being allowed by my parents to see the movie as it was probably too scary for my young and fragile little mind. I found a copy at the library, the old 1979 hardcover version with cover art depicting a lone astronaut navigating an alien tunnel. As the cover didn't have the now iconic green, glowing alien egg design from the movie poster, my Mom probably didn't see this book as a movie tie-in, but instead another in the long line of benign astro-mystery, space fantasies I had been reading at the time. It terrified me. The slow build to the pummeling apocalyptic ending took me only a few nights to finish, usually reading after dark, under the covers with a flashlight shaped like a toy truck. I had to see the film.

We had a VHS copy that my Dad taped from HBO and I watched it after school, before my Mom got home from work. It must have been mid-winter, because I remember it slowly growing dark outside, and enthralled with the rising tension of the move, I forgot to turn on the interior lights. Somehow, I never heard the garage door open, and she burst in through the door into the hallway off the side of the TV room right as the Alien on screen popped out of the shadowy tunnel to kill Dallas. I jumped up and leapt to the VCR to hide that I had been watching a movie my parents had specifically forbid me to watch. She turned on the lights to see me standing next to the blank television.

She never asked me what I was doing just standing there in the dark, eyes wide and chest heaving. She was probably too busy carrying in things from the car, or maybe that was just one of the many weird things I was accustomed to doing at that age. Either way, my experience of the heightened by the fear of my Mom coming home and catching me up to no good. I never got caught, so I finished the movie the next day, and then the sequel as well, all the while positive that in any moment an Alien would pop out of the wall next to me and ground me for a week. This solidified Alien as one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.

If you're already an Alien uber-fan, read the book for a minor expansion of the characters (including Jones!), and some very slight and mostly inconsequential changes in storyline.

If you're not a fan, this ones not for you. People say that the book is always better than the movie, and I tend to agree. But this is the rare exception to the rule.

Go watch Alien.

Now.

…and don't tell Mom. ...more

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Apr 15, 2018 jas rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction-and-fantasy

Anyone who is well acquainted with me knows how much I just love the Alien film franchise, so I made sure to include a few of its novelisations in my next book haul after hearing good things.

I've seen the original Alien film countless of times and yet I still enjoyed experiencing this familiar suspenseful, sci-fi horror story in a different format. I already knew the grizzly fate of the Nostromo and its crew, with only very few details altered, and yet I was still terrified because it is a story ...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Hollowman rated it really liked it

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

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Horror Aficionados : The Alien Franchise is simply amazing!	9	30	Nov 21, 2018 07:04PM
Which is better, Alien or The Thing?	2	7	May 18, 2018 10:11AM
Can you help me figure out this book?	2	8	Apr 08, 2018 04:34PM
Can't recall the names of the books!	2	28	May 26, 2014 09:38AM

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About Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster

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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

Other books in the series

Alien Movie Novelizations (5 books)

Books by Alan Dean Foster

A New Hope (Star Wars: Novelizations, #4)

The Force Awakens (Star Wars: Novelizations, #7)

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Goodreads Editors (and CEO) Share Their Mystery Picks

Die-hard mystery fans are always on the hunt for their next supremely satisfying whodunit. To help you stock that Want to Read shelf, we asked...

Trivia About Alien

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Quotes from Alien

“I’m not afraid of the dark I know. It’s the dark I don’t that terrifies me.” — 3 likes

“A man with a gun may hunt a tiger during the day with some expectation of success. Turn out his light, put the man in the jungle at night, surround him with the unknown and all his primitive fears return. Advantage to the tiger.” — 2 likes

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