The Alien franchise has been one I’ve loved ever since I was a teenager.
Ridley Scott’s original 1979 film remains my favourite and is firmly planted in
my personal top ten best sci-fi films of all-time. In an alternate universe
where David Fincher would’ve had his way with Alien³ (1992), it would most likely be my second fave, followed by James
Cameron’s Aliens (1986). The third film
left a big impression on me as it was the first Alien movie I experienced in theatres during its opening weekend. The
Assembly Cut improves the film,
adding an extra 30 minutes, but it’s still not the movie Fincher had envisioned.
I’m not a big fan of military sci-fi, so in spite of it being a fun and wild
ride, Aliens is the chapter of the
saga I’ve seen the least in the original film trilogy. I didn’t care for Alien: Resurrection (1997) or Alien: Covenant (2017), but I enjoyed Prometheus (2012) quite a bit.
When it comes to Alien comics and books, I’ve read plenty
of them, going back to the Dark Horse comics and Bantam books of the ‘90s and
the more recent wave of Alien novels
of the last decade or so. Of those recent books, the ones I’ve enjoyed the most
are Alien: Out of the Shadows (Tim Lebbon),
Alien: Sea of Sorrows (James A. Moore),
Alien: River of Pain (Christopher
Golden), Alien: The Cold Forge (Alex
White), and Aliens: Infiltrator (Weston
Ochse). I have to say that in the course of the past two years, though, I’ve
lost faith in the book franchise after a series of disappointing novels (to me
anyway) like Alien: Into Charybdis, Alien: Colony War, Alien: Inferno's Fall, and Aliens:
Vasquez. Just as I was about to give up on the Aliens prose books, Aliens:
Bishop was announced for early December from a sci-fi writer by the name of
T. R. Napper who’d garnered a lot of praise for his debut novel and short story
collection. That got my hopes up and I was really excited to listen/read what
this new book had to offer. The audiobook is read by various narrators and has
a runtime of ten hours and fifty-five minutes. Here is the official synopsis:
“A direct sequel to Aliens and Alien 3—Weyland-Yutani, the Colonial
Marines, and Bishop’s creator all pursue the android for the deadly Xenomorph
data contained in his brain. Written by T. R. Napper, author of the acclaimed
36 Streets, whose explosive work explores the artificial intelligence and what
it is to be human.
Massively
damaged in Aliens and Alien 3, the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down
forever. His creator, Michael Bishop, has other plans. He seeks the Xenomorph
knowledge stored in the android’s mind and brings Bishop back to life—but for
what reason? No longer an employee of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Michael
tells his creation that he seeks to advance medical research for the benefit of
humanity. Yet where does he get the resources needed to advance his work. With
whom do his new allegiances lie?
Bishop
is pursued by Colonial Marines Captain Marcel Apone, commander of the Il Conde
and younger brother of Master Sergeant Alexander Apone, one of the casualties
of the doomed mission to LV-426. Also on his trail are the “Dog Catchers,”
commandos employed by Weyland-Yutani.
Who
else might benefit from Bishop’s intimate knowledge of the deadliest creatures
in the galaxy?”
Napper is a damn fine writer and
his knowledge and passion for the franchise comes through clearly in his
writing. My biggest gripe is that we didn’t get enough of Bishop. He’s supposed
to be the central character of the book, isn’t he? What we got instead were the
usual protagonists, the Colonial Marines, which I think has been overdone in Aliens books as of late. It also could’ve
used more “black demons” as well—it is after all an Aliens novel! The first half of the book dragged a bit in places,
but once it got going, it was captivating enough to keep me listening until the
end. It was fun to see Michael Bishop, the creator, once more as we’d gotten a
peek of him at the end of the third film and I always thought it would make for
a great story to get inside his head for a bit. Here we do get to see how the
man behind the machines thinks and what his objectives are in the grand scheme
of things. Is he good or evil? How does Bishop, the synthetic, interact with his
maker? It was interesting to witness their relationship on the page.
One of the pluses of getting the audiobook
version as opposed to the print/eBook is the fact that it’s narrated by numerous
narrators including Alex Boyles, Eunice Wong, Shiromi Arserio, Nancy Wu, Pun
Bandhu, and Tim Campbell. Since the story unfolds mostly from different character
viewpoints each getting turns at their own chapters, it keeps the narrative flowing
at a good pace. For the most part, the narrators do a stellar job of portraying
the characters.
In the end, Aliens: Bishop was a mixed bag for me. Although, I think Alien fans who enjoy Colonial Marines
tales will most likely get a big kick out of this book. Being a fiction writer
myself, I would’ve gone a completely different direction had I been tasked with
writing a Bishop novel. For starters, there wouldn’t have been a single Marine
to be seen, but that’s neither here nor there. The audiobook elevates the
experience, in my opinion, and makes Aliens:
Bishop a more compelling read/listen. If you’re an Aliens fan or simply a sci-fi fan, I think you’ll find something to
like in T. R. Napper’s take on the Alien
franchise.
Rating: Three
stars out of five
Get your copy on Audible
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