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Fans of the Xenomorph rejoice, because the creature from your nightmares is back. Set 10 years after the fateful events of Prometheus, Alien:Covenant continues Ridley Scott's new vision for the franchise, and for the titular character, the Alien itself. And this time, he's brought along a few new and equally dangerous friends to up the ante. I can't tell you how excited I was for this movie and novel adaptation. I'm a huge fan of this movie franchise, and finally getting to see the Xenomorph on the big screen was a dream come true.


Fans of the films who might have been wary about certain directions this movie appears to take regarding the creature should definitely give this adaptation a chance. It's pretty clear that Foster was adapting from an earlier draft of the film script - or potentially the final draft, before any last minute edits that wound up on the cutting room floor. There are a number of scenes re-inserted into the narrative here that do well towards shoring up some of the more confusing/controversial elements of the film that hit theaters.

This was all around a great time. Is it as good as Alien or Aliens? Of course not, but if you're going into a later film in a franchise expecting it to be the best one of the bunch, you're ly setting yourself up for a bad time. But it's an enjoyable addition to the franchise that plays off of existing lore while expanding into new territories. What Prometheus lacked for in terms of connection to the actual Xenomorph, this story makes up for in spades. The creature is pulled back to center focus here, which is sure to delight fans of the franchise.

As a fan of both Alien and Prometheus, I do wish this story had better juggled the story elements left in limbo after Prometheus. The Engineers, Humanity's supposed creators that Elizabeth Shaw and David left LV223 in order to find, hardly factor into this story at all, which is a shame. In my opinion, there was a lot of material yet to cover about them, and the way things are left makes me think we'll be hard pressed to ever find out more. Alas, I think this choice was ly a studio led initiative in response to the rather lukewarm reception Prometheus received, at least in the US.


Instead, Ridley Scott refocuses on the Alien, establishing new elements to their lore as well as introducing a deadly new subset of their species: the Neomorph. Whereas the Xenomorph's reproductive cycle moves from ovoid to human host and then finally to the creature, the neomorph is born from a deadly virus, infecting a host's bloodstream before eventually coalescing into its final form. This new method of infection makes for an interesting take on the body horror aspect of the previous films. Gone are the days when you were safe as long as you stayed away from leathery-looking eggs. Now, the beast can get you whenever and wherever it wants, if you're not mindful of your surroundings.


One thing I appreciated about this adaptation were the ways in which it reduces many complaints I've heard of the characters in the final film. We the reader are given more time in their head, and we come to understand their reasoning and decisions they make a bit better. Plus, this book definitely clears up all the questions that seems to surround why the characters thought it safe to journey onto the surface of the planet without helmets in the first place.

And yes, for those wondering, the book does also clear up the question of if David created the Xenomorph or not. He does not, the Engineers did. Although the Neomorph is his creation via the use of the black goo we saw in Prometheus.


My one major complaint here has got to be that Daniels is just in no way as good a character as Ripley or Shaw. She's strong, but her strength, and the events that lead her to it feel they're on fast forward in certain ways. I understand that the trauma of her situation would lead to quick character changes, but they're just not as compelling as they were for the two previous female leads.

Speaking of Shaw, I did also want to say that the fact that she's barely mentioned in this installment should be criminal. I get that Noomi Rapace wasn't able to make her schedule work to come back for this film, but I still wanted more from her character. I didn't feel her story was done yet.


All in all, this was a fun return for the franchise. I'm excited to see how Ridley Scott closes out his vision for the series, and how it will lead back to LV426 where Ripley first met the Alien.

????? = 4/5 stars40 s Alex ? Deranged KittyCat ?651 421

Oh, boy! 2017 is clearly my novelizations' year. And the Alien franchise is a big part of it.

If you d the movie, you'll love the book. If you didn't the movie, there's a big chance you'll the book. As with any other novelization, it adds more to the movie: certain situations are better explained, and the characters have more depth.

That being said, Michael Fassbender might just be the best part in the new Alien movies. He makes for one charming Synthetic.

Be it Walter, or David, I find them both fascinating. Walter seems to be a bit above his condition, and it's hard not to think of him as human when interacting with Daniels. As for David, he is a freaking psychopath (and it unnerves me to say, a charming one). The things he is implied to have done to Elizabeth Shaw... creepy as phuck!

I'm curious to see a movie/read a book about David's and Shaw's time together on the Engineer's planet. I'm sure it would be a disturbing piece of fiction, but one I would have to see/read nonetheless.

adult aliens audiobooks ...more34 s Melody Sams63 36

I preferred the novelization to the film, because we get more into the minds of the characters, particularly David. Their motives made more sense. This is why books are so much greater than films, IMO. We get a chance to learn more about the psychology behind the characters. 29 s aPriL does feral sometimes 1,980 454

'Alien: Covenant - the Official Movie Novelization' is number six in the Alien movie series as well as in the movie novelizations, although it is stated on the cover to be number five.

Readers must actually begin first with the Ridley Scott movie 'Alien' or with the novelization by Alan Dean Foster Alien. FYI, next in the series is Ridley Scott's 'Aliens', then Alien 3 (or author Foster's novelizations), and then Ridley Scott's 'Alien: Resurrection' (or author A. C. Crispin's movie novelization). For some reason, the movie 'Prometheus' is skipped over in lists by the novelization publisher, but 'Alien: Covenant' is the sequel to the movie 'Prometheus', so that makes 'Prometheus' number five.

Similar to the 'Star Wars' series, the production of the later 'Alien' movies has a timeline which has been turned back to a time before the first four movies. The first four Alien movies are in order, and they revolve around Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the original main protagonist. Beginning with 'Prometheus', the story explores the origins of the Alien creature - answering the questions of how the Alien monster came to exist and where they came from. We fans are also introduced to Mankind's progenitors - the Engineers.

In the movie 'Prometheus', Earth archeologists discover the star map of the Engineers in ancient Earth cultural artifacts. They feel the clues they discovered logically mean a benevolent altruistic race of beings from outer space created Mankind! Maybe. Anyway, the archeologists, Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway, convince the industrial company Weyland Corporation to help them find the Engineers' planet as indicated by the star map. Peter Weyland, the CEO of Weyland Corp., not only builds their exploration vessel the Prometheus, he provides them with David, a synthetic human- robot.

Well, gentle reader, the Earth astronauts do find out what the Engineers looked , and they confirm that the Engineers were indeed creating various DNA goo experiments on LV-223, the mysterious moon planet on the star map. However, to the horror of the Earth explorers, something had apparently gone terribly wrong with the goo.

'Alien: Covenant' picks up the story ten years after Prometheus disappeared. The space ship Covenant from Earth, full of sleeping colonists and embryos, is driving towards a newly discovered planet. Only Walter, a synthetic, is awake. Suddenly an emergency necessitates the reviving from hypersleep our main heroes - Daniels, Oram, Tennessee, Faris, Jacob, Lopé, Karine, Cole, Upworth, Ricks, Ledward, Rosenthal, Hallet, Ankor, and Tom. At first they believe they have arrived at their new home, a planet they think will be a paradise. But no! A particle wave has blasted through their ship causing electrical damage and shredding their energy collectors! Repairs must be made before they can jump and continue their journey to Origae-6, their new hoped-for Paradise so far from Earth.

Wait! What IS that? A rogue transmission is coming from somewhere, and they hear an old Earth song playing over the speakers, being sung by a woman! Mother, the AI in charge of running the Covenant, traces it to an undiscovered planet. At least, they see no sign of this star system or its five planets on the star charts. Obviously, their chart information is wrong! Examining incoming data, the planet from where the signal is broadcasting looks another Earth. Should they make a detour and check it out? They are seven years away from Origae-6, and those darn sleep pods are SO uncomfortable....

Gentle reader, are you hoping many of these characters will survive? If so, you definitely are reading the wrong series! High velocity action and graphic violence and frustrating mistakes mean most of the characters end up as doggie chow, or more accurately, as Alien chow. However, the origin story of the Aliens is finally revealed in this novel!

The Engineers' DNA goo originally grew into a biomechanical creature which differentiated itself depending on what kind of animal source it incubated within. David, an experimental synthetic robot whom we met in 'Prometheus', has become a psychopath. He decided to play with the goo out of boredom since it cannot grow in robots and he is curious. Since he has emotions, it is also possible he might be feeling some resentment against his human creator. Weyland designed the synthetics to serve their human creators, and I got the impression David thought that was unfair for a superior being such as himself. After all, humans were merely version 1.0. David has realized humans serve the goo well as living petri dishes, using their flesh as agar. He has happily been experimenting with the DNA goo on the Engineers' home planet - and success! The Alien is born! It simply was unfortunate the Engineers, which were alive when David landed on their home world along with Elizabeth Shaw, did not survive his experiments. However, he was able to keep Elizabeth alive long enough to grow/adjust the re-Engineers-ed Alien monster! Yay?

I have seen four of the Alien movies, as well as a couple of the Predator/Alien crossover movies. I am recommending this book to those with a taste for horror and a need for the comfort of the familiar.a-jack-in-the-box-pop-surprise cheap-thrills-but-i-loved-it dark-gleeful-fun ...more20 s Rachel Bea358 126

I didn't totally hate the Covenant film, but it could have been a lot better. It had a great cast, but the story suffered (although there were some scenes that I enjoyed). I think this novelization was better than the film. The characters were more developed and the scary scenes were well-done. Particularly when the facehugger did its thing, as well as whenever the neomorphs attacked. Overall I think the story lent itself better to the book than the film.

I listened to the audio, and my only criticism for the narration is that sometimes I found the narration to be unintentionally funny. aliens-ufos-abductions books-of-2018 horror ...more14 s Tina188 7

absolute shit. it should be illegal to describe the xenomorph as "with sausage- head". im disgusted & offendedbook-read-film-watched nope9 s1 comment Fenriz Angelo443 35

I rarely, i mean, it's the first time I read a novelization of a movie. Book that was the base of a movie? yeah, novel based on a movie? nope. Why i did so for Alien Covenant? first, I'm a fan of the alien franchise, second the movie left me with a lot of questions and i was curious to know if there's answers here. In the end the novel is based on the first drafts of the script so one must take its events with a grain of salt. Only Ridley Scott knows everything and maybe even he doesn't know all the answers to his decisions on the alien universe lol who knows? *shrugs*.

With that in mind let's start with the review. Alan did a good job, in my opinion the movie was bad as hell except for Walter and David, in the book the crew feels less sketched than in the movie, still i felt only Oram, Tennessee, Walter, and Daniels had personality. What i d about the book is the little changes it has compared to the movie, in my opinion they made the plot better and it's a shame none of it made to the movie honestly. Here's the list of scenes:

1. Mother is an A.I with personality, it was fun the see her banter with Walter while both look after the Covenant and its crew in cryosleep. Also the ship has a hydroponics bay full of flora for Walter to look after. This contrasts with David, who also had a chamber full of flowers and fruits in Paradise. Showing us that both syntethics find joy in perserving botanical gardens.

2. The reason the crew weren’t in protective clothing when disembarking from the shuttle was because Walter went out first to sample the air and water. He didn’t detect any harmful substances at all, and even said the air was cleaner than Earth’s (this includes airborne pathogens). Major plothole fix right there.

3. Rosenthal wanders off from the main group because she found mysterious marks on a wall that doesn't seem to belong to the original habitants of the planet. There's a hint that David was counting the days he's spent in the planet.

4. Walter doesn’t lose his hand. His arm is damaged and fixes itself by the time the cargo lift arrives.

5. In the book the Walter/David kiss isn't followed by David stabbing Walter with a flute. Instead, David gift Walter the flute and Walters reunits with Oram and Daniels, they ask him what does he think of David and he answers he finds David disturbing, intense, that isolation and lack of maintenance might have made him a weirder than he is. Also that he suspects David want him to understand things he's not programed to do so so finding him a dissapointment. Oram walks away and Daniels points out the flute then encourages Walter to play something, he hesitates however in the end tries to play, failing but in the second try he manages to create an original tune. He ponders what it means, whether David is right on how they're more than servants. This scene was so significant!! i loved it, truly a shame it's not in the film.

6. When Daniels falls asleep Walter touches her hair and he feels something funny when does. Showing us he does has *feelings* for her. Again...why isn't it on film? ugh.

7. Later in the book Walter confronts David about the real cause the habitants of the planet died, calling David out on how he intentionally dropped the pathogen to kill all living creature. Then, David uses his thumb to stab Walter in the neck to turn off his system.

8. Elizabeth Shawn doesn’t have a gravestone in the book. David has an urn which is hinted to contain her ashes, and he keeps this on a shrine he has dedicated to her. Also there's a hint David experimented on Shawn when she was still alive, that they cohabitated for a while until he got tired of it and used her to keep playing God with his experiments. There's also some rape thing going ??? ...he *did* something to Shawn and tried to *do sexual stuff* to Daniels when he attacked her when she discovered the drawings of Shawn and her body ??? this seriously left me with a weird taste in the mouth because i don't understand how David could develop perverted thoughts, idk, maybe i *could* understand but i still think it was unnecessary. We have enough sexual connotations in the aliens why add rapist synthetics??

9.The reason Oram willingly looks into the egg is because David has already shown him several ‘dead’ eggs he has preserved to study. Also in the book David didn't create the eggs, he found them and dissected the ones that were dead and preserved the others.

10. When Daniels and Lopé are running towards the lander Tenessee used to rescue the surviving crew, a Neomorph is following them but the Xenomorph reveals himself and attack the Neomorph asserting itself as the dominant Alien lifeform. After it kills the Neomorph it does the whole thing he does in the movie lol.

11. Lopé carried the last Xenomorph into Covenant?? He got a busted ribcage so...i guess...but how?

12. WAY BETTER ENDING IN THE BOOK. Here Daniels never realizes Walter is not Walter but David. Hadn't i watched the movie i would have went all !!!! at that ending honestly. WHY THE CLICHÉ CRAP ON THE MOVIE AND NOT THIS? ugh.

So yeah...i d the novel more than the movie haha not a five star reading tho, there's still lot of flaws regarding the characters, i've read authors who can give susbtance to every character even if they only say 3 lines in the whole book.
8 s Terry388 88

I’m a little bit torn with my thoughts on this one. I gave it 4 stars because I’m intrigued by the idea of these aliens, and their intelligence and mystery, and I enjoy reading about them. This one felt a lot the original Alien and Aliens in the tone, characters and horror. However, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get more of a background to The Engineers and their history. I had hoped we would explore that more in this installment, especially since we knew one survived from Prometheus. There is a big story there still waiting to be told. I do look forward to more of these and also hope that Ridley Scott does eventually make another movie as was originally planned. And why is there not a book for Prometheus?! I would definitely want to read that one.2018-book-challenge horror sci-fi7 s ÖmerAuthor 20 books282

3.05/5

Yorumu için: http://kronikokur.blogspot.com.tr/201...6 s Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*2,559 1,135

Stayed interesting throughout, followed the movie faithfully, well narrated. Much better than Alien: Covenant Origins, which was downright boring.6 s clumsyplankton869 12

I actually preferred this to the movie 4 s Jonathan MaasAuthor 26 books330

Surprise surprise - Alan Dean Foster does it again

If you don't know already, Alan Dean Foster is perhaps our greatest movie novelizer. He's a great writer in his own right, but from A New Hope to countless others, Foster finds a way to bring the best of the movie onto the page, time and time again.

This one is no exception. He doesn't stray that far from the movie, but he brings the best. Great action sequences, great dynamic between Walter and David.

If you haven't seen Alien: Covenant, you probably should. If you reading the book version of such things, I'd recommend Alien: Covenant - The Official Movie Novelization as well.4 s Rinn293 221

Review to come.read-2017 review-copy science-fiction3 s Katie Jo62 1 follower

Aside from this, I haven’t read a movie novelization in recent memory because I typically avoid them. It just seems it goes without saying that it will be terrible- but I really enjoyed this. It was much better than I expected it to be. It was well written and stuck to the film, while Foster took just enough creative license to drop in a few of his own details to make it worth reading. There are several more Alien books but he only wrote a fraction of them. I d his style enough to read the others he wrote but I think I’m still sufficiently wary of movie novelizations to not read the ones he didn’t. I guess we’ll see. 3 s Jess Big Cat141 4

If you've seen the movie than you should know what to expect, this book was pretty much what I'd imagine an unedited directors cut would be .

A group of workers upon a colony ship get jarred out of hypersleep to learn they're within skipping distance of a more ideal planet than the one they spent a decade looking for as well as a mysterious broadcast...

An exciting and unnerving read that was simple enough to power through in a day-day and a half. I'd definitely recommend to anyone who's a fan of the franchise.3 s Ömer35 4

Oyununu oynay?p sevmi? ve oynarken zevk alm??t?m ?imdi kitab?n? da görünce hemen okumak istedim.Güzel ak?c? bir dille anlat?lm?? ve merakla bekledi?im bir kitapt? fakat serinin di?er kitaplar?n?n olmamas? çok üzücü oldu di?er kitaplar çevrilecek mi hiç bir bilgim de yok ama bir umut takip etmeye devam edece?im umar?m çevrilir.3 s Emma232 1 follower

This book is the tie in for the 2017 movie Alien Covenant, one of the prequels to the movie franchise Alien. This book follows the movie exactly and is very well written, as I loved the movie the book was just as enjoyable and a very good read. 2 s David Veith514

Fun, fun read! This was very close to how the movie, which was nice to see. Glad to see them so close together. Granted, I have not seen the movie in a bit so maybe I will need to rewatch it. 2 s Andrew Bird70 1 follower

A fun and suspenseful novel, Alan Dean Foster crafts an exciting narrative from start to finish. However, the novel is held back from greatness by the source material it is based on. Worth a read to fans of the film and franchise. 2 s Jay Wright1,623 3

Not really a fan of the Alien series. In addition, many books adapted from movies, it just spews out the movie and gives you little extra. I found that to be true here. I never got a feel for the characters and as they died, I had little sympathy. If you are a fan, you might this, but for most it will probably fall flat.2 s BenjaminAuthor 6 books12

I don't usually read novelizations, and when I do, I'm usually disappointed. But after glancing through the first few pages of this one, I thought maybe the writer could bring something to the story that the movie hadn't. In some ways, he did, but overall the novel only emphasizes the film's flaws.

If you've seen any of the film, you're familiar with some of the major complaints: characters making very stupid decisions; lingering questions; uneven pacing; and terribly undeveloped characters.

The book does a decent job justifying the character's poor decisions by providing some interiority. By understanding the characters' reasoning, I felt their mistakes were less glaring and a little more understandable--this is also helped by a few minor tweaks in the events. a lot of novelizations, this one is based off an earlier draft of the script, so it reads a director's cut of the film. What little difference there is tends to soften the rough edges a bit--for example, the book provides a little explanation for why the crew doesn't don helmets when exploring an alien planet. Whether or not that explanation holds up is another issue (they say there are no pathogens in the air, but you're telling me nobody in the history of space flight thought about non-airborne pathogens?). So it's still not the most intelligent story, and it's especially light on the "science" aspect of the science fiction, but its transgressions are less noticeable than the film's.

However, the most important issue, and the one that is magnified by the novel, is how underdeveloped the characters are. If it weren't for the promotional material behind the film, I don't think I would be able to tell you who the main character is. It's supposed to be Daniels, but she disappears for roughly half of the book or more. Worse--and this is important--Daniels doesn't DO anything. In the latter parts of the story, she reveals herself to be a fighter, but so have other characters who were equally undeveloped. I felt Oram had more of an inner life than Daniels, but he still only felt 1/2 of a realized character, so there's nobody to root for or care about.

And Tennessee? Forget it. He's a glorified plot device.

That's how you could describe everyone in the story. They're only there so they can make poor decisions and advance the plot, which never really takes off, anyway. The characters spend most of their time hanging out in an alien cathedral waiting for things to happen to them. This should have been a huge red flag for the writers of the script, and I don't envy Alan Dean Foster's task of turning it into a novel.

To compensate, Foster uses a whole lot of POV shifts, often in the middle of the scene, usually because the main characters are just sitting around. This is what I really don't understand about the story: why didn't anyone think to make Daniels a more active character? She seems to disappear for the middle of the book, but she could have been the one trying to fix the linkup to the ship. Or she could have been the one to discover the horrors lurking in the cathedral. She could have been skeptical before the awful "twist" ending. As-is, she waits around (or sleeps!) until someone else does something to progress the plot. And those characters who DO progress the plot aren't around long enough to be considered main characters, themselves.

As with its predecessor--the flawed Prometheus--what makes this so frustrating is all the wasted potential. There are some genuinely interesting ideas here, and the premise is compelling enough, but the execution is muddled, unfocused, and poorly paced. It feels a story that was put together by committee--or someone who doesn't value the importance of character.

I haven't read any of Alan Dean Foster's original work, and I don't doubt that he's a talented writer. Here, it's clear that the source material is the problem, so my criticisms are purely story-based.2 s Zoë Birss779 19

This book is a disappointment. It is painful to read. But I do not believe that it is the unfortunate Alan Dean Foster's fault.

My best discernment suggests that what went wrong here is the novel equivalent of a film with too many fingers in the pot. I know Alan Dean Foster can write. I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, his novelization of the original Alien film. Flashes of his skill can be seen on almost every page of this book. But this man can only do what he does with what he's given. He wrote this book from a script. Apparently, that script was awful.

This is overwritten, offensively over-explained, and obnoxiously paced. Almost every line of dialogue is written twice, sometimes three times. Characters say what they mean, explain themselves, and then sometimes dumb it down a third time. No one is talking to each other. They are all talking to the reader. Scenes are added to spoon-feed information to the reader that any discerning reader should have been able to figure out if characters and plot points were clearly shown fifty pages before, which in most cases, they were.

I enjoyed this film. I wouldn't have read the book if I didn't. Well, that plus knowing that the same writer I had previously enjoyed was writing it. But while Alien was a simple and brilliant story, for which I could appreciate two different interpretations - Ridley Scott's and Alan Dean Foster's - this one clearly began as a convoluted, overcomplicated, exposition-baptized slog, to which Ridley Scott had the wisdom to put some serious scissors, a freedom I suspect Alan Dean Foster was not given.

I am reminded of how Ridley Scott does not "Director's Cuts". He s to edit his film to a well-paced, appropriate length, and let it be. His is a vision of restraint unmarred by directorial ego. And cut he did. If this book represents the script, Ridley Scott took "show, don't tell" very seriously. I don't think a quarter of this tedious and unreal dialogue made it into the film. Changes to the dialogue from this book to the film all add nuance and character while removing unnecessary exposition. Kudos to the director and the editors.

There are a few differences and added scenes between this book and the film that I did appreciate, even if the dialogue was a ball peen hammer between the eyes. There is a touching scene between Walter and Daniels where he brings her some pot he grew while she was asleep, his attempt at showing care after she experiences significant loss. This relationship between the two of them is explored more deeply in the book than the film. I believe this will actually improve my future viewing experience. The relationship between Walter and David is also further explored in the book. Oram, the reluctant captain, displays his religion more overtly in the book. Though I don't think it worked in the book, I think including it in an appropriate way may have been an interesting addition to the film. Still, I do think the film was well done in its tone and pacing. I expect these may have been sacrifices made for the bigger picture, and I trust it was the right decision. As much as I appreciated the differences, they are far from enough for me to recommend the book.

Everything in this book that seems to be most purely Foster is everything most readable and reasonable. Furthermore, I really d the film. I think the story is solid, if not perfect, and if poorly executed in this fetal form. I'm giving it two stars for this good story, and Foster's hard work at polishing the turd to whatever degree he was allowed.

Do not read this book.

DO go see the film. After reading what Ridley Scott had to work with, my respect for his craft has only increased.fiction-2017 horror horror-2017 ...more2 s Erik Molnar102

Spoilers - Overall, I enjoyed this story, but it definitely has its flaws, which are too major to ignore. I will start with what I did not . David made the alien. What a stupid, horrible idea. Ridley just took something really scary and mysterious that came from the unknown and made it designed by a disgruntled WY employee. The idea that the alien is something completely alien is what makes it alien. now it isn't really even an alien, is it? It was engineered by an android from Earth, but with alien technology. It might have been cool if there wasn't already a whole set of movies and novels about the alien already. But there was and now they are not as good an no longer canon. What a stupid thing to do. Who came up with that idea? It is worse than the massive ancient space jockeys being human . So since David made the aliens, how do we explain the alien on the wall in Prometheus? That was there before David created the alien. Was that just forgotten? Its on my freaking blue ray disc. It is literally the sticker that is printed on the disc. An alien before the alien was created. WTF crack are they smoking over there in California? I am still going to reserve judgement knowing there are more stories to come. I imagine they will fuck it up even worse instead of tying it all together to actually make sense.
With all of that said, how can I still this story? Well it is an alien book. I read them all and trust me, it is one of the better ones. What I d about it is that it focuses on the androids and the meaning of life. I think it misses the mark there too, but at least it tries and took the androids in the alien series in a whole new direction never really done before in an alien book or movie. Now there is kind of a Blade Runner feel to it with the androids rebelling. David was not programmed to do so Ash was. He was straight up rebelling on his own. I really d that idea.
I also the fact that there were different types of aliens in it. We got the neomorph and the xeno, which I guess is the official name now even though that wasn't supposed to be the case. Some people need to practice their comprehension skills. The reference to xenomorph in Aliens was not to this species in particular. No one even knew for sure they existed. Anyway, I am geeking out over this too much. The book has a neo vs xeno battle at the end, which the movie does not. I d that idea and I think it also helped fool the characters that David was Walter by the way the battle plays out. Speaking of which, the ending was actually really good with everyone left alive going to cryo-sleep and realizing that it was David, only when it was too late. Then David puking up the facehuggers. That was really good. How did the facehugger embryos just happen to be the exact size as the human ones though? That part felt forced. Still I d the overall story. The book explains a few things that the movie left out. It explains why these idiots always go to a new planet without their helmets. That should have made the movie. There was another part in the book that was different than the movie. When the alien is trying to get onto the cargo ship, it smashes its head into the window and cracks it. In the book they mention how worried they are that the window will crack, because the vacuum of space would kill them all but the android if there was even the slightest crack in it. So they had to rush to get the alien off the outside of the ship or face being stuck on that planet forever. I feel the movie should have stayed true to that too. aliens2 s Aria Coswin35 31

I was really surprised by this book! As someone who finally watched Prometheus (2012) and Covenant (2017) and realized that these movies were a little bit more deep than I originally expected, I wanted to read the book to see if there was more to the story. Both Prometheus and Covenant had so many deleted scenes that really added to the story and depth behind both movies (scenes I wish would've been left in because they add so much ).

I had heard there was a novelized adaptation of the movie Covenant , so I had to check it out... and I was pleasantly surprised by this book! There were a lot of scenes and dialogue that weren't in the movie, but explained so much of the story that again, was cut and ended up in the deleted scenes. This is one of those books where, even though it came out after the movie, was better than the movie in my opinion.

That's not to say that there were a couple points I'm critical about: there was a lot more 'telling' than 'showing' in this book, that had that been done just a little bit better , would've made this book a lot more solid.

There were just moments that I felt could've been executed a little bit better, instead of telling me the character Ferris for example, was scared when she was running from the neomorph in the lander-- show me she was scared: that she was stumbling over herself, slipping on the ground, forgetting she left her rifle behind-- a scene that I actually preferred in the movie because it was a lot more intense and fast paced, and left your imagination to create the fear rather than being told "hey this is scary."

Also, I think the biggest thing for me was to get to see more of the dynamic between Daniels (the main female protagonist), Walter (the new model of synthetic) and David (the older, more crazed synthetic)!! I remember watching the movie and wanting to see more of the Daniels and Walter interactions that David alluded to in the end, feeling "what are you talking about they've had 3 scenes together." But in the book, they have so many more!

The way Daniel's actions start to make Walter question his programming, start to see that there's more to his life as a android synthetic, that maybe he can feel things that aren't a part of his programming-- I really enjoyed all the Daniels and Walter scenes! They were really great together, and I'm so glad they had more time together in the book.

Also the way we got to see more of David's descent to madness, to see a little bit more into how he was thinking and where he was going with his motives, I really enjoyed the elaboration for those scenes.

There's also the not-so-subtle religious allegories and metaphors that add to the story and make everything so much more impactful, which was something I enjoyed a lot in both Prometheus and Covenant . Overall, I was pretty impressed by what Prometheus and Covenant were aiming to do to try to make the Alien franchise less "violence-inclined" and more "philosophically-inclined."

However, I am still salty that we didn't get to see what happened between Shaw and David post Prometheus (but I think the whole fandom wanted to know more so here's to hoping the next movie talks more about that).

In sum, this is a pretty solid book! If you're me and you wanted to know more about the Covenant mission after watching the movie, or want to read the book before the movie, I highly recommend this book.

8/10. Raynor131 15

I feel this is such a specific kind of book, that I don't really know how helpful a review would be, as I think if you're inclined to read this, then you will, and if you're not, you won't.

At any rate, while this novelization suffers from some of the same issues, it generally improves upon the movie's story by allowing the reader into the characters' heads more, giving better insight and reasoning behind their actions which seem quite ill-advised on film, and it also unfolds the story with more time, care, and detail. And though it's not perfect, I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Pros and Cons - Not sure about spoilers so marking just in case.

Pros:
- The horror is more horrifying
- The action feels fast and urgent
- Many of the characters' decisions seem less ridiculous with more explanation
- Walter's relationships and discussions with Daniels and David
- All the AI stuff was awesome, but see the cons
- The pace was perfection. It drew things out just enough to give us more information than the movie, but still had me tearing through the pages.

Cons:
- The dialogue is almost always clunky and weird (which works for David & Walter, but no one else)
- There are generous descriptions of filler stuff, but many of the important stuff is just given a really brief description (is this because it was still in pre-production?). It was really noticeable and bothersome to me.
- Some of the descriptions of objects or programs etc are cringingly verbose (which admittedly did amuse me, but also, it took me out of the story for how mega-nerdy and silly it was).
- The AI stuff was awesome but just the movie, it feels it could have been a standalone thing, rather than being shoehorned into the Aliens universe.
- The whole conceit of the crew all being couples was largely squandered. It made no meaningful difference to the story beyond cursory reactions, except for Daniels, and maaaybe Oram.
- The privates are never mentioned as being married, so are there two couples between Ankor, Cole, Rosenthal and Ledward? Or are they single? Or married to other people not within the crew? And if so, why isn't this mentioned?
- Some character witness their partners die in horrible, violent, horrifying ways, and the events are basically within a 24 hour period but the book makes comments implying that they should have pulled themselves together already, and I'm ... nahhhhh mate, fair go, that's fucked up, yeah.
- Just the movie, it took me forever to get all the characters straight in my head, and most of them get little to no development (more than the movie, at least), and just seemed fodder for the body count.
- There are several continuity errors that I picked, a person or object just magically changed location, and two separate Aliens get confused into one at one point.


So, my cons list is way longer than my pros list, but for me I still thoroughly enjoyed it, so a personal 4 stars, and maybe an objective 3 stars? I had fun. And a lot of the cons were just tiny niggles, or I actually just found them more amusing than they were true cons.

If you enjoyed the movie but it also frustrated you, I recommend giving this a read. But, if you're not really into the Aliens universe, I don't expect that you'd be even reading this. lolgenre-horror genre-sci-fi1 Ursula Johnson1,725 18

Dark Tale, True to the Alien Universe

This book is the official novelization of the film Alien Covenant. Having read the prequel story which bared little relationship to the film, this book picks up the story 10 years after the events of the film Prometheus.
Note: Spoilers below.

The Covenant is a colony ship destined for a deep space planet called Oriage-6. After a freak accident awakens part of the crew and kills the ship's captain, the crew picks up a signal from an unknown world and decides to investigate. They believe the planet is a paradise initially, but later learn how deadly this world is. Unfortunately, the now sole survivor of the Prometheus, the synthetic David, is far deadlier. Having killed the last human survivor, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, my favorite character from Prometheus, he has been experimenting on the planet's population. This is indeed the world of the Engineers that Shaw sought. All are now dead from their biological weapon, refined and enhanced by David. After several crew members are infected and killed, the survivors are seemingly rescued by David. Only acting captain Oram suspects that something is wrong and makes the mistake of following David alone. A series of horrendous storms renders communication difficult. David meets his upgraded "brother" Walter and eliminates him, taking his place by posing as Walter to get on board the Covenant since he was marooned there. The Engineers destroyed all ships to keep the Alien from spreading. After helping the survivors get back to the ship and kill an Alien that had infected one of the survivors, he tricks the remaining crew to reenter hypersleep and contacts Wetland-Yutani.

While this was a great story worthy of the Alien universe, it was needlessly gory. Prometheus managed to tell an interesting tale without gore. There is so much here, it seems it's been added for shock value. At least the descriptions were minimal. The story does tie up some lose ends to the Prometheus film. I was sad about Shaw. She should never had put David back together again. It also was noted that the Engineers got what they deserved. Walter was a able synthetic and I wish he would've survived. A somewhat depressing tale, Daniels having gone through so much, to wind up being at David's mercy along with thousands of colonists. The audiobook was fantastic, narrator Tom Taylorson has a beautiful, expressive voice.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full reviewalien-series audible1 Darth Dragonetti103 3

After his frustrating experience working on the Alien 3 novelization, I am rather surprised that the incomparable Alan Dean Foster decided to return the Alien universe so many years later. Way back in 1979 Foster penned the first Alien novelization and went on to write both sequel books as well. Due to his poor experience with the third book, Foster declined to write the Alien: Resurrection novelization. However, with the Alien prequels, Foster was again working in the universe he helped shape for sci-fi horror fans around the world.

Before reading the Covenant novelization, I would recommend reading the prelude novel "Alien: Covenant - Origins," which helps set up the backstory for the movie and its novelization. The two books work well if read as a pair.

Obviously, as a novelization, the Covenant book follows the storyline of the film quite closely. However, you can think of the novel as a sort of extended cut of the film. The book contains additional scenes and dialogue not found in the film, and this additional content is really what warrants reading the book. Reading the book also gives you some internal perspective from within the characters that's hard to convey in a film. Plus, with the novel, you get to experience the story as told by Alan Dean Foster, one of the best storytellers in the biz.

I only have positive things to relay about the novelization. It's a superbly written specimen that does justice to its source material, even elevating it beyond what you experience in the film. So well written is the novel that it smooths over some of the film's foibles, and better serves to flesh out the characters and their actions. I wish Prometheus had been given the novelization treatment from Foster as well. Having his master's touch would have been a boon to the that project as well.

Many of science fiction's best film novelizations have come from Alan Dean Foster, who also ranks as the best writer to work within the Alien franchise. The Alien: Covenant novelization ranks among Foster's best, which is to say, science fiction's best. Check this one out.1 Don Brown86 3

The novelization of the eponymous movie is capably written by Foster. There, as usual, subtle differences between this book and the movie. Of course, characters are explored a bit more in written form. In the novel the reader at leas get to know all of their names.

I this novel and give it three stars. Foster's handle of real-life science is put to good use in this book as he describes many of the processes, theories and other sci-fi elements. And, it is just the right amount of description.

I would not suggest this as a 'must read' book. It's a good partner to the film if you are inclined. If, me, you are reading all of the Alien franchise material, start with Alien: Covenant Origins ; then this book ( Alien: Covenant ); then Alien , which I am reading next (soon).science-fiction z-20211 Mr Chuck231 6

This is how the film should have been.

If you've seen the film (if you haven't why are you reading the book of it...weirdo) then you know it was missing parts and seemed clunked together while also missing the true horror of the Alien and just giving more questions than answers.

However, this book fills (some) of those spaces. Simple moments but really keep the story going. For example, you really find out who is in a relationship with who (I had no idea who was whose partner in the film) so you understand their sense of emergency to help their partner. Why the dropship randomly blew up (turns out it was the weapons locker that got hit) or why they didn't wear masks on the planet (they scanned it *wow*).

This didn't make it the best Alien story by any stretch as you can't polish a turd no matter how much you try. But, it did make the story more enjoyable so for this it gets 4 stars.

Also, I note that in this it's still not clear what made the original Alien which is perfect for me. The Alien is the greatest monster ever created and I want it to be a mystery, knowing its origins spoils it. LIke knowing how a trick is done it ruins the experience. 1 Kyle J. DurrantAuthor 14 books39

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