Interesting world building

This as a start is interesting setup book and in my opinion but not of much interest to those outside of in depth and interested fans. This book does well to world build and setup events whilst still containing it's on story within however I feel it only exists for setup. I enjoyed this book and reading about characters previously only mentioned is interesting and that's all I feel this addition to the alien series is. As you can tell from my choice of words, this book is interesting and could probably be skipped in the series as a whole.

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Distinctly meh 😕

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Alien franchise, I’ve always appreciated the ever expanding lore, whether it be through film, comic or novel. Whenever I hear of a new Alien project I waste no time in adding to my list of must see/read/hear content.
All that said, Alien: Covenant Origins feels like a thin cash grab. While listening, I hadn’t kept track of the run time, when the narrator began reading the closing blurb at the end of the book I thought something had gone wrong and I had accidentally skipped forward. It ends very abruptly and was fairly unsatisfying. The story is ok, but given the backdrop of the Alien universe, you’d think they could have come up with something a bit more substantive.
I will say the narration saved this book, as the narrator was wonderful at seamlessly transitioning between characters with very unique and convincing delivery.
It’s not terrible and does give a little extra context, which if nothing else may enhance the viewing of the movie slightly, as you’re given a little more reason to care if certain characters die, that said, this argument only applies to one or two characters.
In summary - Dissatisfying & bland with fantastic narration.

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A Great Listen

A great listen, well read and produced. For an Alien story without the titular monster this was an excellent an prequel to an underrated entry into the saga.

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A book for a fan

A good insight before the first film. A great free title and time well spent whilst out walking.

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A nice bit of backstory

An enjoyable listen that fleshes out the events leading up to the launch of the Covenant. Well narrated with distinct characters I would recommend this as a good place to start a journey into the Aliens audiobooks

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Pretty darned good

This was a good story, I really enjoyed it. My only complaint: no aliens! Although I’m not as disappointed as you might think for there was still plenty of action to be had in this thrilling adventure tale. I found it to be rather gripping in fact.

The author is new to me, despite having listened to other Alien books in the franchise. I was impressed, he told the story really well and I often struggle to picture action scenes in my head from descriptions but he did an excellent job. I wouldn’t hesitate to read/listen to more from this author.

I also like the way the books lead in and out of the films in the franchise, it is very well woven together. It is in part for this reason that I should not be disappointed by the lack of actual aliens in this book. Having watched all the Alien films and thinking about where this book fits in (just before the Aliens Covenant film), it would be odd if they had already come across Aliens and wouldn’t make sense of the film. So fair enough I say.

I have just one complaint about the performance: why oh why does the English security guy have to sound like Vinnie Jones and say “old boy'' and “old chap” every other sentence.

All in all a pretty decent ‘book’ just don’t expect to come across any of the shiny headed, acid blooded, space creatures in this.

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Enjoyable

Came to this without expectations so enjoyed it. No aliens in sight but that wasn't the point. Will listen to more of this series as breaks between 'real' books. ;)

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Alien beginnings

Really enjoyed listening to the origins of the Alien story and the build up to the colony moving to space. I'm a big Alien fan so enjoyed this.

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Good read

Answers a lot of questions and raises more. Very enjoyable it was good the get to know the crew.

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A really interesting look into the greater Alien universe!

I recently realised that pretty much all of the canonical Alien novels/stories are on Audible as “free to me”. So, considering that my all time favourite film is the original Alien, I decided that I’ll download them all and embark on chronological listening of these stories.

Covenant Origins being the first book in the timeline I wasn’t actually expecting much. The film, though I enjoyed it thoroughly when it was released, wasn’t the best compared to some of the older releases in franchise. I also wondered what could be so interesting about an Alien story with no Xenomorph. But I was pleasantly surprised!

Though lacking the staple enemy that draws people to the films, this story gives us an in depth glimpse at what the inhabitants of Earth, and therefore the crew of the Covenant, have to endure prior to the journey into deep space. It’s interesting to learn to more about the mysterious Company and it’s owner/board of directors and also about what the Earth is like at the end of the 21st century.

This story builds a world for not only Alien Covenant, but every Alien story that follows in the timeline. Knowing how the Earth works and why we want to colonise distant worlds is a very useful plot point that a lot of other Alien stories have neglected to mention so this was a welcome chunk of world building.

And, even though it’s fairly exposition heavy, it still manages to hold your attention and keep you gripped. It’s definitely worth a listen if you’re interested in the greater Alien universe and story.

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