Alien: Out Of The Shadows

By Tim Lebbon

Narrated by Rutger Hauer, Corey Johnson, Matthew Lewis, Kathryn Drysdale, Laurel Lefkow, Andrea Deck, and Mac McDonald

Image From Goodreads

Even though I'm a writer I'm struggling to find the words tonight. Not for the review, that's fine, but for what happened today at Westminster.

I feel like these attacks are getting more and more frequent no matter where we are.

What is the world coming to?

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[An Audible Original Drama. As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness an isolation. Then, on planet LV178, he and his fellow miners discovered a storm-scoured, sand-blasted hell - and trimonite, the hardest material known to man. When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns. There was evil, hibernating and waiting for suitable prey. Hoop and his associates uncover a nest of Xenomorphs, and hell takes on a new meaning, Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviours... Ellen Ripley, the last human survivor of the salvage ship Nostromo.]

Alien: Out of the Shadows was an audiobook I'd been considering for some time.

I was skeptical about using my monthly credit for it on Audible though because it's just so damn short. I didn't think it would be worth it.

But Oh. My. God. Just wow. It was so so SO worth it.

It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. 

I could visualise it all fantastically thanks to the Alien films. I think this short story slots somewhere between the first and second of those films especially as Ripley isn't the only character from the first film to make an appearance.

The characters were brilliant. Having a different actor for each was wonderful. It really helped in differentiating between them all. Ripley was just like in the films as well, sarcastic, headstrong and brave.

The use of the sound effects were done very, very well. Right from the beginning we had the crackly radio communications, the banging of doors, air escaping when an air lock was opened, gun fire, alien screams, everything. It made it feel SO realistic.

The plot was simple and straight forward, the tension was incredible and I loved the entire voice cast ensemble and the dark humour throughout!

Four and a half hours was the perfect amount of time. It didn't drag on and tied everything up so neatly that there aren't any gaping holes when taking the films into consideration.

I loved it!!

If you fancy something short that doesn't need a lot of concentration this is perfect for you. You don't even need to have seen Alien, it's great as a stand alone too.

Me Before You

Oh, wow, this filmmmm!

I've been wanting to see this since I googled Sam Claflin sometime last year and saw he was to be in a romance film with Emilia Clarke.

I thought it would be soppy and just meh okay, and I only really wanted to see it because of the cast. But, it was actually really good.

Image from Pinterest

Let's start with the cast.

Emilia Clarke, even though at first it took some getting used to (for a Game of Thrones fan) of seeing her all bubbly and smiley, she portrayed the role really really well. 

By the end of the film I was convinced that this was probably more of what she is like off screen as well. 

She was funny, had an awful eclectic taste in fashion and always managed to paste a smile onto her face and look on the bright side. 

We should all be a little like Lou if I'm honest (maybe except the fashion sense!)

Sam Claflin, although he didn't have many mobile scenes due to said accident in the film, I think he still did a grand job. 

I loved watching his character progress from a bitter, sarcastic know-it-all to an open, calmer, more loving one. 

With such a limiting role, in the sense of movement, he really did it justice and it looked very realistic!

The supporting cast were all quite good as well. 

I was surprised to see Matthew Lewis in it (!) but he plays such a different character from his Harry Potter days, that (even if I didn't think it before) he is such a talented actor to make me feel frustrated by his character in this. 

Charles Dance as always was fab. There isn't a role out there that he can't play. 

Steve Peacocke did a good job of being the on-call Doctor. 

And Janet McTeer did a wonderful job as Will's mum. The struggles over their son between her and Charles Dance's character were heartbreaking and definitely shows the friction an accident can cause and the different mindsets between even parents over what their son should do.

Now, as for the plot, I had a feeling something awful was going to happen at the end, I just didn't know how it would come about, but it was stated pretty early on in the film of what Will wanted. It was just a case of if Lou could change his mind. 

In that case, as a viewer, I had that sense of doom hanging over me for the entire film which made me not really believe all of the little happy moments. 

There were so many ups and downs with his health and with him finally trusting Lou and then the wedding moment and all (not Lou and Will's - sorry, spoiler!) 

I loved watching the pair blossom into friendship and then a little more, it was just so sweet.

An all over the place with emotions kinda film! 

But definitely a great watch, albeit a sad one.

If anything came out of it, it's that it made me want to rush home to A even more and never let him go. 

You really do have to appreciate every moment you have with someone.

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Rating:
★★★★★



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