Alien™: Sea of Sorrows - Review

Title: Alien™: Sea of Sorrows
Author: James A. Moore
Series: Alien™ Trilogy #2

Synopsis: “As a deputy commissioner for the ICC, Alan Decker’s job is to make sure the settlements on LV178 follow all the rules, keeping the colonists safe. But the planet known as New Galveston holds secrets, lurking deep beneath the toxic sands dubbed the Sea of Sorrows.
      “The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has secrets of its own, as Decker discovers when he is forced to join a team of mercenaries sent to investigate an ancient excavation. Somwhere in that long-forgotten dig lies the thing the company wants most in the universe – a living Xenomorph.
      “Decker doesn’t understand why they need him, until his own past comes back to haunt him. Centuries ago, his ancestor fought the Aliens, launching a bloody vendetta that was never satisfied. That was when the creatures swore revenge on the Destroyer… Ellen Ripley.”

 Review: I did not like this second installment in the new Alien™ series as much as I did the first (read BookGirlR’s review of Alien™: Out of the Shadows here) because my favorite thing about the entire Alien™ franchise is Ellen Ripley. Without Ripley it’s not a part of the Alien™ fanchise, in my opinion. Women today need more strong female role models. Ellen Ripley kicks some serious ass and doesn’t need a man to swoop in and rescue her. The author, James A. Moore, has made his main character Alan Decker a distant relation to Ellen Ripley, but it’s not enough. He’s taken a strong female character and replaced her with a mediocre male character. Not cool Moore, not cool.
      If you read Alien™: Sea of Shadows as if it is not a new installment in the Alien™ franchise it’s not so bad. The setting is creepy; the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is more evil than the Aliens; and there is enough gory action to keep you on the edge of your seat. So, pretend that this is merely a science fiction action thriller, don’t expect it to live up the Alien™ franchise reputation, and you’ll like it fine.

Publisher: Titan Books

If you like this book you may want to read:

This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman

 Species Imperative Series by Julie E. Czerneda

Alien: River of Pain (Alien™ Trilogy #3) by Christopher Golden
**Release Date November 25, 2014**

Upcoming Releases - October 2013

I love books.  I get excited about upcoming releases like other people, normal people, get excited about movie releases.  Here are the releases I am most anticipating this month.

Second book in the series, and I loved the first one.  See my review here.

Because Valdemar, that's why.

Who doesn't want to read a book with a cover like this?

Computers trying to kill humanity?  Yes please.

Steampunk awesomeness. 

I saved the best for last.  Mira Grant is my favorite author.  Go read Feed.

Book Frenzy

I have moments like this frequently.  "Too many books and not enough time!"  There are so many books that I want to read and I can feel the minutes ticking away, I know that I will never be able to read them all and it drives me crazy!

Watch this hilarious video clip.

Changes

I don't handle change well.  Even when it's good change there is a certain period of adjustment.  I am a creature of habit and like to have a semi-predictable schedule.  There have been a lot of changes in my life recently that I feel the need to catch everyone up on.

Firstly:  Book Girl has a boyfriend.  It's not that I hadn't tried, and I met some very nice people who were by all appearances perfect for me.  But, as some of you know, since my divorce the idea of a relationship is something that would strike fear into my heart and cause me to run in the other direction.  However, last May I met someone that didn't make me want to run.  It's partly the timing.  I think that I was finally ready to begin healing and moving on.  But it's also him.  He didn't push me to move faster than I was willing to go and is quite literally the absolute sweetest man I have ever met.

Secondly:  Book Girl now has a BA in English Literature.  Yeah, that's right.  I graduated in December, after much hard work, and have decided to take a break from school for now.  Sitting in class with all those 18-21 year olds made me feel old!

Thirdly:  Book Girl now has a full-time job.  I have student loans to pay back, the rent is due, someone has to buy the cat food, and there are books to be purchased and read.  The company for which I was already working hired me full-time as a pharmacy technician.  

What does this mean for you? I have discovered that the second and third changes mean that I have a lot more free time than I did previously.  Working 40 hours a week is nothing compared to working part-time and going to school full-time!  However, the boyfriend is taking up a lot of that new found time.  I am slowly settling into a schedule of working, reading, writing, blogging and cuddling. Almost every Saturday is going to be a no internet, no phone, no television day.  These days will be set aside primarily for reading, writing and getting things done around the house, ie: laundry and bathroom cleaning.  So, things should be picking up around here and falling into a somewhat more predictable schedule.

Library Receipts

Libraries should give patrons receipts when they return books.  I received a disturbing letter in the mail yesterday that I have overdue books from my local public library.  The fine is $70, and is being sent to collections.  Excuse me?  I don't have any library books, and haven't even been to the library since August.  So I called.  I was told that I have two books out and that they have been marked as lost.  I told her that yes, I had borrowed those two books in July but that I vividly remember returning them in August.  She put me on hold and went to check the shelf.  Nothing.  The books aren't on the shelf where they should be.  So today I went to the library myself, letter in hand.  Now, you have to understand, I hate confrontation.  I will go out of my way to avoid any type of confrontation.  But I forced myself to be brave, to be an adult, and deal with this.  Also, I bribed myself with a promise of a mocha from Starbucks when I was done.

I spoke to two different employees at the library.  The first was very nice and sympathetic but didn't have the power to do anything for me.  She checked the shelves for the books, and when she couldn't find them she went and got someone else.  The second employee, let's call her Lynn, was condescending and rude.  Lynn stared me in the eyes and said "It's not our fault you don't read your email.  We sent you an email notifying you of this in September".  She then checked to make sure they had my correct email on file.  Ummm... Guess what?  They did not have my correct email on file.  They had my old, old, old email on file.  An email that I had asked an employee to change in July by the way.  However, they had my correct phone number and address on file.  Why hadn't they tried to contact me again after receiving no response to the email?  Even in this digital age not everyone has email, how do they contact people with no email?  Lynn had no answer for me.  She just kept pointing out that they emailed me, once.   I pointed out that this still was not changing the fact that they are trying to charge me $70 for books that I returned two months ago.  "We don't have the books," Lynn said.  "I returned them," I said.  At this point we were pretty much engaged in a staring contest.

Even though eye contact, especially with a stranger, can be scary I'm very good at staring contests.  Because of my nice contact lenses I barely have to blink, I'm used to dry eyes.  So we stared.  "Let me see what I can do," Lynn mumbled as she broke eye contact and went into an employees only room.  I waited, and waited and waited.  Finally she came out with the library director.  The director, while outwardly nice, I could tell thought that I was a deadbeat.  She thinks that I never returned the books, that I ignored the notices that I never received and that I'm wasting her time.  She smiled, and said that she would personally check the shelves to make sure that the books were not misfiled, next week.  Several times while assuring me that she would check thoroughly she pointed out how rare it would be for the books to have been returned,  not scanned in, and then misplaced.  I smiled and agreed, "Yes, it is strange.  Perhaps you should rethink your return procedure."  And then I left.  I had been in the library for an hour and the issue is still unresolved.  I am now drinking my mocha from Starbucks and praying that she will find those books next week, because if she doesn't find them I will have to pay $70 for two books that I know I returned two months ago.

The moral of this story?  Get a receipt when you return library books, even if you have to write it out yourself and force a clerk to sign it.

Friday Favorites #1

Like the vast majority of book bloggers I could never pick just one favorite book.  However I do have quite a few favorite books!  These are books that I reread quite often and turn to when I’m having a bad day.   So here at BookGirl’s BookNook on the last Friday of every month I'll be talking about my favorite books.

September’s Friday Favorite:

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

I found this book a few years ago; I can’t remember the exact day.  I was shopping in B&N and just randomly picked up Sunshine.  I love Robin McKinley’s books and I love a good vampire story so I’m sure that those were two major reasons why this book appealed to me.   I devoured the book.  I read it in about two hours.  Now, when I’m having a bad day this is the book that I turn to.  This is one of those books that I won’t let people borrow because I need to know it’s here for me to read anytime I want!  For Christmas last year I received a hard cover copy of Sunshine because my paperback edition was falling apart because I’d read it so many times.  The magic, the vampires, the demons, and the baking combined with characters that I would like to know have combined to provide readers with one of the best books I’ve ever read!  

Tell me about your favorite books.

Sleepwalking?

I think I've been sleepwalking. Not just wandering around the house like a zombie sleepwalking, I'm talking about actually doing stuff while asleep and then not remembering doing it. Since I live alone with only the cat (isn't she gorgeous?) as a witness I have no way of knowing for absolute certain. The evidence that is leading me to suspect my sleepwalking is compelling. About a week ago when I woke up in the morning I discovered the lid on the toilet was up. Now, at the time I blew it off. "I must have just neglected to put the lid down when I used the toilet before bed," I told myself. But it bothered me. I never forget to put the lid down, it's a long time habit. A few days after that I wandered into the living room after getting up in the morning to find three neat stacks of books on the coffee-table. I am one hundred percent sure that these books were neatly put away on the bookcases that line my living room walls before I went to bed.
At this point I was convinced that someone was sneaking into my apartment to use the toilet and read my books while I was sleeping. Even though I always make sure that my apartment is locked up tight before I go to bed and I'm a terribly light sleeper I was sure that these abnormalities were being caused by an outside source. So the next few nights I placed a chair in front of the door to the hallway and hung bells on the curtain that covers the sliding glass door onto the patio. No abnormalities and no ringing bells or falling chairs.
By last night I had decided that maybe I was going crazy and had imagined everything. But I was still taking the precautions of chairs and bells, just in case. This morning there were, once again, books stacked on the coffee-table and there was a yummy looking ham sandwich on the counter in the kitchen. The ham was warm, so I think that it had been laying there for a few hours. Also, this morning I had no clothes on. I went to bed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, I woke up naked.
I'm exhausted, and I've been feeling unusually stressed lately. So much work and school with no days off has started bogging me down. I haven't been reading as much as I usually do, and obviously that is starting to get to me (the stacks of books on the coffee-table is probably a hint from my subconscious mind). I'm going to try to do more reading, and cut back a little on the stress (I'm not sure how yet) and we'll see if that helps with the sleepwalking.

As a thank you for letting me ramble here's a cute sleepwalking video I found on YouTube:

To Be Read #1

To Be Read is a weekly meme that I'll try to post every Sunday listing the books I bought/received that week. This meme was started by The Story Siren as: In My Mailbox. Check it out here

Here are the books that I got this week:










Unless otherwise mentioned you can assume that I either bought or borrowed the books mentioned in To Be Read. I am not important yet so I have to buy the books I review.