Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy, a Great Book by S.D. Perry

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy is a novelization of the first video game. The book was written in 1998 by S.D. Perry. She wrote all of the books in this series, and I like the way she tells this story.

Just like the other book I read from this series, several viewpoints are used to tell the story. It is a nice way to tell a story like this, especially when you have a video game with several endings. Most of the time, the story switches between Jill and Chris, but there are a few others, such as Barry and Wesker. This helps to move the plot along and explain some things that Chris and Jill couldn’t know about.

I knew what the story was going to be before I picked up this book. Many companies used novelizations of video games as marketing material. It is something that has been going on since the 1980s, and these books are dependent on the talents of the writer. A few of them take some serious liberties with the source material, and others make minor changes that enhance the story.

With this book, Perry explains much of what happens in the video game and jumps between the Chris and Jill storylines. This isn’t the first novelization I’ve read that uses this tactic, and I think she does a good job of making it feel like a team effort. It is nice that she was able to juggle two stories for this book.

Jill and Chris

Much like the video game, these two drive the overall story forward. They’re the main characters, and most of what happens in the books is centered around them. Barry has a more developed character arc, but he is still relegated to a secondary role. There is a lot of alternating between Jill and Chris, and I like how this is handled.

Instead of following one of them around as they do everything, it reads more like they’re working together, even if they don’t know it. Some of the corny dialogue from the game is in the book, which I like. The iconic lines from the game are also here.

They do fight the bosses, enemies, and find the items from the game. Much of this is the main characters wandering through the mansion as they look for stuff, including each other. I like how Perry keeps them apart and uses Barry as the go-between for them.

They do meet and find the Bravo team members, just like the video game. They find the keys and eventually find out what is going on with Barry. Eventually, they make it into the underground laboratory and fight the bosses.

Because we follow two characters, Perry splits up what each of them does. This is a compromise that I like, because it feels more realistic than the video game. Jill will find some information about Umbrella, and Chris will find out about Wesker. Then the two put everything together as they move through the Mansion and the laboratory.   

Wesker, Rebecca, Barry, and Trent

These are our side characters. They all play a role in the game, some big and others small. Trent is the odd one out of this group, because I don’t think he exists outside of the books. Wesker and Barry play a more important role in the story, but Rebecca is used quite well.

We meet Trent early in the book, and then he is only mentioned. I don’t think that he’s in the rest of the story. His big role in the story is to plant the seeds that something is wrong with Alpha team, and that Jill needs to be on her toes. Jill will mention him from time to time, but I’m pretty sure he is gone from the rest of the book.

Wesker and Barry’s subplot was more interesting than the main plot. I like how both of these characters are used in the story. We get the conversations between the two of them, and we can see how it ties the Jill and Chris story together. There are also points of view where Wesker and Barry explain what happens quickly to keep the story going.

Rebecca is in the story, and she does do a few things. It felt like she was here because she was in the game, and Perry was trying to find things for her to do. She does find a few things and helps Chris with some stuff. Out of all the characters in the book, I think Rebecca was her because she had to be, and not because she needed to be.

Perry enhanced the story from the video game through the use of these characters. Wesker and Barry were the most important, then came Rebecca, and finally Trent. While it added a hook to the beginning of the story, Trent didn’t really do much. It did make me want to keep reading, but I would’ve done that anyway because I wanted to see where this was going to go.

Likes and Dislikes

There wasn’t too much for me to complain about. Most of the things that I had questions about will probably be explained more in the other books. I did like how Perry told the story and used the characters.

The way Jill and Chris work together is a fun way to handle the story. It is cool how they indirectly work together to do things, and how Wesker manipulates both of them. Having Barry talk with both of them makes a lot of sense, and I like how all of this is handled.

I like the addition of Trent. While he didn’t need to be in the story, I like that Perry used him to try and warn someone on Alpha team about what was going on. It will be cool to see if he gets used in the other books in the series.

Having all of the lines from the video game in the book was an interesting choice. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I understand why this was done, but if there was ever a time to fix them, this was it. If Perry had left them out, some people might’ve been upset, but I would’ve been fine.

Some of what happens in this book was cool, and a few things I’m going to have to wait and see how they get handled in the other books. I had more likes than dislikes with this, and many of the dislikes were things that might get built upon later. It did feel like Jill was the main focus in this story, which I’m not complaining about. 

Wrap Up

 There were only minor changes to this book, and I think those helped the overall plot. Some of the more video game moments have been toned down, which I think is a good thing. You don’t have one character running around a doing everything, which is nice since there are other characters in the story.

Barry was my favorite character from this book. He has more character development than the others, and I loved how Perry used him. His arc and motivations are very good, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with him in the other books, or if he gets dropped.

The epilogue is a nice teaser for how Trent will be used in the other books. It is pretty cool to see something like that. Overall, I liked this book, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on video game novels, such as Resident Evil Zero Hour or Shadowkeep.