Customer Reviews

Resident Evil: Extinction

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I hope people who check these reviews out are wise enough to realize that the negative reactions from Me "Sal" and Timstuff "tim16733 are biased and therefore pretty much moot when it comes to reviewing this book: by their own admission, they are hardcore purists of the games, so anything derived from a movie that is "based on" the games is going to immeasurably hack them off.

This is a novelization, based off a Hollywood screenplay, it is bound to be outside the realm of the games - get over it.

I picked this book up to read at the beach. I wanted something light, fun and easily absorbed in the face of multiple distractions; fellow beach goers, family, music, propensity to doze in the sun. And in that vein, this book did not disappoint one bit.

The story itself, or rather the screenplay the book is based on, is pretty cut and dry: Alice (Milla Jovovich's character in the movies) is on the loose trying to help those who have survived a zombie-making plague. Part of her energy is spent running from her demons, and her would be captors, the Umbrella Corporation.

Alice stumbles upon a group of old friends leading a rag-tag caravan of survivors and does her best to protect them as they flee north as fast as they can. Relationships are forged, lives are lost, and all with the stakes ever rising.

Keith R.A. DeCandido's prose is quick and rarely bogged with any extraneous nonsense. Characters appear, get introduced, and react to what is basically a zombie story mixed with a bit of Mad Max and a sprinkle of corporate anarchy that reminded me a lot of Omni Consumer Products.

The book features a large cast of two-dimensional characters - remember folks, this is a novelization of an action movie! - and I was impressed with the way in which DeCandido breathed life into each and every one with purposeful, if not fun, back stories. And were it not for those, the characters would have become monotonous and indistinguishable.

Sometimes the characterizations get a little too stereotypical, such as Jasper a black cop in Baltimore. His overtly jive mannerisms are completely over the top; more one-dimensional then two. Equally one-dimensional is a new monster that sort of just materializes at the end. Its goofy and left field, as are the "powers" of one of the characters.

But within the context of the book, these are almost nitpicky. Things that read odd on paper will look good on film. And speaking of film, DeCandido does an impressive job of backfilling the previous films and relevant game history for those who may have missed out before this. I've probably played the game at some point, certainly saw the first movie, but that's about it. Once I got into DeCandido's narrative flow, which transitions in the first half between the past (Before) and the present (After), I slipped into the story with no problem. Course, I'm a junky for post-apocalyptic stories of lost worlds and abandoned cities (I especially loved the visual of a half-buried Las Vegas!), so this was right up my alley.

Best of all, though, was DeCandido's subtle acknowledgment that Extinction may at times seem a little silly. He constantly had the characters disbelieving the reality of actual zombies wandering around the Earth; having them admit that it is too absurd to believe - a nice nod and wink that made this all the more enjoyable as a quick, no nonsense read.

And on a private note: thank you Mr. DeCandido for the dedication to Pierce Askegren. I did not know him extremely well at all, but from what little I did know, he would in fact have really loved this....

Why 4 stars you ask when everyone else has scored it so low? I give this book a decent rating of 4 stars because the book answered all of the questions that I had after leaving the movie (which I enjoyed).

Okay, we get it, so the movies are not like the games. Give it a rest already. Seriously, why would I pay 10 bucks to go watch a movie that I already played? They added some cool easter eggs to the movies from the games (if you were paying attention) and the movies did what they had to do, expand the Resident Evil universe with new and creative characters and portray their experiences with the corrupt Umbrella corporation.

Back to the review, the book answered questions like what happened to Jill. Where's the little girl from Apocalypse (her name escapes me right now, regardless you'll be shocked at what happened!), where did Alice's powers come from and how did the virus escape and infect more cities (leading to the desert wasteland prominent in the movie) even after they destroyed the city and blamed everything on Jill, Carlos and S.T.A.R.S.?

Anyways, if you enjoyed the movie but like me left scratching your head wondering where's the rest of the story, this book will satisfy you.

- Dan.

A great addition to the Resident Evil movie novelization series. Although the book differs from the movie at certain parts, the book captures the thoughts of the characters that aren't quite obvious in the movies. It also gives the reader the past and the present filling in the story that isn't seen. This book brings the story of Alice and the others she encounters to another level.

I loved the movie Resident Evil: Extinction than i know i'm going to love the book i tell you right now if this one is half as great as the rest of the Resident Evil books that i have than i know that i'm really going to enjoy the book.

Rondall Banks

I loved this book! i dont know about everybody else but this is just what they needed. This books is going by how Resident Evil : Code Veronica X and Resident Evil 4 and 5 play along. Cause they are going to have the super zombies that run instead of walk. Its in a desert like area like in RE 5. This movie is just going to be the best out of all the 3 Resident Evil Movies.

Sure the writer did not go by the game, but its pretty damn close. You know how they add new characters all the time? well Alice is just one of the characters they brought out through the Movie. If you read the first novel, you will see that Alice did infact work for Umbrella and how she wants to stop them. This is like a new game that they just made into a movie. I mean they added Jill in the 2nd movie, Claire is in this one. In this movie Claire is looking for her brother. Sure the second movie was not as suspensful as the first movie and the games. If they would have made the movie like the games then it just would have been considered another game that you just cant control. If you notice, the games are most likely like a movie itself. They made Resident Evil: Apocalypse really action like type because it shows the outbreak of the virus and how people were reacting to it. its not like they were just going to sit around and wait to be killed like in the games. For a movie they need to find a stopping point to it. They made the Alice character to interact with the characters from the game to get the story just right for continuous movies to be made.

Resident Evil was a great movie. It was suspensful and it was just so awesome if you might say. They didnt like Romeros screenplay because it would just wind up like Dawn of the Dead. Sure it would have been great but to see more horror into the Resident Evil Trilogy but the action is what makes the movies alive. in the game you get bit just once and youre okay. in the movie, you get bit but there is an antivirus, you dont just get cured with a herb like in the game, if you dont get the antivirus you die simple as that. and if that happend there would be no more movies nothing.

So you see why they had to alter it and make a hero. Because while everything is going on in the game, you dont know if there is an Alice. There might be and we just dont know. So i think we should just lay back and enjoy the movies because they are awesome. and i wouldnt trade them for a copy cat version of the game any day. if i want it to be like the game i just might as well just play the game. But its good to have 2 points of view on the Raccoon City incident. The only bad part about this movie that i dont like, is that Jill is not going to be in it. thats it, other than that i am going to see this movie cause this movie is going to be the best. and if you read the book, youll see that there just might be another movie! SWEET SWEET VICTORY!

They thought that they had killed of the T-virus with the nuking of Raccoon City, but they were wrong and now its is airborn and everywhere. Jill, Carlos and the mighty Alice Abernathy along with new ally Claire Redfildare the only forces that are left to take on both the Zombies and the evil Umbella Corportion, the people that unleased this plauge on the earth.
I have to say that I really liked "Resident Evil Extinction" by Keith DeCandido. I liked the fact that the writer took the time to retell the ending of the second Resident Evil movie, so reader could catch up with the storyline. I loved the action and can't wait for the see the movie.

Dear fellow Kindlers,

I havent read this book yet and I take it it wasnt the same as the games. I wont read this book until ive read all the reviews on this book. If you agree this book sounds bad, post a rewiew saying yyou do. If you dont do the same. I look foward to hearing from y'all.

Jessica.

Paul Anderson's Resident Evil movie trilogy is a piece of garbage, I can't believe that enough people watched them to generate 3 of them. The games are the scariest games I've ever played, and they are amongst my top favorites. I also greatly cherish the series of novels that Stephani Danielle Perry based off of them, and so it's a real shame that while we've been waiting for roughly two years for her to make another one of those, we get a garbage novelization of Extinction thrown at us. This is not Resident Evil, it's Mad Max with zombies and an army of annoying clones! Just go and read City of the Dead (S.D. Perry's third RE book) again. It's way better than wasting your time with a novelization of a movie written by one of the worst mainstream screenwriters of the 21st century. You might as well read the novel of Van Helsing if that's how low your standards are!

I agree with a previous reviewer. The movies are NOT what the game was about. The writer screwed big time, no, not big, HUGE time. Did he ever played the game? The movie lack atmosphere, story and everyhting the game was about. If you watch Silent Hill, the movie, you will see how the atmosphere was well captured. Unfortunately they did not capture the suspense and horror part well there but that is another story. What I want to tell you is that the movies simply are not what the game is. I have no idea how Capcom allowed them to destroy it. I guess the money factor is too big to walk away from it.

Anyway, as far as this novel goes, it is just a piece of junk since it is related to the movie. Forget that it reads Resident Evil in the title and then you may like something. Don't buy it. If you do it will be like saying that you don't care what happened to the game-movie relationship and will support this kind of things to happen over and over again.

Buy S.D. Perry novelizations of RE. Some are based off of the games and are perfect! She did play the game and captured/enriched the experience. For those novels not based off of a RE game, she still did a good job.