Last year we broke the news of an upcoming Aliens vs. Predator trilogy from Titan Books. All three novels will be written by Tim Lebbon, the author of Alien: Out of the Shadows. Details of the novel have slowly been trickling out (which you can read through on our forums) but now we have the full synopsis:
“The first in an epic trilogy crossing between Predator, Alien, and AVP! When huge Predator spacecraft begin entering human space in alarming numbers, the Colonial Marines assume an invasion and launch a full military response. Then they learn that the Predators are fleeing an invading force–an army of Xenomorphs! Someone has learned how to weaponize the Aliens, and their trajectory through Predator space has placed them on a path to Earth. Beginning an epic three-book space war that will include:Predator: Incursion; Alien: Invasion; Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon.”
This information comes curtsey of Amazon (thanks to felix for the tip) and the cover from Xenopedia. According to Amazon the novel is due out September 2015. We also know that Tim Lebbon had to go back to make some changes in light of the announcement of Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5.
Another thing I noticed in the preview that's potentially telling:
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I wouldn't be surprised if it's a goof. Sea of Sorrows wasn't originally supposed to take place as late as it did, so a mistake is understandable. Lebbon did say on a podcast that the novel is set around
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And I've just finished it. Curious they involved the Aliens that early on. I wonder why they just didn't call all the novels AvP. Then again, I don't know how the rest of the book will turn out. Anyway, I enjoyed that little tease. I did see the reveal coming a mile off but I'm quite curious as to the Founders. Looking forward to reading more now.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Predator-Incursion-Rage-Tim-Lebbon-ebook/dp/B01412PIMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1443208728&sr=1-1&keywords=predator+incursion
I absolutely loved that. I also loved how salty they got over the fact that humans were walking all over their sacred grounds.
Speaking of that game, in the first mission when you find the first dead Predator, your clan leader commands you to set off his wrist bracer because "we must not allow the humans to take our technology".
I wonder if in this novel we might capture some Predator technology or even one of them.
One of the things I really enjoyed abut the Predator campaign in AVP2010 was the vitriolic hatred your clan leader shows towards the Predalien. "End this affront to our ancestry!" and all that.
That's neat, I wonder how it will be played out.
A Predator invasion is something we never really saw, I hope despite not showing much of their pov, we'd see some war rituals, doesn't have to go too in depth. The whole ritual aspect I found fascinating.
That's something I really loved about AvP Extinction, those little written intros before Predator missions.
How a captive Predator must be "ritually killed" by the "hands of a Predator".
Or how in one of the missions, you must "ritually cleanse" a predalien hive and bring the predalien queen's head to the shrine to show "Predator supremacy" before nuking the entire thing.
Also one mission where you capture the scientist responsible for experimenting on Predators and creating predaliens and take him to the temple for a "traditional Torture Ritual" (I'd hate to be that fellow.)
It doesn't go too in depth, but it gives you a small tease on their mysterious culture.
And I was just popping on to say PR had finally responded to me to say it was October 20th. xD
I believe that was me who asked that.
As much as I love the Yautja, I really wouldn't want someone touching that in this new EU material. However considering that Lebbon had said he had never read any of the older stuff, or at least used it for these novels, I doubt we will see the Yautja term thrown about. What I can confirm is that we are getting honorable Predators as Lebbon had also answered my question regarding that.
If they do do it, I hope they leave it for the second or third novel so they can at least build up to it properly.
That's true, we don't know if the term "Yautja" would be used in the story itself.
I wonder though, how would the humans end up calling them this? Maybe a human heard a word and tried to pronounce it (likely butchering the hell out of it) and wound up with "Yautja".
I suspect they'd mainly call them "Predators" as that's a name that sometimes comes up in some works.
I like how in one crossover comic, the main hero got caught in the Predator's net and the villains were hiding and watching, one of them goes "we'll let our predatory friend kill him" and they just wound up calling it "Predator" as the word just stuck out of nowhere and seemed to fit. There's other AvP comics where random humans just so happen to call them "Predator" for one reason or another.
So I'm curious to see how it got to humans calling them what they call them in the novel.
Book Depository, a UK site, has Rage War listed as coming out September 25 with free worldwide shipping, so anyone here in the US who wants to pick it up early might want to get it from there.
http://www.bookdepository.com/Predator-Incursion-Rage-War-1-Tim-Lebbon/9781783298334
I'm not sure he ever said the term Yautja isn't used in the novel itself, but he did say the book won't have anything from Predator perspective.
Yautja could simply be the term adopted by humans for the creatures in the story.
You're in luck, because Lebbon has said that we won't be getting anything from the Predator perspective, and that the Yautja thing is just in the summary.
I believe someone here asked Tim Lebbon on Twitter how the Predators will be portrayed as "Yautja" were mentioned on Amazon and if Lebbon read the previous books.
The author said no, and he also said he wasn't going to be doing Predator pov stuff so seeing more of their culture really in depth would be the last thing I'd expect to see. He is avoiding to focus on them for the sake of keeping them mysterious.
The least we would get maybe is bits and pieces, like some human characters hide and spy on a group of Predators interact. Or they could be human captives before they somehow escape. I don't know. Something along those lines. So don't expect anything really detailed.
One of the previous trilogy (can't remember which, either Sea of Sorrows or River of Pain) was out a bit earlier in the UK than the US, so I wouldn't be totally shocked if there were differing release dates.
I didn't mind Flesh and Blood, and even Forever Midnight was OK in its own way.
I like that this is a big story, so I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of twists we get.
I am much more hesitant with this one as aside from perhaps the original Concrete Jungle and South China Sea, I don't believe the Predators have ever really been done well in the novels. I dislike both the Hish and Yautja concept and I don't necessarily see why we need to delve into the culture of these Hunters. An air of mystery is what makes them fearsome.
At least a Predator invasion force is something we've never seen before. I largely enjoyed Out of the Shadows on the whole, so I hope this one is just as good. I also hope there's a justifiable reason why it needs to be set so far into the future.
Who really knows at this point, though.
Why? It comes out October 20th over here too.
Then again, maybe this is karma for getting to see Prometheus a week early because I was studying abroad in England when it came out.
I see. Thanks for clearing it up for me.
It's implied that it's given to the crew members to read in the book Seas of Sorrows, but they're on a secret Weyland-Yutani mission, so they can't really be called the general public.
I thought I read somewhere that it mentioned it was released for the "public" Perhaps I mis-read it.
It's not structured for 'general public'. It's WY internal and security classified.
As far as the Colonial Marines and W-Y still being around in the 27th century, I guess we can applaud the AvP universe for achieving Star Trek levels of social stability.
Oh yeah, now I remember you bringing this up and it's quite a valid point.
I remember reading that this CMC is being controlled by W-Y, so it might have transitioned from a government military to a fully privatized military. So this may no longer be the same Colonial Marines.
I am definitely excited for that too. To see what happened in between. Do you think it might mention the W-Y report becoming public? Since the way the report is structured, it looks like it was released in a far future setting to the general public as if giving not just a lesson on the Xenomorphs, but a history lesson on them as well.
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Maybe it's not what you're thinking of, but I questioned whether the USCM would still exist so many years after Aliens. Look at the military 200 years ago, and look at it now. The structure/organisation/units are all totally different. I find it hard to believe the Colonial Marines would even exist any more more than five centuries later.
Good points, also
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Also it doesn't sound odd that W-Y has endured for so long, some companies even today were around since the 1800's. I remember some products proudly stating how they've been making a product for a long time.
Also times change a lot, I remember someone saying how can W-Y control the Colonial Marines now, maybe between Sea of Sorrows and Rage War, they took control, a lot can happen in 200 years.
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This pleases me a lot.
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In my headcanon, I like to set the "present" around the 2700s, and all the media is sort of like a report of events that happened that you can look into through research.
So Rage War being set in the 2690's is very close to my "present" setting.
Also, have you heard of the AvP game called "Last of his Clan" set in 2593? It was the furthest setting, I am glad Rage War goes a century after that!
I noticed a trend here, the SNES AvP game was set in 2493 and Sea of Sorrows went further into 2496 and then 2497 and then Rage War goes further than Last of his Clan. I know those games are very obscure and not a lot of people know of them, but it amused me.
Can't wait!
http://www.projectiradio.com/special-guest-tim-lebbon-three-guys-with-beards/
Some new info:
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Can't wait.
Also I'm chasing the preview and release date change info request.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1783296240?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/predator-incursion-the-rage-war/9781783296248-item.html?ikwid=Predator&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=2