Most importantly, Foster dives deep into the minds of Ripley, Newt, Burke, Hicks, Hudson, and others! What made Burke such an ass, and where was he planning to run off to in the third act of Aliens when the Xenomorphs overcame the survivors?Īs far as story, anyone familiar with the movie will know the basic plot and what to expect. For me, at times Foster’s direction is often a better alternative. Whether or not you like this, well… you have to read it first.

Foster offers an alternative response for our character’s actions and motivations in several key scenes. Readers should not be hesitant about the quality of the story, and yes, it does offer more than the movie in dialogue and retells certain scenes. Instead, for me, it rests upright next to my Ender’s Universe novels. This is not the novel shoved to the back of the bookshelf. The books offer a new fresh perspective to tell the events and, if done properly, take the reader a few levels deeper to discover something that went unseen in the films.įirst off, Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization is well written and fleshed out, transitioning smoothly from scene to scene. It is not the movies are better than the books or vice versa (except with Alien 3, which you can read about in my review here on SFBOOK). Written originally in 1986, Foster respectfully adds to the Alien universe in a way that even Ridley Scott (Alien), James Cameron (Aliens), and David Fincher (Alien 3) could not with a camera. And for this, Alan Dean Foster is a force to be reckoned with. Yet, some novelizations often tell the story in a way film simply cannot commute: taking the reader into the minds of the characters. Reviewers are critical, normally arguing that it is just an attempt to make money off a popular film franchise, and at times they do so justly. Novelizations of movies are often jutted to the back of the bookshelf after one reading.

Alan dean foster alien 3