Alien: Echo

By: Mira Grant

Narrated by: Kate Marcin

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

An original young-adult novel of the Alien universe.  

Olivia and her twin sister, Viola, have been dragged around the universe for as long as they can remember. Their parents, both xenobiologists, are always in high demand for their research into obscure alien biology. 

Just settled on a new colony world, they discover an alien threat unlike anything they’ve ever seen. And suddenly, the sisters’ world is ripped apart. 

On the run from terrifying aliens, Olivia’s knowledge of xenobiology and determination to protect her sister are her only weapons as the colony collapses into chaos. But then a shocking family secret bursts open - one that’s as horrifying to Olivia as the aliens surrounding them. 

The creatures infiltrate the rich wildlife on this untouched colony world - and quickly start adapting. Olivia’s going to have to adapt, too, if she’s going to survive....

An Imprint book.

“Mira Grant blends gritty science fiction, complex characters, and nail-biting horror in Alien: Echo! A spellbinding novel of courage and terror.” (Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Broken Lands and editor of Aliens: Bug Hunt) 

©2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Truly cringe worthy and not in the traditional alien manner

Where to begin unpacking the wreckage of this sloppy, unoriginal, agenda pushing mess of a book. To begin with it’s almost comical how every male character is either ignorant and evil or an incompetent loser. Second is the excruciatingly terrible recant of the teenage romance through out The length of the story that trumps all the family death and destruction around them. The story is told from the perspective of one of the teenagers although from the way all the children talk and behave you would assume they’re about 13 to 14 when in fact they’re actually 17-year-olds budding on adulthood. The main character is tough to like she’s a secret ninja scientist heartthrob lesbian seems a bit much to pack into a 17-year-old girl who is a sorry attempt at emulating the true heroine of the aliens stories Ellen Ripley. Character development is sloppy and slow, the attempts to sound well researched come off like a bad bio 101 class. On the whole if you enjoy any of the other alien books do your best to stay away from this in my opinion it should be buried and forgotten.

YA romance masquerading as Alien

Alien: Echo is one of those crimes against literature that pass its word count with nauseatingly exhaustive descriptions of the love interest's every minute feature and overuse of some of the most mind-numbingly annoying words. How the author believes that people, even teenagers, actually think and speak in this way is insulting to the target audience. Do not waste your time, money, or credits on this. It will grate against every nerve you have and leave you gnashing your teeth with a desire to see the protagonist die horribly.

A Gay Teen Romance Novel Plus Aliens?

It may not be for everyone but it’s not a terrible experience. It’s just not as consistent with the Alien universe as I’d expect. I’m all for trying new ideas and this certainly qualifies, but I can’t with this one. Not enough xenomorph magic. Too much girl on girl kissing. Complex characters, sure. You decide. I still like it. It’s just Alien lite.

Teen Angst on a Panetary Scale

Do you love the alien franchise but wish it read more a piece of twilight universe fan fiction? look no further than alien: echo. This book combines the worst parts of hormonal teen drama with far too little meaningful sci-fi alien goodness. There are isolated, and under developed nuggets of alien goodness like the local plant and animal life as well as adapting xenomorphs but they are clouded in a fog of lesbian teen hormones too thick to navigate. I didnt think you could screw up a novel about the universes' most beloved killing machines but the author managed to bury the usual blood and gore and betrayal of the alien universe under so much inner love laced inner monologue I could hardly finish the book. at least 3/4 of the book is dribble. I wanted to like it but I just can't. Folks who read fiction set in the alien universe want 5 things: androids, strong female leads, brutal aliens, exotic environments, corporate greed. This book offers most of those things but in such a way as to completely eliminate their normal allure or it leaves them under developed in order to prop up a very unintersting love story between a couple of 17 year old chicks.

How did this get into the Alien Series

I like the Alien Franchise. I have listened to all that Amazon had to offer and i have found sci fi novels written long
ago relating to the first two sci fi movies Ridley Scott's Alien and Aliens. Some how I though this was related to the franchise
and perhaps it is. But I could not get through five minutes. This does not seem to be an audio book for adults. This is some sort of sexually mixed up teen and yikes. Instead of having a warning saying something is x rated or you have to be over the age of 17 to watch.. in this case listen to.. it should have a warning on the cover of the book saying NOT INTENDED TO any adult over the age of 19 without a 13 year old guardian present. Look it is my fault for choosing the audio book. I was desperate for an alien fix. An adult listening to this stuff could get arrested.

Too YA for me/Lackluster narration

When I started this book, I was unsure how someone could/would write a YA novel set in the ALIEN universe. After listening, I now know the answer to that question and it's unsuccessfully.

I'm a HUGE fan of the ALIEN series (books & movies) and I'm a fan of Mira Grant's other series' Newsflesh & Parasitology, but this book did absolutely nothing for me. It's too YA to be an ALIEN book and it's also not thrilling enough to be an ALIEN book. Obviously, since it's YA, there is very little graphic violence - it's all assumed or overheard by the characters, it's never described in any detail - which is great for a YA book but not for a book in the ALIEN series. Also, it was just too "juvenile" for me. I know it's YA, but I've also read Harry Potter and the Hunger Games and the Divergent series, among others. Those were YA but definitely not juvenile in the way this book is. There's just too much "teen hormone drama" for me. The storyline for pretty much the entire 1st half of the book is taken up by the main character pining away over a classmate - no Xenos to be found! And when they do finally show up, it's all just so BLAH!

If all that isn't bad enough, the narration could have been better. Throughout the entire book, it was very difficult to tell the difference between a character's inner thoughts and actual spoken dialog. For most of the book, I was unsure if the characters were actually speaking out loud to each other or just in their own heads. There was no differentiation in the narrator's inflection. It was extremely distracting and kept taking me out of the (weak to begin with) story.

Overall, I was completely underwhelmed.

Horrible

This book is a struggle to listen to. The constant repetition and horribly written characters get boring very fast. If you expect an Alienbook, or a well written YA book, this is not it.

Utterly useless teen lesbian fantasy!

I listened to 2 hours of this bullshit before giving up. this is not sci fi set in the aliens universe. WTF!

Ok

Took waaaay to long to get going. I got tired of the emphasis on how much she loved kora....

I’m a huge Alien fan but I’m at a loss with mixed feelings about this book.

It’s not a bad story but there are a lot of holes and inconsistencies with the storyline and its integrity to the Alien franchise when it comes to everything Xenomorph; along with the paralyzing terror that these creatures bring upon first sight, let alone how difficult it is to escape or battle them. It could have been better with more depth and detail from all ends. There’s also not really much time for romance and uncontrollable hormones when you’re up against these savage beasts, and I feel like this book didn’t quite go above and beyond enough. It could definitely afford a re-write to really bring it to it’s full potential. I’m really hesitant to be so critical but I feel cheated by something that could have been so much better.

A...young adult...Alien novel?

This was unbelievably atrocious. From the ridiculously superficial romance to the empty and extremely unlikable and unrealistic characters to the godawful slow progression and the laughable incorporation of Alien elements--it pains me to see this as part of a franchise that is known for damn good sci-fi horror elements. Even as a YA romance with a gay character it's utterly horrendous.

I've always struggled with this author's works and this novel just made it clear that with the exception of one series (which is hit and miss with each instalment), she's not for me. I am obsessed with the Alien franchise and xenomorph anything. This? Horrible addition to the universe.

disappointing

if you like the alien franchise you will hate this. it's a teenage love story with passing references to aliens. read in a boring monotonal voice.

Lacking in so many ways

Would have been a bad stand alone book but to add the name ALIEN to it making me expect better things and under delivering characters that I don’t care about and people making random choices that just aren’t logical

infantile Rubbish

Infantile rubbish; the worst audio book I've ever has the misfortune of hearing. Absolutely puerile.

Not really an aliens book

Ok so this is supposed to be an aliens book but it's far more a teen love story. it's not a bad story it's just not your average aliens book. it's not dark it's not gritty it's not action packed there's no colonial marines and the aliens are a side dish. the story is largely about a young teen girl and her struggle to fit in in a new place falling in love and her relationship with her illness stricken sister. I enjoyed the story mostly and I don't think I'll refund it but it was no where near what I expect from an aliens title.

Review of Echo

To much focus on emotions and interaction between people. Not enough technical detail and horror suspense.

Beverly hills 90210alien.

Once you get passed the first high school crush chapter its back to 200miles of bad road. Very good get passed that first chapter

Worst Alien Book Ever

I was so close to putting it down, I don’t know why these books have to try so hard to be woke, but this one is honestly worth missing. A soppy, badly written, teenage love story that whines on & on. You wait for ever just for some action & when it happens it’s really not worth it.
Just don’t!

Can't stand this WOKE indoctritnation, so obvious

Teenage indoctrination, inclusive for the 1% of population, No subtlety whatsoever, I don't know where that Alien was hiding. Push of a subject which would have been better served as incidental.

Fun Story - Worth Listen

Upon reading review of this book I was hesitant to give it a try.

Admittedly the first 2 hours or so where long, but after that I did enjoy the story and thought it introduced some interesting concepts.

Worth a listen if you are a fan of the Alien franchise.