I had high expectations for this, after really enjoying Lullaby. After a little over 20 minutes, though, I had to admit defeat and DNF it. The story wasn't terrible, but it could not catch my interest. Too much testosterone, maybe. I always enjoy Ray Porter's narration, but even he couldn't elevate the material enough to keep me engaged.
Audiobook, borrowed from my public Library via Overdrive.
I came across this last night while browsing the graphic novel section at my local B&N, and I decided to give it a try. It's about a virus that transforms 1% of the human population into vampires of all types, and the resulting clash with the remaining 99% of the human population.
To be honest it wasn't terrible, and I powered through it in about an hour. But my discontent with it came to the surface when I read the promotional blurbs from Maberry's fellow authors:
After reading those, I wondered if they were talking about the same book. A "fresh take"? All Maberry did was take some elements that have been in circulation for the past few years (a little from Daybreakers, a chunk from The Passage, some elements from Kim Newman's Anno Dracula, etc.) and mix them together in different proportions. It took all of the "high-thinking" of a Hollywood executive who thinks "fresh" is defined doing the same thing in only a cosmetically different way.
Perhaps I wouldn't have reacted as negatively as I did if it wasn't for the recycling of so many tropes and stereotypes. Bleeding-heart liberal who tries to hold onto his humanity in inhumane times? Check. Close-knit squad of soldiers who shoot first and ask questions later? Check. Deep state conspiracy pursuing a different agenda? Check. And so on. As I said it's not terrible, but it certainly doesn't justify the hype it's received.
Perhaps I'm being too critical, but it's frustrating to see how so much horror out is celebrated for its originality when all it's doing is following the dominant paradigm. A couple of decades ago, the idea of a world in which vampires were omnipresent would have been innovative. Now I read something like this and it just has a "been there-done that" feel to it. It's an insult to truly imaginative work to peddle something like this as it, no matter how many authors you can find to provide positive jacket quotes.
This is an excellent collection of stories based on the Colonial Marines as seen in the movie, Aliens. In each tale we were are introduced to new characters and different units of the marines. We're taken to different planets and moons and met with xenomorphs other than the ones we're familiar with. It's funny and terrifyingly realistic that no matter how dangerous humans know something to be, there is always some corporate "genius" willing to take the risk of killing everyone if it'll make them a profit. And no matter how many scientist and marines die, or how many ships and facilities are destroyed, the corporations will keep trying to find a way to profit off the xenomorphs.
I loved that we basically witness the "birth" of Bishop, as he was discernibly different from his "brothers", though they were built to be identical. In one story we learned how he came to be with Apone and his mischievous band of jarheads. The main reason I bought this audibook was because of the promise of adventures with Hicks, Hudson and crew. I wish there had been more, but I did enjoy what there was.
The theory of the mutations of the offspring of the face-huggers varying based on the host was fascinating. Getting different and sometimes more terrifying versions of xenomorphs was jarring. But the most interesting was seeing the story from the xenomorphs' point of view. It just reminded you that they were only doing what they were built to do, they were just trying to survive just like any species. I ended up feeling bad for them, which I guess was the point.
The stories were all well written and interesting. "Interesting" is such an inadequate word. *sigh* They were...engrossing. My only wish was that there had been more adventures with Hick and co. The voice actors did an excellent job bringing the characters and the worlds to life.
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