Finished Cold Forge. Alongside Destroying Angels and Hive, probably one of my favourite EU works. Some of the action was a little muddy (maybe I was reading too fast), but the character work was what kept me turning the page.
Just as Prey was a more interesting film for having a relatable protagonist who, while athletic, was not a super-fit film-star body-builder soldier, this book was fascinating for having Blue, a character for whom every day is a struggle, even before adding sociopathic HR people and free-roaming xenomorphs. We all have the experience of disability -- you only have to roll your ankle and hobble around for a couple of days, or have a bad flu to know that you're subject to human frailty, that suddenly there's a range of activities that you are excluded from, and you are dependant on other people and your medical care.
I had flu last year that, if I were a hunter-gatherer, would probably have killed me. And I'm not unfit, and I eat well.
This novel really bought home that world, and how permenent and challenging it can be ... and how resourceful and resiliant you have to be to survive and flourish on an ordinary day.
Give me characters like that for the next film. Give me something that's about people, something that will teach me something about them, and not just pulse-rifles and chestbursters.
Onto the next one. The bar is now very high!
