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

[Corporal Hicks]

Yeah, I got the big deal with the Drukathi and everything; perhaps this is just my writing perspective but I felt that Lebbon should have devoted more time to the Drukathi than he actually did.  Reading the story, I thought the Faze would take on a more proactive role nearing the completion of its mission but instead it is still a servant to the Rage. 

I think you're completely missing the point.

Spoiler

The Faze wasn't supposed to be proactive. That completely defies the point of it manipulating the Rage and steering them into a place where they were a threat. People weren't supposed to think it was meeting its own agenda.

It also wasn't a servant of the Rage. It made sure the Rage could do what the Drukathi wanted and then it bailed when the Macbeth was about to explode. It was 100% out for itself.

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Spoiler

Instead we got an ending where the ignorance of a select group of humans, even though they were well-intentioned as you said, led to the unnecessary downfall of mankind, hardly very climatic for a story (let alone a trilogy).

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Mankind was out for the count, regardless of that final moment. Just because it wasn't a happy ending, doesn't mean it was a bad ending. The story of the trilogy was resolved - 

Spoiler

the Rage were defeated. It just wasn't a clean victory.

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You're not wrong, TAP. All fair points. They share some similarities, no doubt. But they aren't Perry's Yautja nor were they intended to be. There's room for all though. I think there's two interpretations of the Hish as well. Forever Midnight and Flesh and Blood's Hish are very different. F&B's Hish are probably my favourite EU interpretation of the Predator culture so far.

What are the differences between the two Hish versions? And what makes the F&B's ones your favourites? I remember reading some book summaries mentioning that a powerful family wanted to work with the Hish to eliminate some opposition. How does that go?

I can't give you a 100% accurate recounting but from what I remember, they were more in-line with how I viewed the Predators. Brutal, out for the fun of the hunt and the kill, no honour stuff, no apostrophed names or etc. I am due a re-read of the book.

[The Alien Predator]

What do you mean by apostrophed names? Just curious because the only Perry Yautja name I know of is Yeyinde (aka Dachande.)

Lebbon's Yautja also don't have apostrophes in their names such as Hashori, Kalakta and Yaquita.

Do you mean names like Top-Knot, Stone-Heart, Long-Spear, and Guan-Thwei etc that we've heard in games? Those are the ones I remember from Concrete Jungle and one of those (Top-Knot) may be from one of the Machiko Noguchi books but I'm not sure. I have no clue where Guan-Thwei is from, I just saw it listed in some sites when checking out words in the Yautja language. It was even once on Wikipedia years ago.

[Corporal Hicks]

What do you mean by apostrophed names? Just curious because the only Perry Yautja name I know of is Yeyinde (aka Dachande.)

Lebbon's Yautja also don't have apostrophes in their names such as Hashori, Kalakta and Yaquita.

Sorry, that was was intended to be language, not names.

[happypred]

Vandermeer did Brutal Predators far better than Lebbon...mainly because I think Vandermeer is a far more skilled writer

[Corporal Hicks]

There's no denying South China Sea is easily one of those rare 10/10 novels. The Rage War have all been 7s for me.

[426Buddy]

amazing that you can't get a copy of SCS for less than 100 dollars, thats a heartbreaker.

[predxeno]

Yeah, I got the big deal with the Drukathi and everything; perhaps this is just my writing perspective but I felt that Lebbon should have devoted more time to the Drukathi than he actually did.  Reading the story, I thought the Faze would take on a more proactive role nearing the completion of its mission but instead it is still a servant to the Rage. 

I think you're completely missing the point.

Spoiler

The Faze wasn't supposed to be proactive. That completely defies the point of it manipulating the Rage and steering them into a place where they were a threat. People weren't supposed to think it was meeting its own agenda.

It also wasn't a servant of the Rage. It made sure the Rage could do what the Drukathi wanted and then it bailed when the Macbeth was about to explode. It was 100% out for itself.

[close]

Spoiler

Instead we got an ending where the ignorance of a select group of humans, even though they were well-intentioned as you said, led to the unnecessary downfall of mankind, hardly very climatic for a story (let alone a trilogy).

[close]

Mankind was out for the count, regardless of that final moment. Just because it wasn't a happy ending, doesn't mean it was a bad ending. The story of the trilogy was resolved - 

Spoiler

the Rage were defeated. It just wasn't a clean victory.

[close]

Well, the victory at the end

Spoiler

provided what I felt was an unnecessary damper on the whole arc, but I can certainly understand how other fans might enjoy a gritty ending.

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Regarding the Faze, yeah, I agree that staying in the background and manipulating people from the dark is the more logical option, but in stories there is opportunity to be more illustrative for the sake of the plot.

Take the Death Star in Star Wars, for example; when the Empire destroyed Alderaan it cemented them as evil and the Death Star as the ultimate weapon.  This wouldn't have been quite as effective had the plot only theorized that the Death Star could destroy Alderaan, if the Death Star's capabilities were only theorized rather than demonstrated then the Empire wouldn't have seemed as evil.

(FYI, the logical way to spread fear with the Death Star is to make threats but never act on them; fear of violence is always more effective than violence itself because one's imagination is often more terrifying than actual reality.  Furthermore in the original EU, the destruction of Alderaan did not inspire fear rather than rage in the surrounding systems for the senseless massacre of millions thus inspiring even more planets to rebel.)

The Faze is always seen in the background but the fact that it doesn't do anything to exert the Drukathi's will hurts the idea that the Drukathi are as powerful as claimed.  Like the Aliens, being subservient to the Rage only makes it look weak rather than clever.

[Corporal Hicks]

The Faze is always seen in the background but the fact that it doesn't do anything to exert the Drukathi's will hurts the idea that the Drukathi are as powerful as claimed.  Like the Aliens, being subservient to the Rage only makes it look weak rather than clever.

Spoiler

Except that the Faze exerts the Drukathi's will by modifying mankinds technology beyond any of their current science. Just because it's not overt doesn't make them less powerful. The very implication that the Rage are able to control the Aliens increases their threat level.

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[predxeno]

True, true, but by the end of the day, that's all we get, implied threats.  I'm merely saying for the sake of storytelling that it would have been more effective had we gotten more.


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[Corporal Hicks]

It just requires a bit of reading into. It's not overt but it's also not so implied that it's non-existence. It's just below the surface. And to be honest, it would have diverted from the main point of the series, the Rage. I'm wondering if we'll see more of this in the anthologies or future stories. I know we're getting a Rage War tie-in in one of them (can't remember which off-hand though).

[The Alien Predator]

It just requires a bit of reading into. It's not overt but it's also not so implied that it's non-existence. It's just below the surface. And to be honest, it would have diverted from the main point of the series, the Rage. I'm wondering if we'll see more of this in the anthologies or future stories. I know we're getting a Rage War tie-in in one of them (can't remember which off-hand though).

I remember hearing this too, is the Rage War tie-in a prequel to the trilogy? Or is it set after?

I hope we get more series set afterwards, I'd love to see how this affects human and Yautja relationships now that they've fought a war together as allies on a much larger scale rather than simple solo team ups in isolated cases.

Amazon said it's dispatching my book on Monday, ugh, this is gonna be a long week...

[SM]

Go digital - faster and cheaper.

[Corporal Hicks]

Blasphemy! I much prefer the paper in my hand and a book on the shelf at the end. Personal preference though. I'm same with having physical copies of games and films. Completely understand why the digital versions are appealing though.

I remember hearing this too, is the Rage War tie-in a prequel to the trilogy? Or is it set after?

Just checked - it's a prequel to the Rage War and it's in the Predator anthology.

I've emailed Tim about doing a catch-up interview. He's not replied yet but I imagine he'll be happy to do another Q&A. I'm working on some questions while I write my review but as always, I wanted to offer you guys the chance to put across any questions to Tim.

[SM]

Blasphemy! I much prefer the paper in my hand and a book on the shelf at the end. Personal preference though. I'm same with having physical copies of games and films. Completely understand why the digital versions are appealing though.

I prefer a hardcopy too - but digital is a fraction of the cost and you can get it instantly.  It takes months for these books to appear on shelves at this end of the world.  I used to be able to get books cheaper via Book Depository in the UK, but the prices have gone up and delivery times can vary.

Digital is also indexed and searchable.

[Ultramorph]

120 pages in

Spoiler

and man, Weaver's World is going to be a bloodbath! I liked the explanation for the planet's name, too. 

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