Slow lore bomb

Alien fans will be underwhelmed but it works ok if viewed as a standalone.

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A decent entry into the franchise but only decent

This is a reasonably good story. It is presented in a good format, is ready enough to follow in most parts and helps flesh out one of the most beloved characters of the second movie. There are, however, caveats to the above.

Despite the forbear character, Jeanette Vasquez, being part of a sci-fi action movie, this story is far slower. It is deeply concerned with emotions and spirituality, neither of which are bad things in and out themselves, but they were (for me) somewhat unexpected. The author also has a tendency towards considerable exposition and improbably long dialogue during tense moments, to the point where many of the philosophical and snarky comments seem somewhat unrealistic. Nonetheless, the story itself hits the hallmarks of an Alien tale and for the most part it IS a success.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love this story even before having heard it, I'm hesitant to recommend this audiobook to others for the simple reason that the narrator's performance is simply... not very good. I don't know anything about her other work so I can only comment on my impressions of her narration of this story, but those impressions aren't great. I LOVE the fact that a Latina woman was cast, anything less would have been wildly insufficient, but Lauren Rodriguez's reading came across as stilted, awkward and robotic. Many times I found myself confused by tonal changes, deflated by lines delivered in a near monotone, puzzled by unexpected pauses that seemed to serve no purpose. Perhaps this was a lack of experience or a case of nerves, I don't know. As I said, I don't know any of her other work. Her voice, while pleasant, is also unfortunately ill-suited to any dialogue described by terms like 'bellowed,' 'shouted' or 'growled.' On the bright side, as someone who is definitely not a native Spanish speaker (or a speaker or the language at all), I was delighted by the opportunity to hear many words I'd seen written down actually pronounced correctly.

All in all I would say that many people will enjoy this audiobook, but it lets itself down on several counts.

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1 person found this helpful

More of a drama but good

This story focuses more on character development which is fine, just don’t expect a great deal of insight or lore building around the Alien universe in general and it does take a few hours to start getting to the main story

The narrator is great and the only reason I rated 3 stars is not because of her skill but because I think a bolder voice would have been more suited to the main characters involved. In parts it feels more like your kind Aunt reading to you. Not a reflection on the narrator but whomever matches VA’s to the work

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Great addition to the aliens universe.

I didn't know what to expect when I bought this audio book and I really enjoyed it. Builds on the Alien universe and has an excellent finale. Very good narration.

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Bait and switch

Alright story but I think we all bought a book about Jeanette Vasquez not her kids.

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was bored

I struggled. the characters had heaps of time to be built up but was just boring

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