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

[Corporal Hicks]

I haven't asked him yet. I'll let you know when I do.

[predxeno]

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.

Yes, Flesh and Blood was MUCH better; it actually helped clarify things more clearly; the Hish were split into different groups based on their beliefs regarding "the Hunt" and it was also mentioned that the reason they slaughtered innocent people now was because they felt that the humans had evolved so much in the last years therefore their technique needed to evolve as well.

[Ultramorph]

117 pages in now...

Spoiler

I can already tell that I'm going to love the Rage. And it definitely looks confirmed to me that the 2351 date was just a mistake, and that the sabotage Liliya does in chapter one was post-Sea of Sorrows. Even Marshall says that the xenos have avoided W-Y. Not a huge deal at all. Really liking this.

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[The Alien Predator]

117 pages in now...

Spoiler

I can already tell that I'm going to love the Rage. And it definitely looks confirmed to me that the 2351 date was just a mistake, and that the sabotage Liliya does in chapter one was post-Sea of Sorrows. Even Marshall says that the xenos have avoided W-Y. Not a huge deal at all. Really liking this.

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Spoiler

I thought it was a mistake at first until I did some thinking.

Lilliya sabotaged the Evelyn-Tew in 2351, that ship could've been a USM ship belonging to a "Company" (didn't say Weyland-Yutani if I'm remembering correctly).

Lilliya then escapes and floats in space for several decades (may be forty years if I remember, I might be wrong on that one, probably thirty)

And then the Rage leave the Human Sphere in the early 2400's, so they leave almost a century before Sea of Sorrows.

Once they rose back to power, Weyland-Yutani didn't know about the Xenomorphs on LV-178 because Lilliya wiped the records and destroyed the ship. So they find them some decades later.

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[happypred]

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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Dachande would be the ideal. To be honest, he's a bit of a Mary Sue, except he dies, which Mary Sues usually don't do.

I'm quite certain that quite a few douche-bag thrill-seeking alpha students like Tichinde (the bully) survive and become leaders.

[predxeno]

Idk, Top Knot was honorable, and Shorty has a mixed fate with some saying he died in AVP: War and others say he survived to AVP: Hunter's Planet.

[happypred]

Idk, Top Knot was honorable, and Shorty has a mixed fate with some saying he died in AVP: War and others say he survived to AVP: Hunter's Planet.

What instances of honourable conduct by Topknot do you have in mind?

[predxeno]

Did you read the Two Stripe comic strip?

[happypred]

That's just him enforcing the rules against a cheating novice.

I don't know whether he'd be honourable when hunting humans. Dachande actually respects humans, esp Machiko. Not sure how Topknot thinks, but IIRC, he views Machiko as a nuisance to get rid of. He strikes me as a more brutal character than Dachande

Also, in Hunter's Planet, Shorty becomes Clan Leader and is quite the douche.

In War, he's a douche as well, but he's just a student. War and Hunter's Planet are alternate sequels. Shorty dies in different qays in the two books

[RakaiThwei]

Not sure how Topknot thinks, but IIRC, he views Machiko as a nuisance to get rid of. He strikes me as a more brutal character than Dachande

Looking at the comic I have of War, he actually respects Machiko enough to let her compete so she could earn her place on the hunt in Bunda, and respected enough to tolerate her. Not form a friendship or camaraderie but just enough to tolerate her.

[happypred]

I remember that when Shorty locks Machiko in the holding pen with the queen (sneaky attempted murder by Shorty), the predators, including Topknot don't lift a finger a help her. They just watch the show.

[The Alien Predator]

Yeah, I remember that as well.

Remember when they were capturing the same queen and Machiko saved a Predator's life only for Top Knot to smack her across the head and knock her on the ground?

[Ultramorph]

I've continued on, and I wonder

Spoiler

Lilya mentions the Fiennes ships, and how there's a story about them. Does this get elaborated on?

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[Corporal Hicks]

It does. Keep going.

[The Alien Predator]

Yep...

Hey, Hicks. (Ultramorph, please avoid the spoiler as I want you to enjoy what happens  )

Spoiler

What did you think of the twist? Did you like what happened to the Aaron-Percival?  XD

I thought the ending was very well done, General Patton really creeped the hell out of me. I feel the Rage are a huge threat, their androids seem quite menacing and the weaponized Aliens made me look at Aliens as a whole in a new light. I knew Aliens are dangerous, but they seemed like a poor choice of a weapon until now... I'm glad this novel proved me wrong and showed the true potential of them.

Also, in the novel, there's a bit saying that Weyland-Yutani got Alien samples which ended badly. I am assuming they are talking about the samples Weyland-Yutani got at the end of Sea of Sorrows, that's how I interpreted it as I wondered if they were gonna use their own Aliens in this but no more mention is made of the incident.

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