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

[The Alien Predator]

Also the bit towards

Spoiler

the end where a group of Yautja ships arrive to help the station of Hell.

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Also, the Rage seem to dominate humans in space combat. However,

Spoiler

Hashori held her own very well against several Rage ships while fleeing the Zeere-Za in her tiny ship in Invasion.

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These books do state that each Predator ship is different. So logically, some ships would be better capable of combat than others.

[j0w]

Now we have to ask, were those warriors or hunters? That makes all the difference. I think she sensed or made contact with warriors answering the call to war

perching

[The Alien Predator]

Exactly, the Predators at the beginning of Incursion were hunters expecting to hunt small game (independent security guards/mercenaries aka "Indies"), the CM were called in and that's how they were able to take them down. The CM still lost two marines.

The Predators on UMF-12 were ambushed and unprepared. It was literally a settlement that got overrun by Xenomorphs, and the ships that the marines took out were unprepared and probably panicked average non-war ships leaving to regroup and get back to their senses before planning a counterattack. And still one of them destroyed the marine ship with a burst of lasers.

Then we have Predators who are ready to kick ass. Hashori was dominating Xenomorphs, the Preds on the Zeere-Za put up quite a fight before its destruction due to an ambush by multiple Rage ships. Hashori also singlehandedly fought a space battle on her own against the same pursuing Rage ships without Liliya even realizing lol.

And during a Rage attack, the Marines were getting their asses kicked until the Predators joined in and destroyed the Rage ship. Plus during one bit inside a Rage ship, it was the Predators who

Spoiler

captured the enemy Android and handed it to the humans (completely mangled and f**ked up) before leaving. They took out several Xenomorphs as well.

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Unprepared, anything will get its ass kicked no matter what.

It's when they are prepared, that the Predators show their true potential in combat. That's how it's always been with them when you think of it, in the films and such, they were always prepared and dominating the chess board. It is only when they are unprepared for a surprise that they get truly screwed such as in this book.

[j0w]

Still feels like they have warriors and hunters. That android bit was crazy...like those prizes at a fanfare..just plucked and handed to the humans like a doll/teddy

perching

[SM]

Seven ships left UMF-12.  Ochse destroyed 2, disabled another 2 and 3 escaped.

[The Alien Predator]

Thanks SM.

It got a bit tricky to keep tabs on all the ships for me. During my first read, it felt as if the majority got destroyed. Glad to know it wasn't as many as I thought.

[happypred]

It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to convince oneself that the  Excursionists didn't shit all over the Yautja in Incursion.

Regardless, that's not really my main issue with Lebbon.

Lebbon'a prose is barely tolerable. He uses "suicided" as a verb...and that's just the tip of the iceberg

[SM]

'Suicided' is a verb.

And the Predators they fought on UMF 12 would hardly be the best the species had to offer.

[happypred]

Yes, a very silly verb to use in a novel..."the Yautja suicided"...I chuckled

This is of course my personal taste in prose

[The Alien Predator]

SM, what did you think of the books so far?

[SM]

Putting aside some of the nitpicky things like starship speeds, dates, and how dropholes work, they're pretty decent.  The combat sequences don't get too repetitive and drawn out, which is a danger with something as military as this.  Most of the characters are engaging, even the more one dimensional ones (like the marines).  When you need to chronicle a story, I dig the chapters from each persons perspective, and each chapter rarely overstays its welcome.  I'm very interested to see where it's going to go.

[The Alien Predator]

I'm glad you liked it, I agree with your points. I did enjoy how the starships are a bit grounded and slower compared to most sci fi. It kept to the whole "space travel is difficult and takes time" theme that Alien has going for it. For me, it respected the vastness of outer space.

I relate to you on the dates, for me, I didn't notice that at some points in the book, they jumped back and forth until a reviewer pointed out. It was done intentionally and not by mistake (except the Prologue chapter).

As for dropholes, before this book, I didn't like the idea of Alien having things like jumpgates, wormholes and hyperspace travel, I always thought of space travel as good ol' going physically faster than light. But Incursion and Invasion did convince me that those things can work and fit into the Alien-Predator universe. What didn't you like about the dropholes?

[SM]

The dates for each chapter don't pose a problem; it's the historical stuff, mainly relating to Liliya's history and the Founders.  There's the odd error here and there.

Ship speeds are a little annoying, because the Arrow-class are touted as being the fastest ships around - 15 times the speed of light.  Yet Prometheus, Nostromo and Sulaco travel at 15, 47 and 677 times the speed of light respectively.

Dropholes - like the idea, but they're a bit ill-defined.  On the one hand they seem be like wormholes where you enter one end, and exit the other instantaneously. But trips - short ones of only a few light years - seem to take weeks. I predict

Spoiler

the Company will make good on their threat to destroy them in the next book, thus making space that much more vast for stories that follow.

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Just nitpicky stuff that doesn't really harm the overall enjoyment.

[The Alien Predator]

Wow, I never knew the Nostromo and Sulaco were faster than Arrow Class ships. You should be the go to guy for future authors. They had the right idea to ask for your input in the W-Y Report as you seem the most knowledgeable in the things many of us easily miss.

You are correct that these little mistakes don't harm the overall story though.

I can't wait to see what happens next. The marketing for the books did say "the universe will be changed forever", or something along those lines. Perhaps the

Spoiler

destruction of the dropholes could be the beginning of that change and how the human race goes on from there.

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[SM]

Yes I expect so.

Spoiler

Could make things a lot more isolated.

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Also

Spoiler

You're too kind

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