Read All About It: Alien in the Family

Welcome back to a wonderful universe full of romance, new aliens, and the most complicated wedding ceremonies ever performed! The third novel in Gini Koch's series, Alien in the Family is a good time for people who love thinking about what kinds of aliens might exist out there, spread over too many stars to count. It's also a good look at how to build creative new species, plan a wedding in record time, and keep family members from killing each other (well, maybe not so much on that last part).

Koch's series continues to improve! This time, we see less of manly men trying to out-man other men, and more serious conflict between aliens and Earth. With Katherine "Kitty" Katt's stunning A-C's by her side and a healthy dose of everyone's favorite family and inter-planetary conflicts and alliances, Kitty is in for the most difficult wedding planning ever.

Image Source: goodreads.com

Really, all Kitty wants to do is marry Jeff Martini, her gorgeous and talented A-C fiance, as soon as possible. However, before she can worry about that, she has to deal with diplomats from a star system away, some of Martini's own relatives, and even paparazzi who are just a little to close to the truth.

While Kitty is trying to deal with several different marriage proposals, a jealous boyfriend, some rogue psuedo-Amazons, and some new pets, she's also trying to prevent inter-planetary war, pass the tests set forth by the A-C's back on the homeworld, and not die in the process. Kitty also has to convince her coworkers and friends that she has some good ideas, albeit some dangerous ones, and that her analogies are always the best.

I enjoyed Koch's third novel more than the first two--she makes real strides towards addressing several problematic behaviors that plagued her characters in the first two books, and took big steps towards smoothing them out so they hopefully won't be a problem in the rest of the series (thankfully, the wedding goes well, and we have a solid couple to preside over the rest of the books). Koch also takes more time to develop her universe. She adds in a wordy guide on what planets are inhabited in both of her systems, and creates new (if not really unique) species of aliens to draw characters from, be they rivals, enemies, or friendly to Kitty's cause.

These novels are setting up a good example for other science fiction novels in that they are dedicating time to creating a system of higher powers. Beings like ACE and Lilith are an extremely creative way to address the question of religion in technologically advanced societies, and Koch makes it clear that in her universe, religion is a major player in the game, and she has the proof to back herself up.

There's a lot going on in this novel, and it's a bit longer than its predecessors. It gets kind of confusing because of how many subplots are running in the background at any given moment, but Kitty is there to help straighten everything out, even when people seem dead-set on ignoring her. And, while the cover doesn't exactly match the book's contents, it's striking, and even gives readers a glimpse at the aliens that Koch has created (including the Poofs, who are now my favorite space-creature of all time).

So, here we are, with higher expectations for the rest of the series, and even higher hopes. I'll just have to keep an eye out for the Poofs (I really, really want one).