Aliens: Bug Hunt

Aliens: Bug Hunt by Jonathan Maberry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***
This is a form of fan fiction. Not being familiar with the original, I can't determine how close these authors have stayed to the format but the stories were quite consistent from one to another.

In may respects this is classic, 1950s Sci Fi. The aliens are insects, rapacious and violent. There can be no communication between them and humans, only war. Among these stories the humans frequently come off second best. Although rather formulaic, I thought they were reasonably well written. Don't look for deep plots or character arcs. These are pure adventure. The marines are called in to do a job. Seldom are they told of the dangers facing them and frequently they die, battling to the last soldier. The aliens aren't presented as villains - more like forces of nature although sometimes they can be stopped. The real villain is a corporation - faceless, greedy, and willing to sacrifice lives for profits. We never meet any of the staff but encounter the consequences of their machinations.

Some have criticized these stories for being cliches. This is valid to a point but in order to recreate the sub-genre, much of that is necessary. I can't say this is the best sci-fi I've read and a couple of the stories fell flat. In fact two were more in the form of fictional essays than stories but over all I consider the book worth reading. I would not, however, go out of my way to locate it.




View all my reviews