Alita: Battle Angel - Iron City

The Official Movie Prequel

By: Pat Cadigan

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

The official prequel novel to the highly anticipated film

A long time ago, there was the Great War. The reasons for the war have been lost to time. On the shattered surface of the earth, there is a metropolis that lives amid the garbage thrown down from the inhabitants of a sky city floating above it. Welcome to Iron City. 

A lonely doctor specializing in cyborg repair, Ido, is doing his best to help the citizens of Iron City. But Ido has a double life, another persona born from the pieces of his broken heart.

Hugo, a young man surviving on a life of crime, spots the ultimate steal: an object that will unearth secrets from his own past. 

And Vector, the most powerful businessman in the city, has his sights set on a new technology that will change the future of Iron City forever....

©2018 Pat Cadigan (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Just don't think about it.

Sadly there is no story here. It's a series of scenes intended to explain the characters that you see in the movie. Pat Cadigan writes like she never saw the film, read the script, or was familiar with the manga. Some of the characters are out of character, and the world she describes is not the world of the source material or the movie. The only thing I can say is that it is an enjoyable read. So just don't think about all the flaws and inconsistencies. Just enjoy it as it's own thing.

Meh

How to make a prequel book off a movie script yet to be released.....this is why we don’t do that. There is no character dev whatsoever . It jumps around way to much. I’m not even going to try the next book. Movie looks interesting enough though.

he even did the voices.

I love it when they at least try to sound like different characters. good job!

meh, {cubed}

Its an adventure story set in the future with the obligatory sci fi phrases thrown in to assert as such.
It reads as a "young reader adventure" with very graspable concepts and language.
Sci fi phrasing could easily be replaced with magical phrasing and story line would still equally register.
So.. so regret getting it. quit 3rd of the way through and will not bother with Alita series.
Sooo much regret....
Anticipation for movie is tempered now, I still look forward to view movie but will now watch with jaundiced eye.

...thanks book (/s).

You get more back story but lacked "real" punch

Excited to get more content yet lacked the excitement of the main story. fluff your not missing. narrator was too monotone to maintain my interest so had to listen a chapter or two at a time.

great for a prequel. can't wait to watch the 1993

great for a prequel. can't wait to watch the 1993 movie. also can't wait for the new book as well

Save your credits

This part of the story is not for me. Could not get into the story.

gives a great backstory to Alita Battle Angel

interesting and fun to listen to. gives a great backstory and motivation for the characters of Alita Battle Angel.

FULLED IN SOME BLANKS FROM THE NEW MOVIE

Good enough for what I was looking for. I just wanted to get more info before watching the movie.

The narration isn’t the best

The overall story is really good, however the narrator has too much base in his voice and inconsistent voice lines.

a very good book

great enjoyed every minute. can not wait for battle angel to drop will be epic

Pacy plot let down by lazy sexist stereotypes

The world building is okay, not immersive. The double cities, the floating pleasure dome and the “trash can” beneath it, make an interesting metaphor for our current environmental crisis and its disproportionate affect on the poor, but this analogy is never fully explored. Female characters are very one dimensional and with the exception of the nurse, all come with lengthy descriptions of how hot they are, whereas you get almost zero descriptions of what any of the men look like. Bland Hollywood fare, but fun enough to listen to whilst doing chores.

Brilliant

I enjoyed the first book and watched the movie and loved it, I was hoping this would be as good and it was brilliant.

Enjoyable story

No complaints for this free little story. A good build up to the next part

very interesting

in dept characters. I love that the characters from the movie wear fleshed out in more detail. Hugo's story became even sadder after hearing his full story

No Alita, no focal point

The book has a good flow and paints a picture of life in Iron City before Alita. the problem is, there is nothing insightful or engaging about the narrative. All the characters are given a bit of a background story but no huge events, no real details of the 2 cities or a bit of history. There is nothing new added other that this is just padding before we get to Alita. without the main character it is like have a diamond ring with no diamond or a car with no wheels. it has no purpose other than to wait for the vital component, the jewel, no traction without wheels. The characters are treading water before they get rescued by the real story of Alita.

Listen before watching the movie

The movie and narration (book 0 and book 1) are based on manga. Picture a post-apocalyptic, post-war, corrupt world and then immerse yourself in what characters have to do to make ends meet. The struggle between what is right and survival is tangible. The narrator matches the setting of this world most perfectly and the backstory gives more depth to the movie, which I loved and am planning to watch again after finishing book 1.

Far better that the movie novelisation

It is more understandable and logical that the movie but in order to be that way it diverged from the movie and from the other book.
No clue who thought it would be a good idea but at least the book is not so close to crap that you can smell it.

So just forget the movie, do not read the other one and enjoy a good story in an interesting world.

It's okay

It's okay not great to be honest I got lost off and a little bit bored near the end

learn more.

You should take a listen to gain a deeper understanding of the Movie.
Yeah worth the time.