Yes, unfortunately its title sounded kick a$$. I hate this book. I didn't even give it the honor of letting it being finished. I got up half way through the book in the part where one of those guys gets killed, somehow. Didn't care to look back.
FORTUNATELY I borrowed it from my friend, which he thinks Yautja isn't the proper name for them. My mother freakin' a$$ it isn't. I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it-- "We're sorry, but we're the from the future and we're going to tell you that Bloo says that constantly until hie's thirty, so we're saving you the trouble".
If this was just a joke, and there really isn't one, I'de be d@mmned if I read something with the exact same name, because I did.
EDIT:
My gahd, I hate this guy.
Quote to sara (The Hunted boards)
Holy . John Shirley, what in good god's name did you do?
He seriously went in his own direction. After reading ahead a bit in the book to the last chapter, I can say that Shirley was only given the chance to look at the first two movies, then go on his own accord.
So, what did he change? A lot, a great deal.
* They are not "Yautja", they call themselves "Hish".
* They are gender-switching hermaphrodites. They switch to being female like going in heat (certain breeds of fish and frogs do this in real life). I guess this is Shirley's attempt at trying to come up with a theory on why we only see "male" Yautja in the movies. I guess it didn't occur to him that there might be single-gender clans.
* They keep humans as slaves. They use mind control to bend them open to their will. They use humans like we use hunting dogs: to chase and corner prey.
* They also use us humans as playtoys for their "spawnlings", they no longer are called "pups". Their spawnlings have been known to tear men and other playtoy creatures apart and feed from them. That was the decided fate for one male human slave.
* There is another species that control Yau --er, Hish technology, and are slaves as well. Some reptilian race known as the Karna, from what I can recollect from reading.
* There is no honor in hunting, there is only joy and triumph. Shirley has changed the almost ritualistic/religious Predator idealations of hunting, and turning them into pompous "Sunday party" hunting *s'yuit-de*s. You know, like waaay back when India was still a British colony, and Brits would come and shoot tigers for novelty and the pleasure; not for honor. The main Hish character even talks about how he will slice and eat a human alive out of sheer revenge; the slave that escaped.
* The "dreadlocks" are not hair, but in fact flesh. Not that this is a major point, as some ftill think those appendages are flesh and not actually dreaded hair.
* Predators have what is called a "Kill-Gland" in their neck, similar to our horomone glands in our necks. It has potent horomones in it, like ravage testosterone. When the chemicals are seeped into Predator skin, or when the smell is released, they turn rigid in "total rage" and then a few seconds later they cannot do anything but "kill kill kill" no matter what it is they are killing. The slave used this knowledge against a group of Predators, allowing him to escape and have his captors kill each other in full blown rage like savage animals.
* We are not soft-meats or "oomans" to them. We are "tall monkeys", to which it is implied by a note from the author that all Predator speech is in English but it should be inferred that they are in fact speaking their own language. Kinda like when lets say, an American film set in medieval Japan comes out, but everyone including the Japanese speak English. It is to be inferred that they are in fact speaking Japanese, but only for clarity so the entire movie isn't subtitles. Also note that the tall monkey word is suppose to be heavily derogatory. Like a KKK supremest calling an African American a N*gger.
* They also sometimes call our planet "Urth", and when talking about things from there, including us, they say "Urth things" or "Urth vessels" or "Urth creatures".
UnquoteI hate him! I hate him! I hate him I hate him I-- "We're sorry. He's being stupid and immature."
Sorry about that, it's just, how in the HELL can you make a novel without the right stuff? Seriously! I'm with you on this! John Shirley is somewhat the book-writing version of that guy who did Alien: Invasion. FDSF to him. And this time it doesn't mean Have a nice freakin' day.
"To me, everyone is crazy. The ones in the Mental House just got caught."