To be perfectly honest, when I first heard about this book, I thought the Predators were going to be some hardcore unstoppable threat that just cuts through humanity like a sharp knife through melting butter.
I imagined them going into human space, "moving away" (I love that they don't have the word "retreat") from an unknown enemy and dragging us into the "Rage War" that they are involved in. I thought it was titled "Rage War" because it's full of rage and has Predators in it. XD
However, when I learned a bit more from Batman, I was beginning to get the impression that humans have finally caught up with the Predators. And let's be honest, as seen in AvP, they haven't changed a lot for thousands of years while we went from Prometheus to Alien Resurrection in just a couple of centuries with lots of changes.
Then a hundred years after Resurrection, we're already shooting plasma rifles and plasma warheads. Is it really a surprise that two centuries after Sea of Sorrows we are wearing molecular adapting battle suits that make even Alcatraz from Crysis kinda blush? (I really got a Nanosuit vibe from those combat suits)
And the bullets, I really like the micro dot full stop sized bullets.
...............
Pew pew!
That's something I never saw in any fiction ever, micro bullets. XD I loved the technological expansions Lebbon explored.
Also, speaking of the whole "focusing too much on humans", from what Batman told us, I too was a bit irked as I was looking forward to seeing the Predator side of things. But once I read the book, I think Lebbon has given us just the right amount of Predator scenes, especially as far as Lilliya and Hashori are concerned but also the Isa Palant sections too.
The thing that I loved with Dr. Palant aka Yautja Woman is that she is a huge Predator fangirl, she is basically the personification of our very own fascination of the Predators which makes us a fan of them in the first place. She is our reach into this universe. So was this other Marine in the VoidLarks who joined solely because she was fascinated with the Yautja culture. I remember Johnny told her "you finally get to meet these damn things that fascinate you so much" as they approach the habitat, and she responds with "I'd really rather not".
Speaking of the space habitat, I loved how the Yautja weren't wearing space suits when outside. They had their masks on, but no big description was given like "their entire body was covered" or something, so I imagined our usual classic half armoured and fully netted Predators in the vacuum. Maybe they're like tardigrades? Who can survive unprotected in space for a short while? The mask helps them breathe at least.
Great review Hicks, while on the topic of overpowered humans. Personally, I kinda liked that, it shows a sign of progress. However, I would've liked to see the threat the Predators presented. Most of the massacres that the Yautja do are merely mentioned as background material, especially when the actual incursion begins, how they attacked ships, colonies, mines, space stations and even space pirate ships. That kinda felt badass as it shows they don't give a damn who they attack. But it'd have been cool to see some of these action sequences first hand.
I did love the VoidLark space battle because while they take out some Yautja ships, the last surviving ship literally stomps the Marine ship with just a burst of lasers. I think the reason for the incompetence in that situation was because they were in the process of fleeing the Fire-Lizards that overran their space habitat and may have been panicking only to be surprised by a human ship nearby.
Imagine you find a pack of hyenas in your room, you quickly grab a gun and run outside only to find one lion waiting for you. Now odds are, you may shoot it or you could completely lose your cool and not react in time.
I think that's what it was like for the retreating Yautja.
Edit: I noticed that Tim Lebbon explored something mentioned in the game manual of AvP 2010.
"We are old, my brother, our race is few and scattered..." - the Predator section of the manual.
In the novel, the Yautja are said to be "scattered across the galaxy" and their populations are very low wherever they're found. Tim put heavy emphasis on the low numbers of the Yautja whenever he got the opportunity.
At one point, Lilliya got confused.
Spoiler
She was escaping the Rage, and she stumbled upon the Zeere-Za, a Yautja warship, and she scanned it for life only to find such a low number of life signs that she assumed humans used synthetics instead of going out to explore by themselves.
Also the Predator ships going into human space were so low in number that it wasn't classed as an "invasion" but an "incursion" (and so I learned a new word thanks to the book).
