Book Review: "Alien Collective" by Gini Koch

This is the ninth book in the "Alien" series by Gini Koch. Basically, the series is an action-packed, fast-paced romp mixed with sci-fi tropes, tongue-in-cheek humor, and some smattering of romance thrown in for kicks. (The earlier books in the series were heavier on the romance elements.)





The premise of this book is that Jeff Martini, Kitty's husband and Representative of New Mexico who also happens to be an alien, is being wooed as the next Vice President. Of course the anti-alien politicians react negatively to this, bringing all of their factions into play. Bio-weapons force the ACs from their main bases in DC, seeking refuge with allies, while attacks begin on their bases in New Mexico. Meanwhile, Kitty gets visited by another all-powerful alien intent on investigating ACE's activities on Earth with the hopes of dragging him off planet permanently on charges of interfering. The ACs need to find out what's going on before Jeff is taken out of the picture permanently . . .

In this book, many of the plot threads that are set up in the previous few books finally come to head, such as the search for the other Yates children with special powers, the loss of the ACs research and data, etc, while moving Jeff Martini farther up the political chain. It's nice to see some of those plot threads finally being "tied off" so to speak, although as we've learned in the past, something the "finished" plotlines aren't really finished after all. There's a lot going on in this series and too many threads make it nearly impossible to follow. (I admit in a few earlier reviews that I simply gave up trying to follow some of them and just read for the action. The more recent books in the series have handled the multiple and various plot threads much better than those earlier books.)

Overall, I enjoyed this book in the series. My biggest complaint is that I could have done without the visiting superpower plot thread. It felt . . . odd. It didn't gel well with the rest of the plotlines, and those plotlines were plenty for a single book all on their own. I didn't see why that thread had to be introduced here, why it couldn't wait for the next book . . . or the book after that. Perhaps there's a reason that I'm not aware of that is introduced in the next book. In any case, the other plots were plenty to keep me occupied and reading here. One of the things I like about this series is that things change in each book, both with the characters and the world itself. Jeff Martini is moving up the political chain, so their circumstances continue to evolve. The world now knows of the existence of the ACs and so is being forced to adjust to a larger universe. All of these things introduce new potential plot threads, rather than having each book be a reiteration of the previous books in the series, just with a different monster (which is what a lot of the urban fantasy series seem to do).

So, another good entry in the series. Perhaps not as good as some of those in the past, but a good book nonetheless.

Book Review: "Half-Off Ragnarok" by Seanan McGuire

In this continuation of the "InCryptid" series by Seanan McGuire, we actually abandon the main character from the first two books (Verity) and focus on her brother, Alexander Price. This certainly takes the series in a new direction.





The premise is that Alexander is "hiding" in plain sight as a reptile specialist at a zoo. What he's really doing is investigating the feathered frog cryptids in the area, while hoping his basilisks decide to breed sometime this century. Meanwhile, he's dealing with a potential relationship with Shelby, a visiting scientist from Australia who plays with lions for fun. But then people start dying . . . by turning to stone. Suddenly, the local cryptid community is at risk of exposure and he needs to figure out how to keep the Covenant from converging on the zoo for a purge, while simultaneously figuring out exactly what's going on with his girlfriend Shelby.

I like the fact that this book takes us from one main character to another in the Price family. Focusing on one character in particular for an extended series can sometimes become . . . monotonous. I think Seanan has done a good job of giving Alexander enough difference from Verity that it doesn't feel like "Verity in drag" here. For a while I thought that the relationship issue in this book would mimic the relationship issue in Verity's books too closely, but thankfully that didn't happen. This book also had a much more linear plot to follow than the Verity books; it wasn't a "random" in terms of what was happening and why. There was a clear thread to follow through the whole book, and it resolved nicely.

That said, I don't feel like Alexander is as strong of a character as Verity. He isn't as interesting to me, and the situation he's put in in this book isn't as interesting as what Verity ran into either. So while it's a perfectly good story and a fun read, overall I didn't feel as strongly drawn to this book and these characters as I was Verity and the earlier books. I liked some of the plot elements better (what's happening with Sarah, for example) and I certainly liked the clearer plot thread, but the stakes didn't seem as high here.

In any case, as I said, a good, fun story. Definitely worth checking out.