I have seen a few not-so-great reviews about this audiodrama. Some hated the voice cast, while others were bothered that it's an abridged dramatization rather than the novel verbatim.  I do not have those complaints.  I enjoyed the voice work and the dramatization. 

This was a wonderful story and I loved listening to it.  I feel like I got the full story even though it was a dramatization. And the cast brought the characters to life for me.  

This was a much better story than the Alien 3 film, which is pretty much all that need to be said.

The opening is a recap of Aliens and where it left off. It then picks up the characters while they're in stasis on the Sulako.  From there we get a thrilling tale of the xenomorph and their remarkable ability to survive and reproduce.  And the inevitable stupidity of scientists, corporate executives,  and military leaders who can only think of experiments, money and weapons and completely ignore the bigger picture. The roles of Bishop and Hicks are reprised by the original actors, which was a huge plus.

The cast pulled off a wonderful performance that was believable.  I could picture it in my head as a movie.  Hicks and Newt didn't just die in a crash  (yes I'm still salty about that) and we got what was a 'Alien' level adventure.  I would definitely read/listen to more stories that follow this canon.

Audience: Adult

Format: Audiobook/Owned

This was just okay. I didn't really like any of the characters and I didn't even hate the villain enough. The main character is a psychologist who doesn't seem to notice that her daughter has symptoms of psychopathy. I'm not giving anything away. If you've read any books or seen any movies about psychopaths, then you know how it goes: no emotions, no sympathy or empathy, hurting animals, etc. How does her mother not notice?? She's supposed to be so busy, but even when the principal calls her in to talk about her daughter's behavior, she still doesn't see it. I found this part hard to believe. 

Then there's the killer (who is already in jail btw). When the doctor goes to see him, she gives him a test to see if he's a psychopath. Remember, this is the woman who can't even see it in her own daughter. The killer occasionally breaks into song - children's songs to be exact. It's a little creepy but more annoying than anything.

I listened to the Alien Audible Originals and they are also performances. I liked the format in that case. But for this one, it didn't really seem to fit. Also, it was broken into episodes which was kind of jarring and involved a lot of music. The first time this happened, I thought the whole thing had started over because it also restates the title and author.

At least it was fairly short.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence:

A watered down version of a Hannibal Lecter story.

$1.99 today.