Customer Reviews

Berserker (Aliens)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, to me, is one of the best books I have ever read. The plot is simple, destroy the bugs! And there is also emotion showed for the characters and then end of the book makes you think. I had never seen an alien movie, before I read this book, but I had played an alien game on my computer. After I got done reading this book, I went out and rented some alien movies. The way S.D. Perry describes the feelings, the noises, the aliens themselves and how they look was just amazing. I did things backwards...I played the game, read the book, THEN watched the movie. This book has action, some love issues, it had some sad parts and some really scary parts. I suggest that anyone who is reading this buy this book if your into the alien movies and such. I am only 14, 13 when I read this book, and it blew me away. I am going to buy more alien books by S.D Perry very soon. I couldn't get enough of this book. I would stay up till 3 AM just sitting in bed reading this book. All day in school I would read it when I got a chance. I give it a perfect score!

Berserker is actually one of the better and more captivating books in the Aliens series. While the concept isn't exactly original -- Aliens: Tribes was also about a berserker team -- this book was certainly a lot better written than tribes. The characters were well developed, and most of them were understandable people the reader is able to sympathize with. You could easily feel sorry for Teape when he's doing his job, or understand how Ellis feels around other members of the crew.

In addition, unlike most of the books preceding this one, there is actually quite a bit of action. We get a lot of bug hunting, and, more importantly, cool bug killing.

Others have complained about the lack of something so basic as a plot, but there is a rudimentary plot, and that's all that's needed. The team is sent to wipe out a bug infestation and uncovers a Company coverup. Let's face it, in this series, you don't need a great, subtle plot, you just need an excuse to kill some XTs.

The MAX (Mobile Assault ExoWarrior or somesuch) was really cool, although I seem to recall that in Tribes it was colled a MOX (offensive instead of assault). Oh well. Overall this was a fun, fast-paced, very readable bit of fiction. The only real downside is the cover. That must be one of the worst cover illustrations I've ever seen. UGGHH!

This book was better than most of the other novelizations in this series. I loved the movies and try to collect as much aliens stuff as I can. The way that the author(S.D Perry) describes the characters thoughts and feelings as they lead the MAX(large robot dedicated to destroying bugs)into battle is astounding. While the story is simple, the character development is outstanding. I just wish she would write more Aliens novelizations instead of Resident Evil ones.

Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. I have read all nine of the Alien side story books. How about volunteering to wear a Facehugger. That was an intense story. It pains me that Alien Resurrection did not draw more from these types of story lines. I would love it if there where more. If there are any more of these books, some one please let me know where.

Berserker was a excellent book! It had a awesome story line, S.D Perry did a very good job writing this book. She keeps me into the book. I couldn't put the book down. I love how the Aliens bring in a memeber of the Berserker Team into the hive and send in the MAX. Like I said, this was a great book. A must buy book. Trust me this is worth buying.....

Awesome concept desperate prisonors fighting Aliens to get a shortened prison sentence. But the end just finishes off like nothing, Ms. Perry tries to fit in a small bit of company conspiracy. But it's not enough for you to enjoy, and with only 7 major characters there is not much you can do with that.

Aliens: Berserker was a well-paced story that lacked the story. It was witty, and action-packed, but it left you wondering what the whole thing was about. The author focused too much on the characters and less on the plot. S.D. Perry is an excellent novelist, and has a born instinct on building characters, yet this novel keeps you asking questions beyond the end. I am impressed by the writing, and highly recommend her other works. As for this book, ask her what it's about.

Aliens Novels: Book 9, Berserker / 0-553-57731-X

At some point during "Berserker", I realized that I've now read nine aliens novels as well as the four film novelizations, and I've still yet to read an account involving an isolated colony or ship having to suddenly deal with an unexpected infestation in their midst (indeed, this was really my only complaint with Aliens, that we weren't treated to knowing what, exactly, had happened to the colony during those missing days).

This seemingly small point is, in my opinion, an insight into the deep flaws in the aliens novel series as a whole. Nearly every single novel so far has followed one of two plot lines: (1) a mad scientist is experimenting on aliens when things go inevitably sour and all the janitors and lower-level scientists have to clear out in a hurry, or (2) a group of fighters heads into an alien nest or infestation to exterminate them or retrieve a MacGuffin. While these are by no means bad plot lines, what this means from a practical reader's perspective is that when the blood inevitably starts flying, it's hard to feel too sorry for the blokes getting slaughtered because, really, they should have known better than to muck around with aliens. In other words, we have no true victims, undeserving of their fate.

The other problem with these limited two plot lines, of course, is that the authors have to increasingly stretch for new reasons as to why anyone would keep going into these nests to be slaughtered after it has been proven, time and again, how deadly this species is (and this problem also feeds into the "had it coming" issue because, really, any other species would have learned its lesson by now).

Perry has attempted to handle this problem by constructing a reality in which the occasional alien infestation is just a matter of life and the W/Y company has put together crack pest control teams that can be dispatched to clean out infestations as they pop up. So it's sort of like working for Orkin, except the on-the-job fatality is pretty darned high. You'd have to be pretty stupid or pretty desperate to take a job like this, so the crack teams are composed of convicts and felons who are motivated by a one-to-one ratio of nests cleaned to years left to serve.

This doesn't really solve the problem, though. Ignoring the fact that an outraged public probably wouldn't be too happy with Charles Manson exchanging 40 years for 40 alien raids, and skimming over the fact that this isn't exactly social rehabilitation, we are still left with the issue of why the team doesn't just quit when a routine situation rapidly turns suicidal for shady Company reasons. And even assuming they can't quit (which Perry stresses that they can), they're convicts on a freighter with a crew of six and no guards or guns. So the characters come off as particularly thick when they know that they're headed into a highly unusual suicide mission and they have no motivation to continue, and yet they continue anyway.

Having said all that, this isn't a bad aliens book. The plot premise is thin, but less thin than many of its predecessors. The middle of the book is, in fact, quite solid - it's just the beginning and ending that bother me. Perry seems to have trouble characterizing the people in her stories and spends the first few chapters rushing over uninteresting character details. She seems aware of this, but her solution is to just hurry through and get it over with as fast as possible. Once everyone is properly fleshed out into two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs, the story settles down and things go relatively smoothly. The Beserker team is an interesting idea, particularly the part with the "bait", but the whole man-in-the-suit premise doesn't work well in a world with synthetics and seems like a gimmick to just make the Company as evil as possible for no real reason. This is the major problem, in fact, with the ending - resolution is tossed away in favor of an anti-industrial subtext that just comes off cheaply.

All in all, if you're planning to read all the aliens novels, this is by no means one of the worst. It's an interesting read and a good take on the aliens universe, even if I continue to be disappointed in my search for a plot line where the aliens come to the humans, instead of the ham-handed vice versa. But if you're getting tired of the series, or planning to start new with this installation, your socks probably won't be blown off.

~ Ana Mardoll

this book has more action sceans than in any other book ive read.
i do not give this book a 5 star... i give it a 9 star more guts more glory.

The begining and middle of the book was good, but I found that the ending was disappointing. I also didnt like the fact that it only had about six characters in it. It had a good amount of action and horror, but wasnt as good as I had hoped, guess it was that ending.