So, my outline for a new Predator (tm) novel for Dark Horse, who now publishes the books, has been accepted. Great people over there at Dark Horse, a class-act all the way. Probably I'll get my daughter to help me, since she has now written more Aliens and Predator tie-ins than I have.
The book is tentatively entitled Turnabout, and that's pretty much all I can tell you until it's a little further along, except that if you like Stephen Hunter's character Bob Lee "The Nailer" Swagger -- from Hunter's books (not the movie version, Shooter), you might have a fun time with the Predator book ...
http://themanwhonevermissed.blogspot.com/2007/04/predator.html
Not much to go on really...but the legendary duo are doing a new novel. One wonders about the Hish/Yautja thing.
Who is his daughter?
Stephani Perry. She co-wrote Female War and Prey with him. Wrote Labryinth, Beserker and War on her own.
Like her work a lot more than her dad's.
Meant to ask him about the Hish/Yautja thing, but it never occurred to me. Oh wells.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 05, 2007, 10:12:16 AM
Stephani Perry. She co-wrote Female War and Prey with him. Wrote Labryinth, Beserker and War on her own.
I see. I didn't realise they wrote novels together. I thought they were the same person.
This is why I'm the merch guy. :P
Quote from: SiL on May 05, 2007, 10:50:31 AM
Like her work a lot more than her dad's.
I don't mind her fathers work, but I think she does a much better job with her dialogue. I liked the novelizations of Labyrinth and Berserker pretty well.
Okay, apparently this book was due in this month and we'll be seeing the cover art soon. Yay.
Yay indeed!
If I can ever stomach finishing the rest of Earth Hive I may look into it ..
The next one is somewhat better.
I'm currently a good way through Cold War in my non-Earth Hive period. It'd be better if it didn't keep changing location.
Yeah...wrong thread. ;) Let's go make a Cold War one.
http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=3480.new#new
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stephenyoull.com%2Fimages%2FNewGallery%2FLarge%2Fpredator-turnabout.jpg&hash=39a43c065a3bc5f92e353d5b7ab2501d2acc8656)
Say hi to Turnabout's beautiful cover.
Ah, that settles the stomach after seeing that Aliens cover in the other thread.
A nice merge of the AvP Predator with the better facial stylings of P1.
I think it's quite possibly the best cover yet. It's fantastic.
Cool, another Predator vs. Bear match.
Dammit, that cover could have been brilliant. If only the Predator didnt look so much like the one from AvP, cause I bloody hate that AvP Pred.
That guy really needs to learn to start painting other designs. So far all he's done is the avP designs for both creatures.
Otherwise, funky fresh!
One of these days someone will have to tell me why they hate the AVP Pred's appearance so much, and how it is so different from other Predators, for that matter.
The cover art really catches the adrenaline of the post-kill moment and the light fog strongly accents the environment in which these scene takes place. My only complaint is that even leaving space for title and author, the upper portions of the work seems a bit bare.
I love this. This is easily one of my favorite novel covers for A or P.
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv130%2FCorpral_Hicks%2Fturnabout.jpg&hash=5053036ac53c9c5a4665eab309a37358ea7eb4db)
Perry posted this on his blog...I don't like it. I hope it's just the scan but it looks really blurry.
Quote from: Noir-Gojira on Aug 04, 2007, 10:10:10 AM
One of these days someone will have to tell me why they hate the AVP Pred's appearance so much, and how it is so different from other Predators, for that matter.
Plain and simple, the face of the Pred in AvP looks like complete crap, he's to bulky, the dreads are to long, and I dont like the armor either. I just hate it, I really dont understand how people can like it.
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on Aug 03, 2007, 07:43:50 AM
Ah, that settles the stomach after seeing that Aliens cover in the other thread.
A nice merge of the AvP Predator with the better facial stylings of P1.
i thought the P2 pred had the coolest face
Quote from: Grums on Aug 04, 2007, 02:05:03 PM
Quote from: Noir-Gojira on Aug 04, 2007, 10:10:10 AM
One of these days someone will have to tell me why they hate the AVP Pred's appearance so much, and how it is so different from other Predators, for that matter.
Plain and simple, the face of the Pred in AvP looks like complete crap, he's to bulky, the dreads are to long, and I dont like the armor either. I just hate it, I really dont understand how people can like it.
'looks like crap' doesn't cut it, please specify would you? Actually, the nude Predator dummy reveals that they are actually close to the same build as the previous Predators with the only real difference being slimmer abs and bigger pecs. They appear bulky primarily because of their armor, a smaller-sized head, and longer dreads. Yes, I admit the dreads are a bit long, but HEAVEN FORBID if all Predators should keep them the same length.
Their skin tones, the material the skin is actually made of.
Can't say I was actually against the material but yeah, it did make the Predator's skin seem drier and paler than before.
Steve Perry on the blurry cover:
Would it help to know that the Predator is being viewed through binoculars from fourteen hundred meters away? And that you can't focus on it and the background at the same time ... ?
...Nah, that's a pretty naff excuse.
Quote from: Noir-Gojira on Aug 04, 2007, 10:10:10 AM
One of these days someone will have to tell me why they hate the AVP Pred's appearance so much, and how it is so different from other Predators, for that matter.
The cover art really catches the adrenaline of the post-kill moment and the light fog strongly accents the environment in which these scene takes place. My only complaint is that even leaving space for title and author, the upper portions of the work seems a bit bare.
well i'll tell you right now that the faces were done poorly compared to P1 and P2, and the bodies were too bulky, predators are supposed to be muscular but still lithe and agile (sorta like a big cat)...besides that the armor and weapons were all right
i guess in the end i had more issues with the way the predators moved in AvP, ponderous and ungainly
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Aug 04, 2007, 10:55:55 AM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/Corpral_Hicks/turnabout.jpg
Perry posted this on his blog...I don't like it. I hope it's just the scan but it looks really blurry.
Perry has a blog, eh? I gotta look into that.
Still no release date on this one, huh? I figured since Criminal Enterprise had one, we'd hear something soon.
Cant we get a freakin Predator without the damn AvP look!? >:(
Release date is Febuary 27th: http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0709/13/darkhorsedec.htm
The Dark Horse site really needs an update.
Quote from: arnold23 on Sep 08, 2007, 04:17:46 AM
Cant we get a freakin Predator without the damn AvP look!? >:(
no joke, Im getting sick of it too.
What makes that cover look so "AVP"? He doesn't have any clearly large pupils or anything.
The Pred has scars ugly face, and has the same armor as well.
The armor, yes, but the face is actually a subtle blend between the AVP Elder and the original Predator design.
http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=14-838
And better view of the cover
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.darkhorse.com%2Fcovers%2F14%2F14838.jpg&hash=e7e6b6b41354fa09a82fcb3f5a85cab7d6181973)
The blurb from the back cover:
Killing Ground
No cell phones. No zip codes. No easy way out. In the backwoods of an Alaskan hunting ground, game warden Sloane patrols the countryside for poachers. When he stumbles on the carcass of a Kodiak bear, he assumes that greedy hunters have looted the countryside, again.
But Sloane is wrong. This bear was not killed by poacher, but by an unknown threat...the Predators.
Sloan has other enemies to contend with. Jack Regal, for one, a wealthy adrenaline junkie in the poaching game for money. He also has people to protect, like Mary Collins, a city tenderfoot in the wilderness looking for the place where her brother died.
Tracks. Poachers. Game hunters. Fighters. The hunters become the hunted in a man-against-man, man-against-beast struggle for survival against the odds.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_KcFkeN0I6po/R2F13XJHM4I/AAAAAAAABEc/1KS7q5D1zU8/s1600-h/Turnabout+-+Final+Cover.jpg
I'm attempting to get a clearer version of it. This is all from Perry's blog.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/Corpral_Hicks/PRNOV3_CVR_BC.jpg
Full size jacket.
Since Mr Steve Perry is writing this...does this mean the Yuatja are back? Or will he be calling the Predator's race as The Hish instead?
I think I've read somewhere that he will be avoiding that issue.
What that guy said ^^
Definitely can't wait for the novel. The blurbs that I've seen sounds very exciting to me.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Aug 03, 2007, 07:12:25 AM
http://www.stephenyoull.com/images/NewGallery/Large/predator-turnabout.jpg
Say hi to Turnabout's beautiful cover.
Brilliant and lovely cover, a mix of the Scar Predator and the First Predator. Sweet!
http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/preview.php?theid=14-838&p=1
Preview is online.
Whats this Hish/Yautja thing???
I know what the yautja are but i've been hearing about this Hish thing and don't know what it is.
Hish are John Shirley's version of the Predators.
ok and obviously there are some discrepancies between the two?
When is this coming out, anyone know? It didn't make the intended February 27th date, obviously... still not out there, online or in stores.
As far as Turnabout goes, here is what Amazon sent me when I preordered it.
"Hello from Amazon.com.
We're writing about the order you placed on February 11 2008 00:15 PST
(Order# xxx-xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxx). Unfortunately, we are unable to ship the item(s) as soon as we expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when the item(s) may be delivered:
Steve Perry (Author) "Predator: Turnabout (Predator)" [Paperback]
Estimated arrival date: 04/24/2008 - 04/28/2008"
Wow, end of April now? Yikes...
UPDATE! AMAZON HAS IT! IT IS OUT! Just got this e-mail!!!!
Greetings from Amazon.com.
We thought you'd like to know that we shipped your items, and that this
completes your order.
You can track the status of this order, and all your orders, online by
visiting Your Account at http://www.amazon.com/gp/css/history/view.html
There you can:
* Track your shipment
* View the status of unshipped items
* Cancel unshipped items
* Return items
* And do much more
The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1 Predator: Turnabout (Preda... $6.99 1 $6.99
Shipped via USPS (estimated arrival date: 18-March-2008).
Tracking number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Item Subtotal: $6.99
Shipping & Handling: $2.49
Books Pre-order $-0.35
EB Pre-order Guarantee $0.00
Total: $9.13
Paid by Visa: $9.13
Thank the maker. As soon as I finish Aliens: Cauldron, this is up next. I'm really looking forward to it.
You should get amazon prime if you spend lots of money on knicknack stuff over the course of the year.
I find that it's about the same as what you'd pay on shipping and handling most years, but this year I've bought so much stuff it has actually been cheaper,
Just thought I'd drop in and let everyone know, I got my book today! ;D
Quote from: Bishop2 on Mar 10, 2008, 10:38:05 PM
Thank the maker. As soon as I finish Aliens: Cauldron, this is up next. I'm really looking forward to it.
yeah, would like to hear your review. what did you think of forever midnight and flesh and blood?
BUY THIS BOOK! I'm a quarter of the way through, and can't put it down!
I need a Review please!
can you get that pic in a deskop version?? it would be an awsome deskop pic
Quote from: happypred on Mar 15, 2008, 04:47:12 AM
Quote from: Bishop2 on Mar 10, 2008, 10:38:05 PM
Thank the maker. As soon as I finish Aliens: Cauldron, this is up next. I'm really looking forward to it.
yeah, would like to hear your review. what did you think of forever midnight and flesh and blood?
I actually haven't read Forever Midnight, but Flesh & Blood was quite good. Sure, I had a few issues with it, but mostly I was very pleased overall. It tells a compelling crime/gangster story with or without the Predators, although I would've liked more solid answers on what happened with our Predator's clan up on the ship.
...people that complained about AVP and AVP:R - I'd love to see them read Forever Midnight.
They'd have a f**king seizure at how ridiculous, no no riCOCKulous that load of crap is.
I wish people would get over the predator names thing (hish vs. yutja). The author wasn't informed about stuff established in the Perry books. So he did his own thing. Yutja is not the Predators' official name. It's all different authors having different takes on the materials they are presented with.
Yes I know it's annoying. We all love continuity. But that usually just happens when you have one person or one group (like George Lucas with Star Wars) giving the go-ahead on the material. Aliens and Predator get passed around a lot. So you're going to end up with lots of different interps. But having been an avid reader of the comics since they started coming out I (like many others) just learned to deal with it. And yes, it's still annoying. But that shouldn't prevent people from just enjoying fun stories (sometimes fun stories) with our favorite intergalactic species.
Though Turnabout just sounds like it's going to be a turd of a story.
Okay, I agree with you.
But what the author of Forever Midnight did, was turn Predator into something COMPLETELY different from what ANY comic, movie, or book did.
Sorry, but Forever Midnight was in NO way a fun story, the cheesey lines to the "Leader", the gendershifting, yadayadayada - was all too damn absurd. Flesh and Blood was a good book, because it stuck with that the movies had given us, and didn't try to branch out and be something new. Sometimes new works, in the case of Forever Midnight though, it didn't.
Sorry, but I can't see little preddie kids playing 'video games' with humans as slaves, or predators flying around on stupid platforms, or hundreds of other stupid ideas that book brought on.
HOWEVER - Turnabout is a good bare bones Predator story, that I would have loved to seen made into Predator 3. The characters are great, dialogue suits each of those characters, the Predators are more reminiscent of the first film, and it has a solid story.
--Besides, I never brought in the Hish name with what I previously said. You like turd books - hey, I gave Forever Midnight a read, and I'm reading Turnabout RIGHT NOW, and as someone who is reading/read both, the only book in my collection I'd flush, is Forever Midnight.
I enjoyed Flesh and Blood as well due to the reasons stated above. I've been looking for Turnabout but it hasn't reached my stores yet.
So we're talking about Yuatja here right? Not Hish. Did Mr Perry refer them as Yuatja here?
Quote from: AdamBombOi on Mar 17, 2008, 07:31:42 AM
--Besides, I never brought in the Hish name with what I previously said. You like turd books - hey, I gave Forever Midnight a read, and I'm reading Turnabout RIGHT NOW, and as someone who is reading/read both, the only book in my collection I'd flush, is Forever Midnight.
Oh the Hish/Yuatja thing was something someone else said. Didn't necessarily apply to your comment. I've only read Flesh and Blood, and it was okay. Midnight probably won't be spectacular, but turnabout sounds like a couple comics that have already been made. Nothing new sounds like it's going to be said or done. Which is the point of having sequels. To take previously established characters and see what happens when you mix in some new variables. But Turnabout, I swear there's a comic out there that's the exact same thing. Unless they're doing stuff from the Pred point of view. Which is pretty much the only reason I read these books anymore, because as far as the situations they're put it, it's the same old same old.
Quote from: felix on Mar 17, 2008, 12:19:09 PM
I enjoyed Flesh and Blood as well due to the reasons stated above. I've been looking for Turnabout but it hasn't reached my stores yet.
So we're talking about Yuatja here right? Not Hish. Did Mr Perry refer them as Yuatja here?
He avoids the issue entirely and doesn't call them anything.
Quote from: nchurch81 on Mar 17, 2008, 04:46:32 PM
Quote from: AdamBombOi on Mar 17, 2008, 07:31:42 AM
--Besides, I never brought in the Hish name with what I previously said. You like turd books - hey, I gave Forever Midnight a read, and I'm reading Turnabout RIGHT NOW, and as someone who is reading/read both, the only book in my collection I'd flush, is Forever Midnight.
Oh the Hish/Yuatja thing was something someone else said. Didn't necessarily apply to your comment. I've only read Flesh and Blood, and it was okay. Midnight probably won't be spectacular, but turnabout sounds like a couple comics that have already been made. Nothing new sounds like it's going to be said or done. Which is the point of having sequels. To take previously established characters and see what happens when you mix in some new variables. But Turnabout, I swear there's a comic out there that's the exact same thing. Unless they're doing stuff from the Pred point of view. Which is pretty much the only reason I read these books anymore, because as far as the situations they're put it, it's the same old same old.
I know the comic you're thinking of, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the Big Game issues, not 100% - but I think that's it.
Anyway, it's NOTHING like the comic. I finished the book last night, and it is a damn good read. The thing I didn't know going into the book, was that the ranger, is an ex-Marine who was a trained sniper. It's full of strategy, and makes the human vs. predator element REALLY f**king good.
The only similarity between the book, and that comic is that they both have bears, and a ranger, that's it.
---there is a part that made me smile in the book, in a part were Sloane is thinking about dying at the hands of a predator, he thinks that he doesn't want to end up as some trophy on an aliens wall, and then he imagines a predator talking to a friend like
Loved the ooman reference, but that is the only thing referencing any of his past books.
I read Big Game, the novel that is... wasn't very good, so I hope this tops it.
I loved Big Game, mainly because it took place in New Mexico, and I live there.
---That story took place in a desert, Turnabout is in an Alaskan forest.
BUY IT!
I just finished reading Predator Turnabout 5 minutes ago and figured I would share my thoughts here, without giving anything away.
Let me point out that this is my first time writing about a book I read, so hopefully this helps.
Overall I thought the book was really good, however I did have some gripes with it and I'm pretty sure other people will feel the same way. I think Steve Perry is a great author, and the way he writes, the words he chooses, the "realness" he presents all make for a great story. I've read all 6 Predator books and 3 AVP books, and this one ranks up there with them, but as a Predator fan, I can't say I liked it better than some of the other ones.
I really did like the story, and it kept me wanting to come back and read more, and I was really interested in the characters, even the "bad guys". Steve Perry's use of foul language and intense imagery make it seem like the real world, and he doesn't hold back, just like real life wouldn't. I really felt that all the characters acted the way they should have, and it made for a great story. I even learned a lot about tracking and surviving in the wilderness. I would recommend this book as a good read, and definitely a different kind of story in the Predator folklore. Now, on to my problems with this book.
First (potential spoiler ahead), I really felt like this was more of a good story about humans, with the Predators just simply involved. Without the insight on what the Predators are doing and how they interact with each other, as some of the previous novels have done, you really don't get a lot of Predator "hits". I liked the idea of never knowing where they were and what they were doing, but I feel they should have been in the book more often, at least a little bit more. The human story element was good enough that it kept you interested, but I really did feel that if the Predators weren't in it at all, the story could have existed on its own. He didn't do enough with the Predators, but I suppose that given the storyline, perhaps that's what Perry was trying to do and it worked in making a good book anyway, but I'm a Predator fan, I want more Predator action.
Second, I don't think I just got a bad copy or anything, but I am just simply blown away at how poorly this book was edited. How hard is it for one person to read it through and look for typos? I would have done it for 5 bucks, and the story would have been presented the way it should have. I must have counted between 20 and 30 errors in the book, maybe more. You can still understand what is being said, but to me, it just bothered me because I would re-read what I just read because it didn't sound right and realize there was another error, and that makes my enjoyment of the book not as high as it should have been. Did anyone else notice this and get a little bothered by it? They must have really rushed the printing of this book I suppose. It bothered me, maybe it won't bother anyone else.
Other than those big issues, I really did enjoy this book. I think it would almost be suitable for non-Predator, non-science fiction fans as well, given the human story, although they cannot be faint of heart. I am really looking forward to Predator South China Sea (though I hope they change the name, not likely though), but this book will hold me over until then. I also wish they would come out with a new AVP book, but it looks like that won't happen either.
Anyway, I hope this review was helpful, sorry if it was a bit long, but it's better to know more than less. Enjoy the book, I'm sure you all will.
PREDETR
Quote from: AdamBombOi on Mar 15, 2008, 07:13:21 AM
BUY THIS BOOK! I'm a quarter of the way through, and can't put it down!
Same so far. Looks like it's set to be another 4/5 for the Predator franchise.
Glad to hear it you're enjoying it!
Been waiting for a review from you for a while!
Well I was gonna wait for my Criminal Enterprise review before even asking for a copy of this. Well...think DH thought I hadn't got a copy and sent me a bulk pack with this, Civilized Beasts and another Criminal Enterprise in. XD
There needed to be more wristblade action.
I dunno, I don't really think it was that necessary, but for old times sake, more wristblade action is always fun! In my mind, the most classic of the weapons.
But man, I love how the story was told, ESPECIALLY the ending with Regal, Pred, and Sloane.
Damn I love that book.
Here's my review for Predator: Turnabout.
Okay. It was a good read. Better than Forever Midnight at the very least. There was surprisingly few Predator action though. Nice characterization of Regal and Sloane though. It was interesting to read about two professionals facing each other.
One major problem, though.
Four Predators eliminated by a single human? Come on! It really made the Yuatja look weak. These Hunters must be newbies or dregs when compared to the Yuatja of Hunter's Planet and WAR. I really couldn't believe it when I saw the ease on how Sloane took out two Predators without getting a scratch.
I mean he had the element of surprise and he also had that neat Sniper rifle. But still...
I rate this as a 7.5/10.
Quote from: felix on Apr 03, 2008, 12:37:25 PM
Here's my review for Predator: Turnabout.
Okay. It was a good read. Better than Forever Midnight at the very least. There was surprisingly few Predator action though. Nice characterization of Regal and Sloane though. It was interesting to read about two professionals facing each other.
One major problem, though.
Four Predators eliminated by a single human? Come on! It really made the Yuatja look weak. These Hunters must be newbies or dregs when compared to the Yuatja of Hunter's Planet and WAR. I really couldn't believe it when I saw the ease on how Sloane took out two Predators without getting a scratch.
I mean he had the element of surprise and he also had that neat Sniper rifle. But still...
I rate this as a 7.5/10.
You gotta remember though, this guy was a trained sniper (in a guille suit that keeps heat in, virtually making him invisible to a Predator), who was a good distance away (I think the first shot was over a mile away from the first one killed). That's what made it easy to believe - I don't think they looked weak at all, I think it made me them look as if they hadn't experienced it before.
Indeed. It didn't make them look weak. At all. A shot from a mile away took out the first one. Not sure about the rest yet.
Still it was too easy. I liked the book but I thought the Yuatja should have been more formidable. If they can't take out one human, how are they going to defeat any Hard Meat anyway.
Da'chande would have kicked Sloane's ass.
One human who was invisible to them as opposed to an opposition that they can see?
Da'chande was good, but still, a threat that you can't see who'll spend hours in one spot looking for you, not moving, and not making a sound is STILL going to be amazingly difficult. Never in a book, comic, or movie has that slant been put into a story, and it made it work incredibly well.
I mean, if the Predator is blind to his prey, and has no idea where he is, it evens the playing field with the cloaking... except that suit sealed his body heat in completely, whereas the cloak shimmers.
Sloane has the advantage? Did I like my favorite characters ever killed off? HELL NO! But it was believable, and my God man, it made me like the guy!
Here's something from the novel that gave me a chuckle -
QuoteMaybe the AA people had it right: One day at a time. Don't worry about ten years down the road, because you might fall and break your neck tomorrow.
Or get plinked by a poacher.
Or get death-rayed by a spaceman and your skull taken home and put on a trophy wall: This one? Ah, yeah, the ooman. Killed Bahg and Mang and Shande, this one did before I bagged him.Died well. Here let me show you the bear...
Haha, the ooman line.
:D
Deep in the Alaskan forest, ranger Sloan comes across the torn and bloody carcasses of Grizzly bears. Searching a human cause for the massacres, he discovers a team of poachers hunkered within the Alaska wilderness, waiting for the chance to score a big kill. He also finds evidence of the most fearsome killers in the universe: the Predators.
Love him or hate him, most people will know Steve Perry as the father of the modern day Predator fanboy culture. Along with his daughter, Stephani Perry, they single handily created the very culture the Predator fanboys love. Alien fans will know him as the man who started off the Aliens novel series. And now, fourteen years after writing Prey, Yautja God himself has finally written his first solo Predator novel.
Now I'm just gonna get this out the way, I'm not fond of Earth Hive and I'll openly have a "heated" discussion with Steve on our forums but Turnabout...Turnabout just plain rocked.
I'm very particular about characters in these novels and it seems to be something that only Predator novels can nail. Following in the footsteps of Greenberger and Friedman with Flesh and Blood, Perry's Turnabout focuses on three characters which gives him the time and pages to develop them.
Turnabout is first and foremost a character story and it shows. Each character is introduced as complex with an interesting past. The show is stolen by Sloane, however, as he progresses and develops his relationship with Mary. Over time we learn about Sloane's past as in Vietnam and I really began to believe in his motivations.
Mary's complexity comes from her brother, the reason she's even in Alaska. Through a series of nightmares, we learn loads about Mary and her brother. I really found the nightmares to be quite engrossing. The first one was somewhat of a curve ball but it left me itching for me. I wanted to know who it was! How it was relevant!
Turnabout kept a very steady but fast pace. Short chapters helped to keep things moving. Like Sloane, the book makes sure it keeps moving. Considering that the main character is a sniper and he mentions the importance of patient and while the chance for it to slow down the pace and bore the reader is there, Perry kept well away.
Something that could concern readers is the technical information peppered throughout the novel. Specifically gun information. It's blatantly obvious that Perry has done his research. For some this might slow down the novel, seem as nothing more than a way to bulk up the word count. For others it might add a depth of realism. For me it deepened Sloane and Regal's characters. I felt like these people really know their trade and that made them more dangerous.
I think the major turn off point for those Predator fans who recognized Perry's name will come from the lack of focus on the Predators. Like I mentioned earlier, Turnabout is a character story first and foremost. Yautja fans will be immensely disappointed as there are no parts involving the Predator culture Perry himself helped conceive.
But it's not all sunshine and daisies. Steve Perry has this incredibly weird way of structuring his sentences. His comma placement had me re-reading quite a few sentences to make sure I was reading it right. But what's one complaint?
As I finished this novel, the Alien fanboy in me cried out. He was extremely jealous that the Predator novels have pretty much all been entertaining reads and Turnabout was no different.
There's not much more I could possibly rave about for this novel. However, I will say this: If you're a Predator fan buy this novel. An Aliens fan sick of poor characters in the Alien novels? Buy Turnabout. A Perry fan? Buy this novel!
Well now for the part where I give a score. Okay here's a first for AvPGalaxy. I award Steve Perry's solo Predator debut a 5 out of 5!
Finally found the novel in a bookstore, flipped through it and realized it was about one human hunting 4 (or 5?) predators. Basically the human plays the predator and the predators play the humans. I personally didn't like that approach so I didn't buy the book.
QuoteI think the major turn off point for those Predator fans who recognized Perry's name will come from the lack of focus on the Predators. Like I mentioned earlier, Turnabout is a character story first and foremost. Yautja fans will be immensely disappointed as there are no parts involving the Predator culture Perry himself helped conceive.
Good review, Hicks. I appreciate it.
This one was what it was -- the powers-that-were didn't want to do yautja material, but things don't always stay the same.
If I ever do another one, and if they will let me, I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind -- maybe Dachande's son -- did I mention he had one ... ?
Heh, heh, heh ...
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 18, 2008, 05:15:51 PM
Good review, Hicks. I appreciate it.
This one was what it was -- the powers-that-were didn't want to do yautja material, but things don't always stay the same.
If I ever do another one, and if they will let me, I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind -- maybe Dachande's son -- did I mention he had one ... ?
Heh, heh, heh ...
His son?
sounds... interesting.
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 18, 2008, 05:15:51 PM
I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind
But it's not interesting in there. They're exaggerated people - In the movies and your novels. All we get "inside their mind" is people with weird faces and a language that, by all accounts, they wouldn't even use.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 19, 2008, 02:33:53 AM
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 18, 2008, 05:15:51 PM
I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind
But it's not interesting in there. They're exaggerated people - In the movies and your novels. All we get "inside their mind" is people with weird faces and a language that, by all accounts, they wouldn't even use.
Yet they've shown in movies they can speak english, but they wouldn't use another language to communicate? Yeah, okay.
Quote from: AdamBombOi on Apr 19, 2008, 02:54:41 AM
Yet they've shown in movies they can speak english, but they wouldn't use another language to communicate? Yeah, okay.
They can
mimic English. So can a budgie, but you wouldn't find a sound like "the'ide" or whatever the f**k it is in its natural vocabulary. When not mimicking, Predators have a vocabulary of grunts, clicks, yowls, and roars - In a deleted scene for AvP we even see the Celtic Predator communicate with the other two, giving Scar a direction ... by growling.
And before anyone thinks of replying "But that's not enough to form a complex language!", shut up, you're an idiot.
Pitch and tone of the growls and other things might be very important in predator communication as well. Not to mention body language and maybe even subtle alterations in scent.
Edit:
QuoteIf I ever do another one, and if they will let me, I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind -- maybe Dachande's son -- did I mention he had one ... ?
Uh well, it sort of goes without saying when you consider the fact that Dachande mentions that he
does in fact have a few children. I think the number mentioned was seventy something.
Quote from: BloodyRedBaron on Apr 19, 2008, 04:29:26 AM
Pitch and tone of the growls and other things might be very important in predator communication as well. Not to mention body language and maybe even subtle alterations in scent.
Exactly. What little we get of Predator communication in the films works better than Mr. Perry's language ... although writing !!!!! to denote clicking ala
The Gods Must Be Crazy's subtitles would get a bit tedious :P
That'd be awesome!
(Goes off to write a story about a Predator's fascinating journey with a Coke bottle.)
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on Apr 19, 2008, 06:40:56 AM
That'd be awesome!
(Goes off to write a story about a Predator's fascinating journey with a Coke bottle.)
"!!!!!" said Dachande.
"!!! !! !!!!! !!!" said Bi'guz D-ik.
"!!!"
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 18, 2008, 05:15:51 PM
This one was what it was -- the powers-that-were didn't want to do yautja material, but things don't always stay the same.
I didn't care about the lack of Predator POV. I loved it how it was. And that was 'cause of you writing it as a character story. This is the first novel I've given a 5 out of 5 too. I think decent characters are hard for Alien/Predator writers. I mean, Dani, had this fantastic idea but her characters sucked ass. Who wanted to root for them?
Sure, Sloane was a hardass but that sense of respect was there. And when him and Mary grew, he changed and it became about protection. Steve...Dude, I cannot say how much I loved this novel.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 19, 2008, 02:33:53 AM
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 18, 2008, 05:15:51 PM
I'll take a shot at getting inside the Predator's mind
But it's not interesting in there. They're exaggerated people - In the movies and your novels. All we get "inside their mind" is people with weird faces and a language that, by all accounts, they wouldn't even use.
Are you really that dense? You write in English for an audience that is mostly American, and if you present an alien species, you have to do it in a manner that Americans reading English can understand and relate to. If you offer motivations that are so alien they cannot be grasped by humans, a language that cannot be understood, you have no story.
Predators are upright, bipeds who travel in spaceships, and have tools hung on their belts. They have sexes, they have a culture, they see things using eyes, albeit their eyes skew to a different part of the spectrum. Cut them, they bleed. They like to hunt. That's what we were handed in the first movie, and everything springs from that.
You can guess at other things -- probably they live a lot longer than we do. That horse pistol the leader tosses to Danny Glover -- could have been an heirloom. Or, it could have been one he took from a particularly brave ooman himself.
The give-'em-a-funny-nose Star Trek alien who speaks our language isn't my creation, but it's the nature of visual media that such characters are easier to make-up and make work than something that looks like a crab -- well, at least until CGI. It's still harder to feel sympathy for a crab than something that looks kinda like us, though it can be done. Even Star Trek had the Horta, but she was a hard row to hoe.
You can't make an alien truly alien and hold a human audience. They need a handle. You make it sound alien by giving it a language that offers a flavor. If you are going to create a viewpoint character s/he has to talk and think in terms that humans can understand. That's how it's done. (If you can do better, please, be my guest. Show us how.)
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 19, 2008, 05:06:37 PM
Even Star Trek had the Horta, but she was a hard row to hoe.
Did you mean hard hoe to row?
I think both sides of the argument have their merits, I really don't think I know enough on the subject to offer my two cents yet.
Quote from: BloodyRedBaron on Apr 19, 2008, 05:28:38 PM
Did you mean hard hoe to row?
No. You hoe a row of whatever it is you're trying to cultivate. How do you 'row a hoe'??
Unless it's some kind of terribly designed canoe...or a misspelt pimping term.
"Aww shit man, she wuz holdin' out on me, so I hadda row that ho!""I heard dat."
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on Apr 19, 2008, 05:47:13 PM
Quote from: BloodyRedBaron on Apr 19, 2008, 05:28:38 PM
Did you mean hard hoe to row?
No. You hoe a row of whatever it is you're trying to cultivate. How do you 'row a hoe'??
Unless it's some kind of terribly designed canoe...or a misspelt pimping term.
That's exactly what I thought he was trying to say.
Quote from: steveperry on Apr 19, 2008, 05:06:37 PM
You write in English for an audience that is mostly American, and if you present an alien species, you have to do it in a manner that Americans reading English can understand and relate to.
Thank you. That's exactly my point. The Predators just become funny looking people with better technology and exaggerated physical capabilities when you get into their heads - It's not interesting, because interesting would be nigh incomprehensible.
We see them hunt, yes, but other than that it's a pretty blank slate. When you start seeing their thought process is pretty much identical to ours, then you can start inferring everything else about them. We stop looking inside their heads, and start looking in a funhouse mirror that makes us uglier, but physically superior and, occasionally, smarter.
QuoteThey have sexes,
Movies don't say (and fair enough, it's kind of irrelevant). Although of the travesty that was
Deadliest of the Species, I liked the fact that it made male and female Predators indistinguishable from one-another, which was apparently what Randy Stradley had been told when he wrote the original AVP comic.
Been meaning to ask, and this thread's been going too long to check, so apologies if it's been answered: Did you ever get the "Bibles" some of the authors mentioned which had things like the difference between Pred sexes?
QuoteYou can't make an alien truly alien and hold a human audience. They need a handle. You make it sound alien by giving it a language that offers a flavor. If you are going to create a viewpoint character s/he has to talk and think in terms that humans can understand. That's how it's done. (If you can do better, please, be my guest. Show us how.)
I'm not saying I could do it better, because my natural inclination would be to just side-step the whole thing altogether and never look into their minds. I always thought the Predators worked much better when we didn't have their thought processes and language and culture hurled at us, because it stopped being threatening.
This all being said, I'm not your target audience and Pred fans absolutely love what you've done with the place, so I'm clearly in a minority.
Quote from: BloodyRedBaron on Apr 19, 2008, 05:48:19 PM
That's exactly what I thought he was trying to say.
I think I would enjoy it very much to see Steve Perry use a pimping term in casual conversation. :)
All fiction is fantasy. It's all made-up. There might be aliens out there, but we haven't met them, so any story ever written about such a subject would only be real by the longest stretch of coincidence you can imagine.
There is no Superman, Batman, Ripley, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, nor Robin Hood. No Sherlock Holmes. No Modesty Blaise. No Kirk, Spock, Bones, no little Bo Peep.
So anything anybody has written about them or anybody else that comes under the heading of fiction is done for purposes of entertainment, and whille there may be as much truth in fiction as there is non-fiction, the basic premise is this: Once upon a time, a lot of stuff happened, and they lived happily ever after ...
None of it really happened that way.
People want a story that entertains them, maybe takes them outside of themselves for a bit, makes them laugh or cry or feel angst or fear or relief, whatever. I don't have a problem with you side-stepping what is an acceptable convention in storytelling -- getting inside somebody's head -- anybody's head, be they Predator or the Amazing Spider Man. But those of us who tell stories use this device. Sometimes to good effect, sometimes not.
Me, I'm curious as to what motivates characters. What is Darth Vader thinking inside that hyperbaric chamber? How did Conan get that muscular physique? What kind of culture do the Predators come from?
And since I was in a position to offer my opinions on all three of those, and a lot of other questions like them, I did so.
Most people who read those books seemed to like it, and I write for the audience that is willing lay down their money for the stories I tell. I know I can't please all of them, but I like to try and please most of them. Hardcore fans who will argue over what color the lint was in Ripley's pocket on Tuesday last aren't gonna be pleased by much of anything that doesn't agree with what they believe. I don't even try. No point in wasting my time ....
Got nothing to do with what I believe. I just find it a waste. To me it's like explaining what happened to Billy in Predator, Lambert in Alien, or Nauls in The Thing. Well, given, the only reason we don't find out what happened to the latter in the movie is because they ran out of money, but still, him walking off was just creepy.
Based on Hicks' review, I'm going to try and get my hands on Turnabout right after I fight my way through Flesh and Blood.
Not liking F&B?
I like it when an author tries to get into the head of an unconventional character. Even if I'm not crazy about the end product, I'm unperturbed. I have the mental self-discipline to realize that it was just a work of fiction. Even if the writer or director tells me his work is canon, I don't care because
I can just ignore him and whatever he came up with.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 20, 2008, 10:40:11 PM
Not liking F&B?
Only
Outland may get away with people exploding in a void.
Just a q... how many Preds in this story?
4
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Aug 03, 2007, 07:12:25 AM
http://www.stephenyoull.com/images/NewGallery/Large/predator-turnabout.jpg
Say hi to Turnabout's beautiful cover.
Cover looks amazing imo, I just got it and just now started reading it, its kinda slow right now, but it feels good so far. I love this Predators armor on the cover, especially the shoulder. Very cool. 8)
^It's AvP armour.
Looks a teensy bit to 'sporty' IMO. (Even though, yes, they hunt for sport...)
Like he's just kicked a goal, or scored a point.
Or even the fat chick on the H & R Block commercial when the phone rings of someone wanting to get their tax return done...
Next we'll see Predators doing the Lleyton Hewitt pumping-the-ground/ starting-the-invisible-chainsaw-routine and shouting "C'MONNNNN!!!!"
^Heh...I didn't really notice that before...but now all I can see is the fist-pump. "Yesss!"
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on May 02, 2008, 01:00:49 AM
^It's AvP armour.
It looks similar but not exact, the AvP armor didnt look as good imo, the shoulder armor looked different, from what I can see the chest too, and the thigh armor as well.
Quote from: b-raz on May 02, 2008, 04:34:43 PM
It looks similar but not exact, the AvP armor didnt look as good imo, the shoulder armor looked different, from what I can see the chest too, and the thigh armor as well.
Well, i won't argue better/worse, but that is Scar's armour, dude.
Anyway, I just finished Turnabout and I have to say...best Pred book lik...ever, yo. Just a great read, pure and simple. Anyone who wants a good tale should check it out, with the exception of people who bust a nut over "PRED ACTION, BABY!" If that's your only thing, don't bother.
Four stars.
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on May 02, 2008, 05:53:41 PM
Quote from: b-raz on May 02, 2008, 04:34:43 PM
It looks similar but not exact, the AvP armor didnt look as good imo, the shoulder armor looked different, from what I can see the chest too, and the thigh armor as well.
Well, i won't argue better/worse, but that is Scar's armour, dude.
Anyway, I just finished Turnabout and I have to say...best Pred book lik...ever, yo. Just a great read, pure and simple. Anyone who wants a good tale should check it out, with the exception of people who bust a nut over "PRED ACTION, BABY!" If that's your only thing, don't bother.
Four stars.
It looks slightly different imo, at least from this angle. But anywho, is the action decent? I mean, I like a good story too, don't get me wrong, Im just over 50 pages into this and nothings happened yet, just corpses everywhere, so do we see the Predators do
anything at all?
Yes.
Okay, then that is fine with me. :)
Okay, Im reading this and: (Spoilers below)
What was that the Predator fired at Sloane after he sniped the first one? Was that just the plasma caster because it said it fired from his shoulder, but it said it was like a rocket coming at him..?
Yeah, it was the shoulder cannon. Remember that the description is from Sloane's perspective, who is just guessing. The projectile travels fairly slowly, and if it is the Predator 2 style 'caster, it'd look especially rocket-esque.
Quote from: Uncanny Antman on May 07, 2008, 03:04:57 AM
Yeah, it was the shoulder cannon. Remember that the description is from Sloane's perspective, who is just guessing. The projectile travels fairly slowly, and if it is the Predator 2 style 'caster, it'd look especially rocket-esque.
Oh ok, yeah I was thinking that it was just from his perspective but at the same time he was able to tell it was like some kind of energy weapon just by looking at the dead poachers, so you think he'd say something like yep, blue light or something. And I hope its not the P2 caster, I pictured it as the AvP-R one. 8)
Quote from: b-raz on May 03, 2008, 06:17:18 AM
It looks similar but not exact, the AvP armor didnt look as good imo, the shoulder armor looked different, from what I can see the chest too, and the thigh armor as well.
I meant to show you this earlier Raz, but I forgot. Sorry 'bout that. :)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg122.imageshack.us%2Fimg122%2F5373%2Fpredcomppc5.jpg&hash=4ab848e04e2035e0456deac1bc11e1badeb4e73c)
Yeah, it's still slightly different though.
Anyway, what I originaly intended on saying is..They need to have a Predator novel/movie or something where the Predator actually wins. Because to be frank, I'm actually sick of this 'where the hunter becomes the hunted' crap. And not because I'm a big fan of the Predators, but just because it's getting old.
I imagine it'd be hard to do away with the concept, given that the Predator's entire reason for being is to make us - typically the hunter - the hunted ...
It'll never happen, the Predator will always fail against the human. The humans have script immunity.... always.
Sigh. Oh well. I guess it could still be a good twist; like on how the human defeats the Predator.
Quote from: b-raz on Aug 19, 2008, 02:39:09 PM
Sigh. Oh well. I guess it could still be a good twist; like on how the human defeats the Predator.
Only way to reasonably do this is to make the Predator a viewpoint character. It's obvious from inference that the Preds have won a whole bunch of times -- they've been coming to Earth for centuries and have the trophies to show for their hunts. To tell one of those stories, you need to get inside the Predator's head, and, save for that first AvP novel my daughter and I did, the powers-that-be have been reluctant to allow that. (In fact, they didn't want us to do it then, either, but we did it anyhow -- and they let it slide because it worked for them. Or they didn't notice ...)
To make a Predator the VP character, you have to make him/her sympathetic and someone with whom the readers can identify -- they have to root for him/her and want to see them survive.
First question you have to ask yourself as a writer starting a new project is, Whose story is it?
In Turnabout, the answer to this is a triplet -- It's Sloane's, Mary's, and Regal's.
If we had told it from the viewpoint of one of the Predators, who suddenly finds himself being the hunted instead of the hunter, that would have been fun and I'd have enjoyed doing it that way, but it wasn't gonna happen. I know. I asked.
People seemd to either love or hate the Yautja concept. The first AvP novel sold pretty well, but the concept hasn't been expanded on much since Danelle and I laid it out.
Way it goes ...
Quote from: Private Hudson on Aug 17, 2008, 03:38:50 AM
It'll never happen, the Predator will always fail against the human. The humans have script immunity.... always.
I smolder in my chair at this. It is absolutely horrible. I think that the humans need to be secure knowing that, even though Yautja have superior strength, weaponry, intellect, and equipment, we can allllllllllwwwwwwwaaaaaayyyyyys win. We need to be secure in the belief that we're top of the food chain...even the extraterrestrial food chain.
Well I say we do away with our security. If I ever write a Predator novel (I laugh at myself. Yeah, right.) I will be sure to make the humans die. Bahahahaha. I mean...bahahahaha!!!!
Has more to do with entertainment value. People want to see the underdog triumph because it's more entertaining than seeing the underdog get seven shades of shit kicked out of them.
It's why AvPR's fights don't work. The Predator is in no danger, so we don't care when he wins; conversely, if the Predator is always dominating the good guys, and the good guys lose, we get little out of it except maybe a mild case of depression, depending on how well the story was told.
Just wanted to pop in and say that I just finished reading the novel and thought it was a brilliant read. Loved the characters. Loved the lack of Predator viewpoint because this made the Predators more threatening in my opinion (although I also love Yautja culture stories). Being put in the Alaskan atmosphere was really fun.
Can anyone in the Perry family write another Aliens novel please?
Just a thought.
Just giving this one another re-read. Continues to impress. I find the novel to be very gritty and retain a sense of realism. Really love Sloane. He is such a badass.
Further in and still enjoying it. Just realising that Perry has Sloane trying not to humanize the Predators and musing about humanizing them. Just made me chuckle when you consider the Yautja.
Quote from: steveperry on Sep 03, 2008, 05:49:52 PM
To tell one of those stories, you need to get inside the Predator's head, and, save for that first AvP novel my daughter and I did, the powers-that-be have been reluctant to allow that. (In fact, they didn't want us to do it then, either, but we did it anyhow -- and they let it slide because it worked for them. Or they didn't notice ...)
To make a Predator the VP character, you have to make him/her sympathetic and someone with whom the readers can identify -- they have to root for him/her and want to see them survive.
Actually, even as much as I loved Prey, I thought the concept of the Pred's viewpoint worked even better in Simon Hawke's Predator 2 novelization. Large portions of the book are from the Hunter's point of view, and it really made the story a lot more three-dimensional than it was in the movie, because you really got a feel for the predator (even somewhat of his personality) by the end of the book. The Predators need mystery surrounding them, so you can't just go into all sorts of detail about their society and whatnot. However, getting into their heads a bit can really only make the character more real. Personally, since the Predators have lost every fight they've ever started (with the sort-of exception of AVP-R...ugh) they've really started to feel like less of an intergalactic badass to me. A story where a Predator came to Earth to hunt, but the government was ready for him, and he got in way over his head would make for a very interesting read, if done right, and could add to the mythos in some great and lasting ways.
Just sayin'.
When we pitched DH what wound up being Turnabout, one of the ideas we ran past them was a crashed Pred ship with one survivor who is hunted out the wazoo but who manages to escape and get away, while doing some damage as he does. He is outgunned and outnumbered, and has to rely on his wits instead of superior tech. Such a book would have to be from a PredHead VP, and they didn't want to go there.
What I really wanted to do was one from a mated couple of Preds, with a couple of kids in tow, to show what happens when you cross a female protecting her young, but that's even less likely to ever happen.
I don't own it, I just work there ...
first idea sounds great
second idea sounds pretty awful
SPOILER ALERT: Just finished reading and a bit disappointed. Although a good story overall and well written; there was much too little focus on the predators. When the predators were being written about, they were always written from a distance. They had about as much time and detail allotted to them as the bears. They seemingly were not involved in most of the killings- the hero did most of the dispatching of the villains. Plus, no new information was offered on the predators at all. I expected much more from the author, Perry, as I have enjoyed his works before.
I would rather have no new information on the Predators then added information that is disgusting and pitiful (referring to "Forever Midnight", the worst predator novel ever).
One thing I loved about this book is reading the poachers' comments on how they thought the ranger went psycho.
I hope this thread isn't dead. I actually just finished Turnabout and wanted to share my opinions for Mr. Perry.
**Possible Spoilers Ahead**
First, I'm an avid reader and hobby writer (who isn't?) but I haven't picked up an Aliens or Predator novel since... Cold War? It's been awhile, and I haven't read any of the new books out within the past few years.
The setting is what initially drew me to the book(besides the obvious Predator!) The Alaskan wilderness is a very isolated and dangerous location to place a Predator story, and the idea was compelling from the start. Disclaimer: all of the following comments are my opinion, and have no weight on Steve Perry's amazing success as a writer. :D
The characters, Sloane, Mary, and Regal, were well-developed, if a bit generic. I felt that the dialogue was solid but could stray towards almost cheesy, and a lot of thoughts became repetitive. The "not in my backyard," and "going to end it," paragraph endings were used so frequently, I stopped taking them seriously after awhile. These were minor points, though.
Excellent research, very realistic and this goes miles towards giving a story credibility, especially with anyone familiar with weapons, hunting, or survival in general, for that matter.
One of my biggest complaints comes hand-in-hand with one of the aspects I most liked about Turnabout, which is the amount of time spent on the Predators.
Overall, the Predators seemed like fodder thrown in to a dramatic human conflict to spice things up. They received very little attention or time in the story at all, which ended up distracting me from the rest of the well-written book. There are tons of character stories out there, and well-written characters are few and far between in modern science-fiction, but the human character/predator balance was off a bit, I think.
It reminds me of the line from Jurassic Park where Ian Malcolm leans up to the camera and asks if there are any dinosaurs on the dinosaur tour. The Predators, for me, were an afterthought, like extras thrown in to the story to satisfy the title. They held equal parts of the Sloane/Regal/Predator threat pie, but in no way did the story depend on them. Regal was just as threatening to the protagonist as the Predators.
If the Preds weren't even there, I can imagine the book being just as exciting with Sloane and Mary having to deal with the Poachers. Paul would've still been dead, and Mary would've still been forced to confront her gun/man issue.
The Predator scenes that were in the book were done well, however. The creatures themselves were weak, but the situation was done right and came across as very realistic. Sloane had the advantage, got lucky with the ghillie suit, and the Predators obviously were caught off-guard. It was fun to read, but left me thinking that next time, a sniper won't be so lucky.
Expanding on this, I think it points at a major issue with the Predator character recently: the lack of mystery and terror. Good stories are constructed on a firm foundation, and with Predator, that foundation is mystery, suspense, and ultimately horror. The central gimmick, being hunted by a badass, nigh-invincible killer, has seemingly been forgotten in Predator stories. I mean, it's like a slasher movie on crack, with a psycho invisible alien killer versus a bunch of capable, dangerous people. The emotional potential is huge, and it's frightening because it isn't an idiot plot. The people dying know what they are doing, and still die. That's horrifying, if you ask me.
It seems like the creators have gotten so comfortable with the Predator character that they have attempted to shift the focus from the above mentioned plot elements to a sort of ham-handed exploration of alien culture and gee-whiz fights with ludicrous amounts of technology. They impart this on the audience, and assume that we won't be scared anymore because we know what the creature is. It becomes an action tale, more or less.
I think this is a mistake, and loses one of the most important elements of Predator, which is mystery.
On this, I applaud Mr. Perry's book. When the Predators got involved, they were done extraordinarily well, and felt threatening. The lack of knowing where they were, and the characters not even knowing WHAT they were, brought back some of the old "oh-shit-what-is-it?" feeling. I just wish there were more of this, I want to fear the Predator again like I did when I saw Arnie and Danny getting their asses kicked as a kid.
I also have to agree with an aforementioned complaint, the editing. Holy cow, it was terrible. More typos than in any book I've ever read. It gives the book a cheap feel, like they shoved it out the door because the fans are too stupid to care, but the book is much more than that, obviously, and deserves better. Just a comment.
I'm not some professional book critic, far from it, so I'm going to shut up. :D But I give it a 4 out of 5. In my opinion, good entry into the series, Mr. Perry, much better than some in the past (not of yours, I mean.) I hope Dark Horse lets you off the leash as far as your ideas are concerned, sounds like they need to grow a pair! Thanks for reading, anybody, and thanks for your hard work, Mr. Perry.
I too would give it a 4/5. I would go into would I loved about the book, but RagingDragon has pretty much nailed all of them. My only slight criticism of the book though was the "reveal" moment when Sloane first catches sight of the Preds. I don't know why, but it just never really sat well with me. I felt it lacked a bit of build up if I'm honest, but as I say that was only a slight drawback and I loved the rest of the book.
I just now started reading this thing. It's a pretty quick read and I'm already halfway in. But I have to comment on something utterly bizarre about this novel and about Steve Perry's moral compass.
At a certain point, about a quarter of the way into the story, the poachers openly show interest in raping Mary. It's not even questioned or shot down by any one of the other poachers when this is raised. In fact, one of them immediately agrees to the idea of raping Mary. What the hell? Up until now, we've seen Regal thinking about how he would kill another poacher that killed his men, sure, and we know he's willing to hunt all kinds of animals for cash so he can kick back for most of the year. But that's not gonna make me leap to "he'll willingly rape and murder innocent people."
This would be bizarre enough on its own, but it gets even weirder.
A few pages later, the ranger, Sloane, naturally assumes that if these guys are poachers, they obviously wouldn't have any trouble with rape or murder either.
W... T... F?!
There is a BIG, HUGE step from killing a bear illegally and killing a human being, let alone raping one. Shit, here in the real world, most rapists aren't even murderers; victims are typically left alive. And certainly there's no connection to rapists and murderers killing endangers animals to sell the remains for phat cast, or hunting animals out-of-season.
This is such a bizarre leap of logic, such a weird twist in the characterization that is never justified, that it really took me out of the story. It says more about the author's weird moral compass than anything, but I guess I'm glad that he considers murder, rape and poaching to all be illegal, even if he inexplicably thinks they're all equivalent somehow.
(https://i.imgur.com/1NKP0mE.jpg)
I finished re-reading this book last night. First time for a good few years, I think. I remembered always thinking highly of this novel and I still really enjoyed it. It's a very different take on the Predator conflict and it still works really well for me. A really prepared and patient human hunter against Predators.
Wow this thread is old. Im guessing this book could be included in an upcoming Predator Omnibus vol 2?
On the other hand, the first omnibus was titled "The Complete Predator Omnibus", so maybe there is no vol 2 planned.