Aliens: Cauldron Book

BUH.

I thought DNA Wars was terrible. I didn't know what was in store for me with Cauldron.

If I'm going to give Carey any credit here, it will be for not following the usual tropes of an Aliens book (mad scientist, capture-as-weapon, rescue mission), but even then, she only succeeds because what she really wanted to write was a book about old ships, and she crammed all of it in to a book set in outer space.

The same issues I saw with DNA Wars -- inconsistent characters, hokey dialogue, a narrative that's off, more telling than showing -- are present here, but it's made worse by Carey phonetically writing out the accent of an Australian character. She also includes a couple of Irish teenagers straight off the farm, who talk like they're in their seventies, but for whatever reason, she doesn't phonetically write out their Irish brogue. It's mystifying, but no more mystifying than realizing that part of the cargo on this ship is a CORAL REEF IN A CLEAR SHIPPING CONTAINER, COMPLETE WITH MARINE LIFE, TO BE SENT TO THE BACK END OF THE UNIVERSE FOR SOMEONE WITH SO MUCH MONEY THAT THIS WOULD EVER POSSIBLY MAKE SENSE FOR SPACE TRAVEL. It's mystifying, but no more so than also having sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths on this same ship.

For the love of gods, don't read this book. Spare yourself.