Resident Evil: Retribution – The Official Movie Novelization is a 2012 science fiction action horror novel written by John Shirley, and published by Titan Books. The story focuses on Alice and her attempts to escape from an underwater facility used for testing the T-virus after she’s captured by the Umbrella Corporation.

The book is a fast read. Now, if you’ve seen the movie, you’ve practically read the book. And that’s where I think Shirley falls flat. As an adaptation of the movie, Shirley could’ve tweaked it bit to make it more grounded. The idea isn’t bad, Alice is trying to escape a facility and must fight off zombies, mind-controlled humans, and monstrous creatures to do so. The movie had so many plot holes that the book could’ve fixed but it’s sticks to Paul W.S. Anderson’s screenplay like a fly on tape.

There are some scenes that are removed from the book that were in the movie and vice versa. To some extent I think that it improved the storytelling. One of the biggest problems of the series is the focus of action over story. I really enjoyed a new subplot with new characters Dori (a 15-year-old girl who’s a clone), Judy (a technician), and Tom (a mechanic) who are trying to escape the facility. The story parallels the main story and offers more to the setting that the main characters aren’t the only people dealing with the situation. Some people don’t like this new addition, I really do. (3 out of 5)

Again, Alice is the main protagonist but there’s more to her character that is explored. This time she acts as a mother figure which brings a softness and vulnerability to the character that we haven’t seen before. Also, I really like getting into Alice’s head, learning more about her. Other characters I really enjoyed were Luther West (who’s one of the best characters in the film series), a child clone named Becky, Jill Valentine, and the “good” Rain and “bad” Rain clones.

I was a bit disappointed at the other characters (but I was disappointed with them in the movie as well). There wasn’t really much to Ada, Leon, Wesker, or Barry. They felt tacked on and even unnecessary. Hell, they come there to save Alice only for her to save them. They’re poor representations of their video game counterparts.

The side characters Dori, Judy Gordon, and Tom Pepper are actually great characters. They’re unique, they’re interesting, and because they’re not spies, secret agents, or former military vets they feel more human, more relatable. (3 out of 5)

John Shirley does a good job with the structure and flow of the story. He does a great job with the description, keeping it focused and not overwhelming. Scenes give a pretty good image and the action has depth to the detail. For the most part, I thought the writing was decent. Unfortunately, the writing has a lot of typos. There are grammatical errors that are almost laughable how obvious they are. There are some lines that are contradictory. There are some misspellings. It felt like the book wasn’t proofread and with so many obvious errors it’s hard to stay engaged. And since this is basically the screenplay for the movie, what I didn’t like about the movie, was the poor characterization. I was disappointed that Shirley took out the Executioners versus Ada and Alice fight because I would’ve thought it could’ve been a way to add tension, similar to the Uber Licker. (2 out of 5)

In the end, Resident Evil: Retribution – The Official Movie Novelization is a decent enough and adaptation. There’s a lot that holds this from being a great book such as the number of grammatical errors, it sticks too close to an already spotty screenplay, and the lack of additional content. However, Alice has better characterization, there are some good characters, the pacing is fast, it’s a good story, and the action is engaging. Resident Evil: Retribution – The Official Movie Novelization gets 3 out of 5.