Prometheus - the peril of the prequel and the sins of a series...

 Forget the Hunger Games, let’s talk Prometheus. I’m so excited about this film I don’t know how I sleep at night. First, you’ve got Noomi Rapace doing SCI-FI. She was brilliant in Girl in with Dragon Tattoo. Kicked butt in every scene. (As nice as it is to see Daniel Craig they did not need to remake that film.) Then, just when you think they’ve got Ripley’s lead-up-but-totally-different-kind-of-character cast to perfection, they throw Michael Fassbender into the mix as an android. If any man ever got the f***yeah from me, it’s him. He rocks.

So this movie’s now like Christmas and your birthday all rolled into one! Twice the cake! Twice the presents! (I know... Inevitably someone will try to welch and only give you one gift. Never mind them. They get no cake.) And then, just when you think it can’t possibly get any better, there’s Aliens! The scariest damn Aliens to ever hatch onto the screen and try to affix themselves to your face! Awesome!

 I’m willing to acknowledge that there have been some bad prequels. A series is a sticky thing, no matter which way in time it’s moving. Some work, some don’t. Some work up to a point but then they start to suck. Take Aliens 3 where they killed off Newt and Hicks in the first five minutes. The less said the better.

The same principle, of course, works for book series. Things can ebb and flow. I just finished the latest instalment of J.R.Ward’s Black Dagger series, Lover Reborn, last night. Let me be up front here, the idea of replacing Wellsie was repugnant to me. As a wise woman once told me, romance readers tend to be like ducks. We imprint on the first hero and heroine to come along. Wellsie was Tohrment’s heroine. She was there first and never should they have been parted. But they were...

 The romance between Tohrment and No’One was nice. The way the story was handled in relation to him and her checking in their various items of emotional baggage was good. If you love the Black Dagger Brotherhood then it’s a foregone conclusion that you got your fix like I got mine. But it was no Zsadist and Bella – of course, see above, I’m prejudiced (quack quack quack). I’ll be buying the next book because I’m invested in this world. I love it. It’s warm and familiar and snugly to me. There’s guns and interesting slang and expensive tequila. They live in a mansion and wear lots of leather. It’s a lot of fun.

But I’m hoping a return to the familiar chill of the Aliens’ universe is going to be more of an awe-inspiring occurrence. Do you remember the first time you ever watched Aliens? The cold of space followed by that silent, spooky colony? Where were all the people? What the hell was going on? And those monsters just waiting to pounce. Shivery stuff. Here’s hoping people.