Alien/Predator Novel Reviews

Started by Hudson, Aug 19, 2014, 04:55:43 PM

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Alien/Predator Novel Reviews (Read 70,451 times)

Gentleman Death

Finished The Rage War Predator Incursion....

I haven't read any of the Predator or AvP novels so I wasn't sure what to expect from this other than what I heard, which are good things.

About halfway through the book I realized I could turn my brain off and just enjoy this for what it was, a fun popcorn read. It did take me a little to figure out characters as the narrative jumped around, once that was established the book slowly came into play.

Pretty typical characters so far, which isn't necessarily a bad thing and there's plenty of action to go around.
Maybe I glossed over it but Halley and Palant keep mentioning how much they hate General Marshall. Now, Halley mentions he has stuff on her, although he's never used it against her and Palant says she just doesn't like him. Other than that I feel like I'm being forced to not like his character even though I've been given no information suggesting otherwise. Now, I'm sure HE IS an asshole but feel like it was forced on to me, as a reader, like being spoon fed. Hate him, hate him, hate him.....idk, small gripe I suppose.

Im not blown away but now that I know what to expect for the next two books, I'll probably be able to dig into it more.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#586
Quote from: Gentleman Death on Jan 19, 2021, 10:07:21 PMAbout halfway through the book I realized I could turn my brain off and just enjoy this for what it was, a fun popcorn read.

This sums the trilogy up perfectly. They're not on the level of stuff like Phalanx or Cold Forge in terms of depth and nuance, but man are they fun to read.

Gentleman Death

Gentleman Death

#587
Finished Rage War Invasion...

.... It's a very entertaining book with lots of action and violence. There's some well written action from when the Aliens and Rage start their attacks and one particular scene with Mains in the Othelleo ships hold.

It's weird because I like the characters but feel I should like them more, if that makes sense? I just feel bad for Mains and Leider. These first two books are just crapping all over them regarding the amount of hell they go through.

Two things. First, I didn't like what happened with McIlven. I felt he was a wasted character after what happens with him and Halleys crew. Second...this might be a stretch since there's still one more book, but I'm not seeing how having the predators in these books matter other than it being slightly cool....

SM

SM

#588
You'll see.  :)

Gentleman Death

Finished Rage War Armageddon...

... This series wasn't bad but didn't blow me away either. I guess I prefer Aliens to having just one or even a handful of them at a time. When you start talking about thousands upon thousands you lose a lot of what makes them terrifying, IMO.

A lot of throw away characters throughout the series but i think there was just so much going on that trying to do character development over action wasn't the route the author was going for, which is fine.

I think the series is good, I just prefer a different style of Alien writing and story....

....Plus that ending, ugh....

Kradan

Kradan

#590
Just finished Rage War trilogy last night (stayed up till 4 AM reading it)

I bloody love these books. It's hard for me to differentiate them from one another 'cause they work so well as a whole story IMO.

Spoiler
I love, love, love concepts Lebbon introduces in here. The whole idea of Rage is so refreshing and novel to me. I always dig the idea of an idealist society turning into blood-thirsty cult. I thought Beatrix Maloney was a great villain - I loved to hate her and it was so cool that the main baddy of the story was essentially few-centuries old crazy grandma lol  :D

I wasn't overly impressed with a new alien species author introduced back in Out Of The Shadows but absolutely loved how they were used here. Idea of The Faze felt so ... alien to me and I loved it. I love the visuals of Rage ships exteriors and interiors changed by that thing as I saw it in my head. I think Lebbon was capable of creating something probably as mysterious as original SJ is.

I like how tehcnology was updated but still felt in keeping with what was established in Alien franchise before. Especialy the idea of Drop Holes and how crucial to the whole story they turned out to be.

I've just checked Xenopedia and it says that some of ideas Lebbon introduced here were "inspired" by Mass Effect. Oh well, don't really care for that series and frankly don't give a f**k

In terms of how Aliens were portrayed in the series - I'm usually not a fan of xenos being thrown in mass numbers but was fine with it here. I guess, unlike many other stories there just wasn't a scene with Colonial Marines absolutely dominating xenos with superior firepower, on contrary, each time Marines encountered xenos they were f**ked - so xenos still felt like a genuine threat. I also like how Aliens were used as weapon here and how it reflected wars of the past between other alien species. And I absolutely loved how there were entire ships turned into basically Aliens birth nurseries. It was bloody tense when our characters were thrown in such enviroment

I liked how Preds were portrayed here too. We learn something about them but they still remain unknown which is emphasized in the books. You're always not entirely sure what their motives and goals are. I thought "team-up" between humans and Predators was done justice 'cause it didn't feel like them being best buddies all of a sudden - Preds were still in it for themselves and uniting with people for as long as they had to to fight common enemy. Oh, and that sequence of Hashori relentlessly torturing Lylia was f**king brutal and I loved it. And that Pred bitch didn't even apologise for that later !  :D

I found it's interesting how W-Y was portrayed in the series. On one hand, story of Tanns couple goes to show that there hasn't been much change in The Company since we last saw them in movies. But on the other, I liked how Gerard Marshall's character went against stereotypical company man and in the end genuinely tried to do the best for humanity

I dig the main cast of characters. As I said somewhere previously they're not particularly deep but I'd be damned if they're not hell of a lot of fun to read. As GD pointed  out above there were a little bit too many throwaway characters. Especially near the end I felt like "Why do we keep going back to these characters if they're not essential to the main plot ?" But I kinda get the point that these characters were used as tools to broad the universe and give overall feeling of how big Human Sphere is
[close]

To conclude, the trilogy is called Rage War and I really felt that there was genuine war with huge stakes going on here. It's not without it's flaws but its highs just so high for me. It was hell of a ride, I would gladly re-visit it in future and give it solid 8/10 and my strong recommendation to anyone who hasn't read it yet

BlueMarsalis79

"Inspired by" aka ripping it off in this particular case.

It's okay to be inspired by.

But it comes across as taking stuff from one of the best science fiction intellectual properties and turning them into shallow imitations of their former selves.

AVP and Alien particularly's my favourite franchise so I do not say that lightly.

Spoiler

Kradan

Kradan

#592
Quote from: Trash Queen on Mar 26, 2021, 08:50:42 PM
"Inspired by" aka ripping it off in this particular case.

It's okay to be inspired by.

But it comes across as taking stuff from one of the best science fiction intellectual properties and turning them into shallow imitations of their former selves.

AVP and Alien particularly's my favourite franchise so I do not say that lightly.

Spoiler

Eh, for each their own, I guess. It's kinda like with people complaining that Joker is rip-off of Taxi Driver and King of Comedy whereas I haven't even heard of these movies prior to watching it

I probably would get pissed off when female sarcastic AI making jokes about someone's weight turns up in an Alien story though

BlueMarsalis79

Mass Effect's definitely worth your time.

Kradan

Kradan

#594
Don't have much of that unfortunately these days

BlueMarsalis79

Nobody does, but still, I believe it is.

Wysps

Wysps

#596
Quote from: Kradan on Mar 26, 2021, 08:56:12 PM
Don't have much of that unfortunately these days

Cut scenes all the way.  You can at least get the condensed, cinematic version of it, more or less.

There's a lot about Rage War that I really liked, but the Drukathi angle was a bit much for me.  Even still, I think Lebbon did an amazing job with keeping the Aliens lethal and the Predators distinct even when interacting on a personal level with the humans.  He could have easily bridged that gap and made them too campy, but he stayed the course and kept our Predators "predators".

Nice review  8)

BlueMarsalis79

Quote from: Wysps on Mar 27, 2021, 12:34:36 AM
Quote from: Kradan on Mar 26, 2021, 08:56:12 PM
Don't have much of that unfortunately these days

Cut scenes all the way.  You can at least get the condensed, cinematic version of it, more or less.


Never do this ugh, it's the equivalent to fast forwarding through a film at 2X speed, absolutely abhorrent and you don't really experience it.

SM

SM

#598
Mass Effect takes so long to get going, that once it did I lost interest in what the actual point was.

BlueMarsalis79

BlueMarsalis79

#599


That sucks to hear honestly but everything's not for everyone.

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