The Umbrella Conspiracy

It would be ridiculous to expect much from a novelization of a video game. A competently-told but pedestrian adventure story is about the most one could hope for. For the most part, The Umbrella Conspiracy does just that. But it's like eating a burger at a McDonald's: uninspiring. It's certainly not worth reviewing, except for one thing which demonstrates how low standards have gotten in publishing these days.

"...and faced a much smaller room, as bland and industrial as the first. ... So far, the basement levels had offered nothing more dangerous than a lack of decorum..."

Through the novel, the author stresses how luxurious the main mansion is. The basement is, in contrast, extremely plain. But the ignorance betrayed in using the show more phrase "lack of decorum" to indicate that plainness is rather telling. Decorum has nothing to do with decor (or decoration), as the author seems to believe - and as some editor presumably failed to realize. Well, technically both words share the same Latin root, but the meanings are entirely different:

de·co·rum
dəˈkôrəm/
noun
noun: decorum
behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety.
"you exhibit remarkable modesty and decorum"
synonyms: propriety, seemliness, decency, good taste, correctness;

de·cor
dāˈkôr/
noun
noun: decor; plural noun: decors; noun: décor; plural noun: décors
the furnishing and decoration of a room.
synonyms: decoration, furnishing, ornamentation; color scheme

Definitions from Google

Decorum pertains to behavior, specifically human or (at least) sapient behavior - not interior decorating. It just sounds as if it does. But for a supposedly professional writer to include such an error, and for an editor and publishing house to print such an error, is really pitiful. show less

Read this book as someone who hasn't really played the series before, I know enough about some of the characters but this book really made me fall in love with Chris. It was slow at some parts which made it tough to get through but it really gave me a better grip on each of the characters. (Also I wanted to know about Rebecca Chambers since she's coming to DBD and now I love her and will absolutely be buying her character when it's out).

Also Wesker? What a bastard. Like, I knew he was an antagonist but his thoughts...whew.

It was okay, mostly I just needed a mental vacation from all the technical stuff I'm reading for grad school. This short, bloody number fit the bill pretty well.

Having never played the RE video games, and only seeing the movies, this was all new territory for me.
Typical game novelization, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Definitely going to be reading more in the series.

This book is really good because it uses great description. For example, it says ‘’Jill took in her surroundings as she caught her breath feeling like she was a character in a night mare that had just taken a turn in to grand fantasy.’’ I also like the book because at parts the book really gets your attention. I will read and start to get bored, but then I’ll read something like ‘’They walked slowly into the room noticing something on the wall .’’ Then I will want to read more to see what happens next.

One of my favorite novelizations of one of my favorite video games. I really enjoyed S.D. Perry's retelling of Resident Evil 1. Though it does not completely match up to the game (which is expected) I still had fun withe story.

Great book unless you have seen the movies or played the games. The suspense is lost if you have any knowledge whatsoever of the series. Still enjoyable, mindless read. Their are parts where their is trouble following the story, however, it is still fun.