Alien: River of Pain

An Audible Original Drama

By: Christopher Golden, Dirk Maggs

Narrated by: Anna Friel, Philip Glenister, Colin Salmon, Alexander Siddig, Marc Warren, Michelle Ryan, William Hope

Ellen Ripley finally returns to Earth, only to discover that LV-426 — where the crew of the Nostromo first came into contact with the deadly xenomorphs — has been renamed Acheron.

Protected by Colonial Marines, the colonists seek to terraform the storm-swept planet against all the odds. But in the face of brutal living conditions and the daily struggles of a new world, there is humanity and hope. Anne and Russell Jorden — two colonists who are seeking a fortune that eluded them on Earth — are expecting their firstborn child.

The birth of Rebecca Jorden, known to her family as Newt, is a cause for celebration. But as the colony grows and expands, so, too, do the political struggles between a small detachment of Colonial Marines and the Weyland-Yutani scientists posted on Acheron. Willing to overlook their orders in order to serve the Company's interests, these scientists have another far more sinister agenda — to covertly capture a living Alien.

The wildcatters discover a vast, decaying spaceship. The horseshoe-shaped vessel is of particular interest to Weyland-Yutani and may be the answer to their dreams. But what Anne and Russell find onboard proves to be the stuff not of dreams but of nightmares.

This terrifying, cinematic, multicast dramatization — directed by the multiaward-winning Dirk Maggs, best known for his adaptations of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere for the BBC — is the sequel to Audible Original's Alien: Out of the Shadows (nominated for Best Audio Drama at the 2017 Audies).

Starring Golden Globe-nominated Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies, Limitless), Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Game of Thrones), Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman, Doctor Who), Colin Salmon (Alien vs Predator, Arrow, James Bond), Marc Warren (Mad Dogs, Saving Private Ryan, Hustle) and Philip Glenister (Outcast, Life on Mars), with special guest star William Hope returning as Lt. Gorman from James Cameron's Aliens.

©2017 20th Century Fox (P)2017 Audible, Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Filled with tension and stellar voice performances, River Of Pain is edge of your seat good." ( Buzzfeed)

"Frightening." ( Yahoo Movies)

"Dirk Maggs continues to create masterful audio drama that only gets better.... Maggs coaxes fantastic performances from his cast to convey the characters' dread while also creating a good balance of sound effects. Listeners will remain on high alert about what may be around the next corner." ( AudioFile)

"Superbly detailed sound-design and remarkable sonic effects... a truly unique listening experience." ( HeyUGuys)

"Terrifying." ( NME)

"The cast is an outstanding smorgasbord of familiar genre talent." ( Starburst)

"No expense has been spared on this blockbuster Aliens sequel." ( Loaded)

nice to finally hear the fate of Hadley's hope

As a long time Alien fan, this narration helped to fill the gap in Alien 2 of the fate of Hadley's Hope and its collinists. I truely felt the terror as the Marines fought against overwhelming odds to protect the collinists. A must read for any Alien fan.

A Mostly Excellent “Aliens” prequel.

Serving both as a prequel to the film “Aliens” and a sequel to the audio drama “Alien: Out Of The Shadows” (which itself was set between “Alien” and “Aliens”), “Alien: River Of Pain” is both entirely unnecessary, and truly excellent at the same time.
I say unnecessary because we don’t have any actual need to know what happened at Hadley’s Hope before the events of “Aliens” beyond what that film tells us - there was a settlement there, they found the same wrecked ship from original “Alien”, and everyone except for the child Newt was killed.
And I say truly excellent, because it turns out to be a damn good tale, with excellent voice talent, and a suspenseful, engaging story.
In addition to the events at Hadley’s Hope, there is also a counter-plot that overlaps with, repeats, and expands upon scenes from “Aliens”, while also tying into some minor details from “Alien: Out Of The Shadows”.
I’ve pretty much written off the future of the “Alien” film franchise as a lost cause. But judging by the first two “Alien” audio dramas, the future of the series seems to be in audio.

Very good. Not great

Good and I am glad I selected it. Lots of characters to follow which gets scrambled. But you get the story overall. Of course it’s the same story... Good marines. Bad scientist, aliens come and some escape. I’ll get the next one in the series and hope it has a twist.

Highly entertaining dramatization

This is the second dramatized novel that I have Heard, which was produced by Audible. They have both contained very high-quality sound, great acting, and fantastic storylines that immediately riveted me. I am very impressed by these dramatizations. I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys science fiction.

Much better than Out of the Shadows

Definitely a step up from the first one. However, this one also plays victim to the timeline it's placed in. This one is placed on LV426 right after Alien and right before the marines arrived in Aliens. What does this mean? That's right - they're all gonna die besides Newt! I would reckon everyone or almost everyone listening to this has watched the movies and is aware of that. So it was beyond me why chapters 1-5 was literally just character development and interpersonal conflicts. Do we really need to know that the CO is Newt's mom ex boyfriend and her husband is jealous over it? There was so much needless drama in the beginning and the aliens really have no part in the story until the end of chapter 5 and start of 6. If this was placed in its own separate timeline, I could understand spending so much time on the characters and how much they dislike each other but since we are all aware every single one of them is going to die, it was so unnecessary.
Performance was top notch.
I wish they focused more on the alien side of things, but I still enjoyed listening and would probably recommend this.

Outstanding!

This is definitely a must listen for any “Alien” series fan. It’s a prelude to the Aliens movie. I listened to a movie and truly enjoyed it.

What happened on LV 426

I totally enjoyed listening to this. It is exceptionally well written if you know the story that it was taken from and expanded upon. I like that the story of what happens on the planet and the story told in the second movie are linked. The characters that we never really got to know are very well fleshed out and it lends a whole new dimension to the story and how things play out off stage.

The story is set mainly on Acheron, LV 426 the moon that Ripley and her crew set down on all those years ago and found a species so deadly they were all wiped out except for her. They go back to the establishing of the colony with the birth of Rebecca 'Newt' Jordan and her family as the center of a lot of the action. We get an insight into the company and how they use and manipulate the colonists for their own gain as they establish themselves.

Good listen from start to finish and held me more than ready to delve into more. Worth taking the time for.

Exiting but sad the last chapters.

this book was very good, my first audible dramatization. Kinda sad since (SPOILER —- 90% of all of them die except newt, the captain, one of the scientist dudes and another person. —-) I have never seen the movies my self but i could imagine the carnage going down in my brain since most kills in the movie are off screen ive heard.

You actually care before they start to scream.

It's clear that careful attention was paid to character development which in my opinion makes a story like this work.

Each person has their own individual relationships and attitudes towards one another. They have clear interest and motivations that can either support or come into direct conflict with each other. Most of them for "better or worse" have been stuck with one another for a long time and it shows in the dialogue and high quality voice acting.

Time is allowed for the reader to bond with these characters before they and their dreams of happily ever after are ruthlessly torn apart. The "Zenomorph" doesn't even rear it's ugly head till half way through the story. Still for all of it's seemingly destructive nature the real evil isn't even the Alien.

Long time fans of the series will know what I mean. Looking at you Weyland Yutani.

Great bridge for the events prior to Aliens

Well voice acted and paced. Keeps you invested in the characters and on the edge of your seat the whole time. Highly recommended for any fan of the Alien/Prometheus/Blade Runner universe.