The Resident Evil franchise encompasses a huge amount of media products, from the original games to films, tv shows, and novels. As such, there's a huge amount of Resident Evil lore to explore, though with so many different stories there are some inconsistencies. The novels are probably the least explored aspect of the franchise since the films and games have received a lot more coverage and propelled the franchise to what it is today. However, that's not an indication of the quality of the novels, as some of them are beloved by fans of the franchise.
The S. D. Perry Resident Evil novels were the first to come out and are a lot of fans' favorites. There are also the novelizations of the films, and a good amount of original stories to explore. Some of the Resident Evil books have only been released in Japan so aren't as accessible, but as a general rule of thumb, the S. D. Perry novels are the easiest place to begin for fans of the games. The novels add a great amount of detail to the existing stories but are generally considered their own universe with a separate canon to the games and films.
S. D. Perry Novels
Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, were the first to get the rights to publish novels under the Resident Evil name; Pocket Books wanted Steve Perry to write these books originally, but he recommended his daughter, Stephani Danelle Perry, write them instead. S. D. Perry had no access to additional material or developer notes while writing these books, but manages to add a huge amount to the plot of the first few games, even writing in explanations for some of the strange puzzles found throughout Resident Evil games.
Her first novel in the series, The Umbrella Conspiracy, retells the events of the first game with some additional material added by Perry. The second game is then retold in City of the Dead, and Perry wrote original stories, one that takes place after The Umbrella Conspiracy and one after City of Dead. The game's canon directly contradicts these stories, though. Caliban Cove takes place after the first novel and features Rebecca Chambers leading a S.T.A.R.S. team in investigating Umbrella experiments in the fictitious Caliban Cove, Maine. Perry's second original story, titled Underworld, sees characters from Caliban Cove return alongside Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. In this novel, a mysterious figure named Trent leads these characters to an Umbrella research facility in Utah. Perry also has three other retellings of game events, named after their respective games, Nemesis, Code Veronica, and Zero Hour.
Film Novelisations and Osamu Makino
Keith DeCandido wrote the first three novelizations of Resident Evil films, with the first being called Resident Evil: Genesis, and the others having the same name as the films. Retribution and The Final Chapter are written by John Shirley and Tim Waggoner respectively. Osamu Makino wrote a Japanese novelization of the first film, titled Biohazard after the game's Japanese name. Makino then went on to write numerous Japanese novelizations of Resident Evil games and films.
Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles Side A and Side B are Makino's retelling of the events of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Makino has also written Biohazard Damnation, a novelization of Resident Evil: Damnation. Although Makino has written the second most Resident Evil books, after S. D. Perry, and does add his own flair to the stories, these books are not received as much attention as other novels due to the language barrier for non-Japanese speakers. There are, however, multiple fan translations of these stories for Resident Evil fans who want them in English.
Resident Evil: The Book and Other Japanese Books
The True Story Behind Biohazard was a pre-order bonus with the Sega Saturn version of the first game and includes an interview with Shinji Mikami and George Trevor's letters. This was released in Japanese, though again there are many fan translations. However, an official English translation of part of the book, which tells a story set before the events of the first game, was released in 1998 under the title Resident Evil: The Book. The book is now difficult to find in print but contains the original story by Hiroyuki Ariga, as translated by Yoko Borcheli and Hanako Watanabe.
Resident Evil: The Book is a prequel that follows Chris Redfield in a search for his missing friend, Billy Rabitson. Other notable Resident Evil characters show up in this book, including Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, and Albert Wesker. Chris travels to Victory Lake, within Racoon City, to find his friend and encounters numerous strange animal attacks and rumors of cannibalistic killings. The book sets up the events of the games by elaborating further on the character's motivations and how they find themselves involved in the Racoon City incident. As such, it's definitely worth checking out for Resident Evil fans.
There have been a handful of other Resident Evil books published in Japanese, with English fan translations usually available. These novels create an expanded universe for Resident Evil, with original stories set outside of the games' canon. Biohazard The Wicked North Sea features a research facility on an island in the North Sea owned by the Beardsley family, who were part of the same circles as the founders of Umbrella. Biohazard Rose Blank follows the original character Emily Ran, who is an employee of Umbrella but grows increasingly concerned with the ethics of the company. Biohazard To The Liberty explores an outbreak in New York City with a cast of original characters. Finally, Biohazard Vendetta is a novelization of Resident Evil Vendetta, written by screenwriter Fukami Makato.
There have also been multiple Resident Evil comics published, so there is a wealth of material for fans to explore. As mentioned, the S. D. Perry novels are a great place to start, while Japanese speakers will definitely have an advantage in exploring many of the other books. Particularly interesting for long-time fans of the series, the Resident Evil books are very much part of the Umbrella era in the franchise and as such have some nostalgia attached to them.
