The Books of David Bischoff

A novel based on characters and situations from the awesome AvP graphic novel series. The story here involves a planet, intended as a sport hunter's paradise, where both the Aliens and the Predators are very active. However, as with all of these books, it is human monsters which are the real enemy here. 'Hunter's Planet' stars Machiko Noguchi, a woman who went from ice-cold corporate schill, to desperate survivalist, to fully-fledged Predator in previous stories. Machiko is by far and away this book's best element, being one of the best heroines in action science fiction. What I like about her so much is that, as well as being intelligent and 100% bad-ass, she is also in touch with her femininity. All too often hard case female characters are made deliberately nonsexual so as to prove that they kick ass purely on their own merits. However, I think it is greatly to the credit of Ms Noguchi's character that she openly and honestly embraces her sexuality, whilst still being hard as nails. Here we get to see her walking the fine line between her desire to rejoin the Predators and their Hunt and the need to connect with others of her own kind. I particularly enjouyed the relationship between Machiko and her android, the badly named Attila the Hun, which affords her a companion who is very human and yet not human, perfectly complimenting her own personality. This book's main downside is that the conclusion comes a bit too quickly and neatly for my tastes, but aside from that it's a solid and enjoyable read.