Read All About It: Alien Proliferation

Alien Proliferation is the fourth novel in Gini Koch's series about Kitty, and the action is really starting to pick up. Centered on conflict on an international level that involves all of her lovable characters, Koch picks up right where she left off with this fun series. It has started to grow on me, because I am really attached to all the characters in this series--especially how she writes about their relationships.

This series is getting better and better with each sequel. It has grown a lot since Touched by an Alien, and I am relieved. These characters are well-written and rambunctious, and I want to see where they go next.

This novel picks up a few months after Alien in the Family leaves us. Kitty is about to give birth, there's a new plot going on with about ten different bad guys, and to make things worse, Kitty and Jeff don't have most of the things they need for the baby. With outsiders questioning the stability of the Centaurians, Kitty giving birth to an extremely powerful baby girl, and Christopher getting up to some questionable things, no one is exactly sure what's going on, and there's always more danger to look out for.

Kitty and the rest of the Alpha team are regularly in danger, which isn't a surprise. But Kitty has a lot more to worry about now, and her team needs to pick up some slack while dealing with their most dangerous case to date. Kitty herself can't keep away from the action--and in fact finds herself developing skills and talents that she could have only dreamed of, all because of her precious bundle of joy. You'd think everyone would be happy about this--but everything is connected, and no one is completely safe from the sinister plots working against Kitty and her family.

Most of my issues with the jealousy and creepy behavior in earlier novels are resolved in Alien Proliferation because they simply don't have as much page time as they have in previous novels. Koch was busy moving the plot along, and it helped both the flow of the action and my reactions to her characters. I identified more with her male characters in this novel because I wasn't having to judge their behavior as harshly as I was before.

Longer than her other books, this book just kept going on and on. I felt that it could have ended earlier--there were several points where the action calmed down and we almost got a conclusion, before Kitty or Reader or Jeff realized something felt "off" and just like that they were off again. It might not make sense when I read the next novel, but Koch could have wrapped up this novel sooner. Instead, I felt like Koch was just struggling to meet a page count and adding in action scene after action scene to draw it out and pull together loose plot threads that could have been addressed earlier.

It was still a good novel. Great character development, new and interesting plot twists, and a super strong Kitty equal a good foundation for future novels as well.

All I can really say is that people should trust Kitty's insticts more. Until next time, keep an eye on the Poofs!