Aliens Echo : An Original Young Adult Novel

Started by felix, Jul 19, 2018, 12:59:24 AM

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Aliens Echo : An Original Young Adult Novel (Read 55,548 times)

Samhain13

Samhain13

#195
Quote from: The Old One on Jun 04, 2019, 10:13:24 AM
I might actually pick it up now, although I'm sure Nostromo is being hyperbolic with "one of the best novels ever written" now, c'mon.

I finished it and can't give Echo more than a 5/10. TCF is a 8.5-9/10 to me for comparison.

Quote from: SM on Jun 04, 2019, 08:41:23 AM
I think in one of the commentaries he mentions something about casual sex, and not necessarily heterosexual. 

Wat, Lambert and Ripley?

SM

Quote
My main gripe is that it's boring and the characters are one-dimensional, regardless of their sexual orientation. I couldn't give two shits about that. As cliche as it is for a teenager to obsess over being kissed, it would obviously be more cliche if it was Olivia and Michel. But the book doesn't take any real risks other than a mere introduction of a progressive romance among adolescents. If this book wants to pretend like it's the first YA novel to lean into LGBTQ+ territory... LOL. Boring is about as bad a transgression as a piece of writing can commit. One-dimensional is about as bad a transgression as a writer can commit when creating characters. Flat characters are needed, as are foils. But it's a bit overboard when basically every character, again save Viola, has no dynamism or complexity. I couldn't care less about their orientation, but if you think my argument is homophobic, keep building a straw man. I predicted that response as soon as I sent the post.

Then construct better posts.

Thirty-plus years of Alien comics and novels, but apparently one single YA novel with a teenage lesbian protagonist is a "big push here to alienate ... the already existing fan base in favor of drawing in adolescent LGBTQ females".

'Big push to alienate'.

Oh, but apparently you "couldn't give two shits about that".  One shit was plenty.

Hudson

Hudson

#197
Finished it.

Spoiler
After all that, it didn't even end with a kiss?
[close]

As The Old One would say, this book was white bread. Didn't realize YA books were written for parents to be comfortable buying them for their sheltered kids. Nothing about this book took any risks, especially if there's nothing new or unique about the target audience.

Here's a review on Goodreads which echoes many of my thoughts:

QuoteI wanted to love this. I really did. From the moment I found out about this book before its release I waited in anticipation and bought it the moment it came out. I am a hardcore Aliens fan and settled in for a horror story of a teenager trying to protect her sister. That is what I expected. That is not what I got. I got a YA romance novel with a dash of aliens for seasoning. The MC was much more concerned about her "maybe girlfriend" to care about anything else going on in the book. Deaths don't effect her, she doesn't care, so long as it isn't the "maybe girlfriend". Adults are useless. There is one scene where an adult is present and as soon as anything starts happening seems to vanish. Then after everything it says the person kind of shakes themselves awake. Really!? An adult just stood there and did nothing! This book seems to have very low opinions of teenagers. Maybe the author forgot what it was like to be a teenager. But I'm pretty sure that even the flakiest teenager would stop mooning over the person they like in order to survive an alien attack. I did not find the characters believable. Everyone is useless except the main character, there is no urgency for survival, no tension, no fear. Forget marines they just need to send in this girl. As I said I wanted to love it but it wasn't what I expected at all. Want a good alien read then go read Alien: Out of Shadows.

Quote from: SM on Jun 04, 2019, 08:57:09 PM
Quote
My main gripe is that it's boring and the characters are one-dimensional, regardless of their sexual orientation. I couldn't give two shits about that. As cliche as it is for a teenager to obsess over being kissed, it would obviously be more cliche if it was Olivia and Michel. But the book doesn't take any real risks other than a mere introduction of a progressive romance among adolescents. If this book wants to pretend like it's the first YA novel to lean into LGBTQ+ territory... LOL. Boring is about as bad a transgression as a piece of writing can commit. One-dimensional is about as bad a transgression as a writer can commit when creating characters. Flat characters are needed, as are foils. But it's a bit overboard when basically every character, again save Viola, has no dynamism or complexity. I couldn't care less about their orientation, but if you think my argument is homophobic, keep building a straw man. I predicted that response as soon as I sent the post.

Then construct better posts.

Thirty-plus years of Alien comics and novels, but apparently one single YA novel with a teenage lesbian protagonist is a "big push here to alienate ... the already existing fan base in favor of drawing in adolescent LGBTQ females".

'Big push to alienate'.

Oh, but apparently you "couldn't give two shits about that".  One shit was plenty.

Oh, what a hero you are.  :laugh: My posts are fine. You pick and choose what you want to respond to out of my posts to misrepresent my position while never really offering your own, which is typical. Nothing new there since you've become the shadow trustee of the Alien franchise EU.

If you hadn't been a consultant on this project, I doubt you would've cared to begin with. Hence why you're so comfortable calling out Cauldron, but refuse to engage in any opinion-based, subjective discussion on anything which you participated in yourself. No one's aloud to dislike Blackout, The WY Report, or now Echo when you're around. I wonder why?

As long as you see praise, you remain silent. The first sign of a dissenting opinion and you spring out of the woodwork to explain why a fan is wrong.

Samhain13

Samhain13

#198
Quote
Everyone is useless except the main character, there is no urgency for survival, no tension, no fear. Forget marines they just need to send in this girl. As I said I wanted to love it but it wasn't what I expected at all.

Huh. Thinking now, Olivia had some of a Mary Sue.

Quote from: Hudson on Jun 04, 2019, 09:06:40 PM
If you hadn't been a consultant on this project, I doubt you would've cared to begin with. Hence why you're so comfortable calling out Cauldron, but refuse to engage in any opinion-based, subjective discussion on anything which you participated in yourself. No one's aloud to dislike Blackout, The WY Report, or now Echo when you're around. I wonder why?

As long as you see praise, you remain silent. The first sign of a dissenting opinion and you spring out of the woodwork to explain why a fan is wrong.

Don't forget Alien: Isolation Digital Series. We are just toxic fans after all.  :P

SM

QuoteOh, what a hero you are.  :laugh: My posts are fine. You pick and choose what you want to respond to out of my posts to misrepresent my position while never really offering your own, which is typical. Nothing new there since you've become the shadow trustee of the Alien franchise EU.

I picked and chose one dumb thing to respond to because it was dumb.  I quoted your words in the context you posted them.  I didn't mention anything else you've said, because it was your opinion which doesn't need attacking nor defending.

QuoteIf you hadn't been a consultant on this project, I doubt you would've cared to begin with. Hence why you're so comfortable calling out Cauldron, but refuse to engage in any opinion-based, subjective discussion on anything which you participated in yourself. No one's aloud to dislike Blackout, The WY Report, or now Echo when you're around. I wonder why?

Consultant is overstating it.  I read a draft, I liked it, offered a couple of very minor thoughts, and I don't even know were enacted or not.  Even if I did participate in it, it would be disingenuous for me to participate in opinion based discussion.

I had nothing to do with Blackout, so you're just making yourself look silly here.

QuoteAs long as you see praise, you remain silent. The first sign of a dissenting opinion and you spring out of the woodwork to explain why a fan is wrong.

Once again, I pointed out a stupid thing you said about 'a big push to alienate fans in favour of LGBTQI teenage girls', because it was utterly baseless.  Which you've not mentioned again in favour of little rant that comes across as rather personal.  I 'remained silent' on the rest of your negative opinion - because that's your opinion and it's not my job to change it.

Nostromo

Nostromo

#200
Quote from: The Old One on Jun 04, 2019, 10:13:24 AM
Reeee! The gays!

I might actually pick it up now, although I'm sure Nostromo is being hyperbolic with "one of the best novels ever written" now, c'mon.

Chapters 1-8, 4/10, chapters 8.5-22 great, say 8.5/10, to me anyways. It's pretty adventurous from bases to caves etc.. and it has an interesting aspect of a future colonist out in space. If this were a comic it'd be pretty good actually It reminds me of Aliens: More than Human. Without the forced upon pincers, lol. And with a much better story.

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/16-781/Aliens-More-Than-Human-TPB

But again, I'm still at chapter 22, if it completely bombs now, than yeah it may reach your 5/10.

Wweyland

Just finished the book and it was fine. Surprisingly gory and tense for a book aimed at youths, although haven't read much else to compare.
Any chances for a sequel?

Naginata

"Alien fans" and "LGBTQ girls" are not mutually exclusive, and I'm getting pretty goddamn tired of seeing nonsense like this every time the subject is brought up.

Still Collating...

Since I'm not really into YA novels, I thought I'd give this a pass, but from what I'm hearing here, it seems interesting. Now knowing it's not watered down, I'm really tempted to get this.

Naginata

For some reason, people assume YA = Twilight, and that's like.... Really dumb. Hunger Games is YA, after all, and that features children being forced to murder each other in gladiatorial combat for the sake of political repression.

Hudson

Quote from: Naginata on Jun 06, 2019, 08:58:27 PM
For some reason, people assume YA = Twilight, and that's like.... Really dumb. Hunger Games is YA, after all, and that features children being forced to murder each other in gladiatorial combat for the sake of political repression.

And this book contains nowhere near that level of violence so the comparison makes no sense.

Corporal Hicks

I dunno, I thought things like

Spoiler
people being literally ripped in half and having their guts and baby Aliens spill onto the floor and having to cut your sister's head off
[close]

was pretty violent.

SM

It's one of the more memorably graphic sequences in a book in recent memory.

Nostromo

Just finished it, was stuck at chapter 22 and was thinking it would have
Spoiler
30+ chapters. Loved chapters 8-22 just didn't dig the lion worm-alien hybrids. I'm a hybrid hater, anyhow...I think it was a very decent Exoplanet colony type of story. 7.5/10, much higher if there was only Aliens in it and if the story a bit longer.
[close]

Naginata

Quote from: Hudson on Jun 07, 2019, 04:13:20 AM
Quote from: Naginata on Jun 06, 2019, 08:58:27 PM
For some reason, people assume YA = Twilight, and that's like.... Really dumb. Hunger Games is YA, after all, and that features children being forced to murder each other in gladiatorial combat for the sake of political repression.

And this book contains nowhere near that level of violence so the comparison makes no sense.

My point was that 'YA' doesn't mean Lisa Frank-level content.

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