Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 20, 2018, 08:25:23 AM
More recently I ended up letting my dislike for the Yautja culture colour my view of the book. And of course the Alien's being stomped upon. Which was unfair a bit, I think, as it was actually a pretty good book! Reading your review, I do now fancy a re-read of Prey.
When I was younger, the yautja concept was troubling to me and it soured my taste. This time, I accepted that Steve Perry's read on the Xenomorphs is that "they're stupid," and he wanted to balance them out by making the Predators into round characters. The Predator is a character in the first two films, but a flat character. Not really nuance. It has one goal and that's it.
In Prey, even a character like Tichinde who's meant to come off as frustrating and insolent is actually portrayed as more nuanced if you take a closer look. I generally just bought into the well-done characterization throughout the novel. It's something I tend to struggle with in my own writing.
[spoilers]
In terms of the Aliens in Prey, I think they're meant to be taken as stupid bugs, but I found they actually do fairly well for themselves. I mean, there's not a single Predator character who survives the book before a new one is introduced at the end. The Aliens wipe them out, save for the Predators who kill each other. Beyond that, it takes nearly half the novel for adult Xenomorphs to enter into the equation, so I felt the buildup to their arrival also did a good job of treating them with a decent amount of respect.
