BloodChild

Bloodchild has something that instantly grabs my attention when it comes to sci-fi. It has aliens. Aliens are definitely my favorite part of sci-fi. Ever since I first saw the movie Alien, I've just loved them. I do prefer the more animal, monster type aliens to that of the more humanoid ones. Granted, humanoid aliens can be just as aweseome to me. Mass Effect, one of my favorite games, is a great example of a universe with humanoid aliens with high intellectual capacity- however they are very different in appearance. A giant bipedal lizard with an angry mindset but still has the ability to reason and an intelligence to match that of a human... Now that's what I'm talking about.

Bloodchild is interesting then because it does in a way combine both the monster type alien and the humanoid intelligent type alien into one entity. The insect like aliens of the short novel are definitely alien in appearance. Described as large insects with multiple claws and limbs, you could easily look at these creatures as movie monsters. Yet they are clearly intelligent, even to the point of having dominance over humans. They can be looked at as very human in nature, aside from their appearance of course. They actually remind me of the aliens from the movie District 9. They are very alien in appeance but human in nature and intelligence. Of course, the first thing I thought of when reading BloodChild was the movie Alien. Humans are used as the hosts for the alien newborns in both stories, in very similar ways. The primary difference here is that the aliens from Alien were pure animalistic and monsters in nature, wheras the insect aliens in BloodChild were more relatable to humans when it came to the ability to reason, having personality and emotions, etc etc. I was surprised at the idea reading through this story of a more sympathetic alien species that implants its young into humans. Perhaps its because the movie Alien has already engraved into my head the idea that it is clearly "bad". Or maybe its human nature to imagine that getting implanted by insect aliens would be a bad thing. Personally, whether the aliens are "good" or not, I find that something that would not be good at all. Assuming that was real, I know I sure wouldn't ever want that to happen. But bottom line of the topic is really that I love aliens. They are awesome.