The Rage War: A three part Alien / Predator epic by Tim Lebbon

[predxeno]

Don't remember them taking out any unarmed in this?

Also the non-idealistic Yautja in Prey happily killed unarmed and went for children too.

I like that Lebbon didn't have them know the actual name of the Predators. I just would have liked him to not have used the Yautja as the name the humans call them. Predators was just fine IMHO.

Yeah, but in AVP: Prey those were uninitiated Predators who were led by a bully Predator; Dachande whooped his ass for doing what he did.  Also, no innocents were harmed in Incursion, but the way the Yautja were described in Chapter 2

Spoiler

endangering the lives of scientists certainly made them seem a lot more bloodthirsty than in previous incarnations.  Also, the "Yautja Woman" said that their best chance while stranded on the planet was to stay away from guns and hope that the Yautjas weren't into massacre, something that didn't end well when the female Yautja stormed the place.

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[Corporal Hicks]

Yeah, but in AVP: Prey those were uninitiated Predators who were led by a bully Predator; Dachande whooped his ass for doing what he did.  Also, no innocents were harmed in Incursion, but the way the Yautja were described in Chapter 2

As I said. Non-idealistic Yautja.

Spoiler

endangering the lives of scientists certainly made them seem a lot more bloodthirsty than in previous incarnations.  Also, the "Yautja Woman" said that their best chance while stranded on the planet was to stay away from guns and hope that the Yautjas weren't into massacre, something that didn't end well when the female Yautja stormed the place.

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Spoiler

She was written as if to be not of the norm too. She was said to be pretty insane/unexperienced.

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[The Alien Predator]

That's right.

Also

Spoiler

In Chapter 1, a marine died protecting a father and his two children from a Yautja. Some Yautja get so excited during a hunt that they kill everything quickly (but some get sadistic)

Also when attacking large population centres, they are said to take captives. But no one knows why.

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[RakaiThwei]

So if a Q&A with Lebbon is going to be held, I'm going to have to think of some questions.. Is there a deadline for these questions for submissions?

[The Alien Predator]

I can think of two already.

One, I am curious about

Spoiler

the "Quaille Wars" (wondering if that is a conflict with aliens?)

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And two, if other alien races will join the Rage War, like for instance, the Arcturians. I remember James A. Moore or one of the authors said "there were plans" for the Arcturians and this pleases me greatly. 

Speaking of which, I wonder if the Human Sphere covers Arcturian space as well.

[predxeno]

That's right.

Also

Spoiler

In Chapter 1, a marine died protecting a father and his two children from a Yautja. Some Yautja get so excited during a hunt that they kill everything quickly (but some get sadistic)

Also when attacking large population centres, they are said to take captives. But no one knows why.

[close]

This all reminds me of the Hish more than it does the Yautja, there's also a

Spoiler

torture scene in Incursion that I find very uncharacteristic of the Yautja, but perfectly in character for the Hish.

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[Corporal Hicks]

Because they're not the Yautja. Nor are they Hish. They're Predators - Tim Lebbon's interpretation of them many centuries into the future and on their backfeet.

[The Alien Predator]

That's right.

Also

Spoiler

In Chapter 1, a marine died protecting a father and his two children from a Yautja. Some Yautja get so excited during a hunt that they kill everything quickly (but some get sadistic)

Also when attacking large population centres, they are said to take captives. But no one knows why.

[close]

This all reminds me of the Hish more than it does the Yautja, there's also a

Spoiler

torture scene in Incursion that I find very uncharacteristic of the Yautja, but perfectly in character for the Hish.

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That's because

Spoiler

Hashori thought Lilliya was responsible for killing many of her people and Lebbon's Yautja view death as a tragedy and a loss of memories and experience gained from centuries of life, something the Hish don't seem to share.

Also don't forget, in AvP Extinction, the Predators did a "traditional torture ritual" (quoted straight from the game) on a human scientist experimenting on Predators. So torture isn't exactly something new, it's just a bit uncommon.

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And Hicks is right, this is Lebbon's Yautja and personally, I think his version has a lot more in common with Perry's than with Shirley's (in fact, it seems to incorporate a bit of both while also being its own thing.)

[predxeno]

^That's true, but I have to say the Hish left a bad taste in my mouth and I earnestly hoped never to have to taste it again.

[RakaiThwei]

^That's true, but I have to say the Hish left a bad taste in my mouth and I earnestly hoped never to have to taste it again.

The Hish left a bad impression on me and I never read Shirley's book or the follow up novels.

Lebbon's Yautja seem tolerable to me but... I'm gonna go with the Perry versions. Lebbon's got some good ideas and has some elements which can be tweaked to fit Perry's versions but it's clear that Perry's Yautja and Lebbon's "Yautja" (I am using quotes for Lebbon's) are apples and oranges from what I can tell.

[Corporal Hicks]

The Hish left a bad impression on me and I never read Shirley's book or the follow up novels.

From what I remember Flesh and Blood's Hish were far better than Shirley's in Forever Midnight (I remember liking the F&B Hish over the Yautja) but the only reason you got them was because Shirley didn't know about the Yautja. Nobody asked him to use Perry's vision. But you absolutely robbed yourself of the treats that were Perry's novel whose name escapes me and South China Sea. Will never see a better Predator novel than South China Sea IMHO.

Lebbon's Yautja seem tolerable to me but... I'm gonna go with the Perry versions. Lebbon's got some good ideas and has some elements which can be tweaked to fit Perry's versions but it's clear that Perry's Yautja and Lebbon's "Yautja" (I am using quotes for Lebbon's) are apples and oranges from what I can tell.

Lebbon's Predators were absolutely fine. Just wish the early stages of the novel had shown them being more deadly.

[Ultramorph]

I finally sat down and started in, and I'm 54 pages in. I'm really enjoying it so far, especially how much world building we're getting as far as technology and the like.

Spoiler

I also like all the name-dropping. "Weaver's World" made me smile.

When Palant recalled her father'd advice, it was pretty jarring to hear how the xenomorphs seem to be more widely known.

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[RakaiThwei]

But you absolutely robbed yourself of the treats that were Perry's novel whose name escapes me and South China Sea. Will never see a better Predator novel than South China Sea IMHO.

I was referring to the Hish mythos novels, not so much Turnabout and South China Sea.. THOSE two, I want to read but.. I just don't have the time or passion for the franchises anymore as I used to.

[Corporal Hicks]

There was only Forever Midnight and Flesh and Blood. From what I remember FM failed but F&B was really good. Could do with re-reading a lot of the older novels.

That's a shame to hear.

[RakaiThwei]

Anyway, is there a deadline for those questions?