Read All About It: Alien Tango

Alien Tango is the second book of Gini Koch's series about Katherine "Kitty" Katt, and it's marginally better than the first one. I laughed a lot, but there's still room for improvement.

I definitely enjoyed this novel better than the first of the series, and it addressed a few of the concerns I had about the series as well. It's a rolling ride of constant action, snark, and romantic tension, with enough new alien and anti-alien conflict to make it realistic. Surprisingly, this conflict resonates with today's political climate, but maintains the almost comedic effect of any other drama-filled science fiction novel.

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Now settled into her new job as head of Airborne within the Alpha Centaurite division. Meanwhile, she's dealing with relationship problems, an experimental spacecraft that returned to Earth with something extra on board, someone who wants to kill her, someone who wants to kill every A-C, and some big alligators. She also has to make time to go to her high school reunion, and so we get introduced to one of her best friends, Chuckie, and another rival for Kitty's affections.

It's a ride from start to finish, with lots of guns, two alligators, an emotional net, and a hateful politician. Kitty has to keep herself safe, because not everyone is on her side, and even someone with instincts as good as hers can't catch everything.

This book improves upon the foundations of the first, and helps set up the universe for future novels (and conflict). It's a classic science fiction novel, and the hot sex and romantic tension don't hurt one bit. I enjoyed the plot of this one, and the characters were a bit more developed and settled into the series. With Kitty building up her skills and becoming a real force in the A-C world, it's easy to see why this series took off so well.

I especially enjoyed this novel because it is a great example of alien world building. Koch dedicates a good chunk of her words to discussing the culture that the A-C's have and why it has survived through their time on Earth, while also explaining that acceptance and assimilation are good qualities that aliens need to survive on Earth. We get deeper looks at the relationship side of the culture (and their dedication to racial purity), and we get Koch turning it on its head to encourage deeper thought about prejudice, and how younger generations are combating it. I love thinking about how different cultures react to things, and being an alien culture adds a whole new layer to the struggle.

We also get a healthier relationship from Jeff and Kitty. While they have some rough patches, Koch acknowledges Jeff's creepy and abusive tendencies, and hopefully that is a patch that applies to the rest of the series. Jeff's reactions to Kitty even touching another guy is slightly problematic, so here's hoping he gets better about it.

So, this book was better than the last one. Fingers crossed for the rest of the series!