Since 1986, Dark Horse Comics has been adding to the stories of several well known TV and movie franchises, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Aliens, and Predator. Each of those franchises have had novels to add to the stories. Dark Horse adds to the Predator saga with its second novel in the Predator line, Predator: Flesh and Blood by Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, and Stephen Youll.

Predator: Flesh and Blood is set in Earth’s future where humanity has all but destroyed it. This allows immoral moneymakers to manipulate certain situations to their advantages. One family in particular, the Ciejek clan, exploited the Earth’s hardships to make their wealth. Lord Action once said, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

After the death of Karl Ciejek, cousins Andar and Derek are the two family members between whom it will be decided the business will be passed. We have two characters as opposite as day and night. Andar left his family as soon as an opportunity arose because he found out what the Ciejek clan did to people and the worlds they owned. He couldn’t handle what they stood for. Derek revels in the power.

Andar is happy with his new life. It’s been years since he’s had anything to do with the Ciejek clan, but he receives word of his father’s death. The death necessitates him leaving the life he has made for himself, and the women he loves, to go to a world owned by his family for the reading of the will and once again deal with his family.

On the flip side, there is the Predator story, which runs parallel to the Ciejek family struggle, where we have the group of hunters that are comprised of two clans unwilling to join together and resolve their own traditions. The Predators have arrived on the planet to make trophies of the humans, and the viciousness of the soldiers is beyond anything the Ciejek family could depict.

Predator: Flesh and Blood primarily revolves around blood feuds and power struggles, be it family or clan. Even though we have humans and predators, their ruthlessness knows no bounds or species. 

Characterization helps progress this novel, the authors take the first few chapters to develop the characters and tell their back-story. Predator: Flesh and Blood takes its time to set up what is to come, so a good mixture of back-story, plot, and tension results in a novel that is worth adding to the Predator legacy and worth your time reading. 

My only nitpick, and its slight, is the page count. At 240 pages it’s a short book and quick read, but these days I want to get my money’s worth. Since I have less and less disposable income, I have to decide where my precious entertainment dollars go. That said, I’m glad I got Predator: Flesh and Blood. Hopefully, future Predator novels will be this entertaining.