Alien/Predator Novel Reviews

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

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Alien/Predator Novel Reviews (Read 70,530 times)

Samhain13

Samhain13

#225
Quote from: Hudson on Mar 11, 2019, 05:47:05 PM
Another complaint is that this guy, Sloane, is a bit invincible. I get that the title Turnabout positions Sloane as the hunter of the hunters (and we've even got that tired old tagline on the cover to emphasize it), but there are just a lot of points in here that he sneaks up on Predators and sort of feels like an overpowering Superman force against them. Similar complaint that I had in The Cold Forge when humans were sneaking around Xenomorphs in scenes.

That was my main issue with it.

BlazinBlueReview

Got a ? for everyone. Are the novelizations better than the comics??

Samhain13

Samhain13

#227
Depends on which ones, but for me most of them are for sure.

BlazinBlueReview

Quote from: Samhain13 on Mar 15, 2019, 09:48:57 PM
Depends on which ones, but for me most of them are for sure.

Okay. Thank you very much

SM

SM

#229
Quote from: BlazinBlue88 on Mar 15, 2019, 09:28:56 PM
Got a ? for everyone. Are the novelizations better than the comics??

Mostly not.  Female War is a possible exception, mainly 'cos the comic is below par.  And maybe Berserker.  The novels are generally decent but the comics are better for mine.

SiL

SiL

#230
I think Berserker and Music of the Spears worked better as books. The novel for Harvest is a very different experience and well worth the read, but "better" I'll leave in the eyes of the reader.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#231
Quote from: BlazinBlue88 on Mar 15, 2019, 09:28:56 PMGot a ? for everyone. Are the novelizations better than the comics??

Of the ones where I've read both novel and comic, the books have been far superior. But that might be because I'm not big on comic books.

BlazinBlueReview

Thank you guys. I have access to the first three Complete Aliens Omnibus. Tryin to track down 4-7 or very least 6 - cause it has Steel Egg.

Samhain13

Samhain13

#233
Apart from the Aliens' portrayal in some parts, Steel Egg was quite meh. Quite liked it on my first time but it wasn't as enjoyable in my last rereading of it.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#234
Re-read Alien Harvest (aka the novel adaptation of Aliens: Hive) because it's the only Bantam Aliens book I'd not written a synopsis for of the wiki. Mostly because I f*cking hated it first time around.

I started off thinking it wasn't half as bad as I remembered, but by the last quarter I was really struggling to finish it. Not only is the main character fundamentally unlikable, he's also incredibly boring and flat, meaning I couldn't even bring myself to care that I didn't like him. And I couldn't tell if it was the content or the writing style, but practically everyone and everything around him is incredibly boring and flat as well; the only character who even comes close to being interesting is the android Gill, but he's still hampered by the book's dialogue, which is naff throughout - everyone talks like they're in an advert for life insurance, speaking in that really forced, overly formal style that no real human being has ever actually used in real life.

Of all the Alien novels I've read, this is easily the worst, and probably the only one I actively dislike.

SM

SM

#235
To be fair the source material for that had its fair share of issues.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#236
I figured that probably played a part in it.

One day I'll actually get around to reading the original comics. I think I might even have Hive as part of Aliens magazine.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#237
Quote from: Hudson on May 03, 2019, 06:02:38 PMTo be fair, I find that most dialogue in genre writing is pretty forced. *shrugs*

That's a valid observation, but I found it particularly bad in that book.

Finally got around to reading Hunter's Planet while I was away last week. I recall Hicks not having much good to say about it in his review, so I was kinda surprised by how much I enjoyed it. A couple of things towards the end got a bit silly (the anti-corporate conspiracy angle especially didn't come across as very believable) and admittedly it was rather light on action (most of it is slow-build, and then when the finale does finally arrive it seems to be completely one-sided and over in the blink of an eye), but my overriding feeling throughout was that Machiko and Attila were simply really well-written. Bischoff did a great job with both, they came across as by far the most engaging and developed characters I can recall from any of these Bantam books (perhaps not surprising given that this is 95% original rather than a comic adaptation, but Machiko at least has her origins in the comics). Attila in particular had me laughing fairly regularly with his dry wit.

On balance I found this to be the better of the two alternate Prey sequels, largely because War was just such a let-down off the back of the two excellent novels from which it follows on.

Corporal Hicks

To be fair, that's one of the oldest reviews on the site and I have not actually re-read it since then because of my memories were so bad.  :laugh: It's been on the to-read-again list for a while.

HuDaFuK

HuDaFuK

#239
I'd agree with all of that.

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