Aliens Versus Predator: War
Ok. It's a double sequel. It's the third book for Machiko Naguchi, the female human from the other Aliens Versus Predator books, who hooked up with the Predators to kick some Alien ass. It's the second book for those zany kids from Aliens: Berzerker, Shelby, Jess, and the MAX-possessed Ellis.
It's basically two different stories that hook up for the same ending. Each story is pretty decent on its own, but when the two meet at the end, you can feel how badly the author (S.D. Perry) wanted them to merge. Doesn't happen very well. Imagine mixing milk and shards of ice in a freezer.
In this book, Machiko's understanding of the Predator culture is turned against her. After reading the other AvP books, I felt much like Machiko does in this book: betrayed. She (along with myself) believed the Predators to be a race that was all about hunting, but honorably. When we find out otherwise (and oh boy, do we find out), it's a great shocker. They do some naughty sh*t in this one.
As for the Bezerker crew, they've got problems or their own. They're running out of oxygen. The company has found them, but wants the log they destroyed in Berzerker. The crew have to negotiate their way out of an assured death, by acting like they've still got it. Ellis is becoming a little more obsessed with MAX every hour.
How the stories tie in is a real beauty, but it's just about too late to save the book by that point. There's really only one other surprise, but it's not handled very well at all.
My two cents? This book woulda been better if they'd made about 80% of it more interesting.
With two of the three best stories coming together like this, you'd think it woulda been great. It's not though. I'm just disappointed.
5.5 out of 10.
