Aliens Vs Predator (book review)

[carl]

Author: Steve Perry

"<i>In a world of hunters, who becomes the hunted?</i>"

<b>The Story</b>
On the Ranching Colony of Ryushi a young Japanese woman named Machiko Noguchi has been given the position of Supervisor for the company paying the ranchers. She accepts that the new job is going to be a challenge, but thinks that her worst problems will be trying to get the ranchers to trust their new boss. This all changed though when one of the colonists discovers a strange creature among her herd. The creature itself is like nothing else on record and so she calls her boss for advice on what to do. Her boss, Ackland, realizes that if it get's out that a new creature was discovered among his herd then the quarantine will cost him a lot of money so he takes one of the bodies to the towns doctor, but gives different coordinates. The Dr. is fascinated by this new creature and see's it as his chance to make a name for himself. He examines it and discovers that it is in fact just the first stage in the life cycle of something else, but without more information he has no way of knowing what it's full grown form will be like. That night whilst the rest of the colony are at a party he decides to go and check out where he believes the body's were found so that he may be able to get more answers. Unfortunately, because the creatures were found in a different place entirely, he doesn't find what he's looking for. He does spot another race though, true extraterrestrials complete with their own technology's. Humanoid in form the Dr. is able to observe them enough to find out that they are some kind of hunters with high levels of intelligence.

While this is happening there is another story playing out on an Extraterrestrial ship that is heading for Ryushi. The ship was carrying a group of warriors known as The Yautja, but most of these would not be classed as fully fledged Yautja until this hunt was over. They were heading for Ryushi for their first real hunt, and for the last few weeks they had been sending eggs to Ryushi carrying the first stage of the <b>Kainde Amedha</b> (<i>Hard Meat</i>) a fearsome species of bug like life forms that exist purely to kill. Those that survived this hunt would be given the honour of a blooded warrior. The leader of this group is a strong warrior named Yeyinde who is one of the most respected Yautja in the universe, due to him being the only one to survive an unarmed battle against the Hard Meat. As usual the unblooded warriors currently in his charge needed to learn some important lessons in honour and respect if they were going to survive this first hunt. Unfortunately on arriving at Ryushi there are complications. Since the last time their species had visited this planet a group of Oomans had inhabited. Oomans were known among warriors to be the ultimate prey, they're classed as Soft Meat but their cowardice and lack of honour, combined with their ability to shoot back, makes them the most dangerous prey in the universe. Yeyinde would like to be among the honoured warriors to hunt a pack of Oomans, but it's forbidden when unblooded are in your numbers. He will have to get this hunt over as quickly and discreetly as possible. However when they setting up for the hunt an Ooman is spotted watching them through a scope and his students go mad with excitement. This must put an end to the hunt immediately but first the Ooman must be killed before he can tell others. Unfortunately for Yeyinde the Ooman is going to try and escape in some kind of vehicle, but losing control it crashes into his ship. Destroying the ship completely, the explosion also kills all of the other blooded warriors and leaves Yeyinde critically injured. The strongest of the unblooded warriors rises to take up leadership, but without an honorable leader to guide him, decides that they will hunt and kill any Ooman they can find.

<b>Review</b>
I've begun to notice lately that a lot of the rumours regarding the <b>Alien Vs Predator</b> movie had died down. The last I heard was that the director had been chosen and a basic plot description was released, but since then the studio's seem to be keeping a very tight lip about the film. That's why I decided to go back to my book collection and reread the stories of these 2 foes.

To be honest when I started re-reading the first book, <b>Alien Vs Predator: Prey</b>, I found it a little disappointing. The first 50 pages or so had a very slow pace and seemed to enter the realms of a Star Trek episode in terms of story telling. The interaction between the Predators seemed very Klingon to me (<i>though I don't watch Star Trek much</i>) and the main character Machiko spends a little too much time focusing on traumatic events in her childhood for an exciting action novel, and not nearly enough time for an interesting character study. However on writing this review I'm going to force myself to look back to the time when I first read this book, a time when this opening didn't bother me. That's when I realize that the reason I was so impatient with this section of the book was because it was my second time reading it. I'd already experienced, and well remembered, what followed it and just couldn't wait to get back there.

Needless to say when you do get there you're in for something Special. From the moment the Predators decide to attack, right through to the end, the book is written in an almost real time way. There are few, if any, moments where time will lurch forward noticeably, it just features every minute of the characters struggle for survival. I've always felt that a real time aspect can add claustrophobia when I'm watching a film and I now feel the same way about books. Though technically the book can't be considered real-time because of the way it develops the Predators. They don't speak, or even understand English, and so in order to develop them the writer will write certain moments twice, once from the human perspective and again from The Predators. (<i>In the same way as I did in my plot description</i>) Admittedly this could get a little dull, and it was certainly noticeable, but I honestly never felt that way. These moments introduced The Predators as characters, each with unique personalities so that they can be more than just monster B in the humans battle for survival. Like I said, their personalities can seem a little Star Trek at times but there's never anything to contradict the films. The Predators are still an honorable race of hunters, but by showing the younger members of their race the writer opens up a whole new aspect to them.

Don't get me wrong though, <b>Aliens Vs Predator: Prey</b> is not some sort of literary masterpiece. I was just pleased with the way the Predators were more than just another monster is all. Other than that it's pretty much the reading equivalent of an action Blockbuster. Characters are given the basic aspects of the personality, including childhood trauma's that they associate with the encroaching threat. You have the typical conflict from a character who believes the threat isn't real and so ignores orders, the boss trying to make the workers like her and the expected honour among warriors talk. There is a little bit where the writers compare the humans to the Predators, and the humans come out of it looking bad, but once again this is never developed beyond a brief sentence at the beginning of the book.

That's not the point though because like the Blockbusters it emulates it's a safe bet no one will be reading a book called <b>Aliens Vs Predator</b> for the sake of characters and philosophies. It's about the entertainment the reader can find in the situation, and <b>Alien Vs Predator: Prey</b> is among the most entertaining books I have ever read. The almost real time aspect given to the body of the story adds a claustrophobia that few books can match, and the sheer pace of the novel means that you never have a moment to breath, let alone philosophize. The atmosphere is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, and is more like the atmosphere of the <b>Alien</b> films, than the <b>Predators</b>. It's a dark, creepy and unrelenting nightmare from start to finish. There's plenty of moments in dark steamy corridors where Aliens will crawl over the ceiling or drop down and all you can see (<i>in your mind</i>) are their rows of teeth. Thankfully the reader is able to imagine the true horror of these creatures thanks to the writers vivid descriptions of their worst attributes.

There's still plenty of moments of Alien Vs Predator action though, not least in the books spectacular finale. The combination of the Aliens raw aggression, and the almost dance like nature of a trained Predators fighting work really well. It's the best idea for a team up ever, the true Clash Of The Titans and those looking for that will be very pleased. The audience <b>Alien Vs Predator</b> is aiming at don't need the attention span required for someone like Tom Clancy because it's the kind of book you could pick up for a journey. At 250 pages it wont require a life time commitment to read through, and with each chapter being around 10-20 pages each it can be approached in short bursts. If you're looking for something to read on a plane, or something that's just plain exciting then <b>Aliens Vs Predator: Prey</b> is the best I've read. Just please don't mistake it for deep litterateur because then you'll end up hating it.

I was tempted to knock a star off for the opening, but since it never bothered me before I wont. The impatience I felt is more to do with the quality of the rest of the book than it is to do with anything really dull in the opening. So I will give it 5 stars, with a warning that the beginning may suffer on later reads. The rest can be read over and over again though.
*****

[radstar]

i wanna see the real stuff! the new hip fresh alien and predator!! :big grin:

old stuff is old... :angel" however the review sounds both good and bad... i'll just see one alien vs predator each lifetime

EDIT: hey! who here would go see a Arnold vs Ripley movie? :big grin:

[Gaumont]

This (and a few more after) book(s) is actually based on the comics made by Dark Horse. Of which the first one is by far the best one, its simply called Alien vs Predator <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1569711259/qid=1061495507/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/103-2071266-7555041?v=glance&s=books">(buy on Amazon)</a>. This (a book based on other material) makes it forced to follow it quite direct and it not too seldom the book suffers because of it. I havent read the book though (but now I feel like doing so) so I dont really have any good insight about this particular comic to book translation.
Great story, too bad they dident adapt this one into the story in the movie.

[Jake]

I've read those comics and Gaumont is right, as for the books - books inspired by movie almost always suck - as for the movie - I'm fine with it if they get a good director