Code of Conduct

Jani Kilian Chronicles #1

by Kristine Smith

Captain Jani Kilian’s life should have ended in front of a firing squad. Instead, she evaded battlefield justice by dying in a transport crash. End of story, according to official Commonwealth Service records.

But doctors repaired her in secret, using the most advanced Service Medical technologies available, or so they assured her. In the last days of the idomeni civil war, she escaped their homeworld of Shèrá, and spent the next 18 years on the run.

But someone like Jani leaves a trail no matter how hard they try to hide it, and she soon learns the Service hunt for her never ended. When Interior Minister Evan van Reuter, her former lover, tracks her down and begs her help in finding his wife’s killer, she has no choice but to agree.

The search takes her to the Commonwealth capital of Chicago, a hotbed of political intrigue as dangerous as any warzone. As the danger mounts, so do Jani’s struggles. Her rebuilt body is breaking down, and memories long suppressed are flooding back. Of one horrible night 18 years ago, and the gut-wrenching decision that changed her life forever.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Military Fiction, Aliens, Mystery, Science Fiction Fantasy

346 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Kristine Smith is the author of the Jani Kilian series and other science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories under her own name. Her fiction has been nominated for the Locus Award for First Novel, Philip K. Dick Memorial Award and the IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, and she was the 2001 winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she spent 26 years working in pharmaceutical product R&D. She was born in the Northeast, grew up in the South, and currently lives in the Midwest.

Kristine Smith has also written the supernatural thrillers GIDEON and JERICHO under the name Alex Gordon.


Photo by Joel Danto/Danto Photography

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

One of my favorite narrative tropes in adventure stories is the protagonist living under an alias. Another trope I enjoy is interesting aliens, and a third is chases, and also characters you're not sure are villains or friends.

This tightly written, vivid SF novel has it all.

Jani Killian is a "document examiner"--an interesting profession that seems a natural given the high tech of this future. There is quite a bit of flashback action as she tries to recover her extremely traumatic past, as she figures out why she's being hunted.

This first novel has little romance (hints about that are salted in) as the story is set up. Past meeting present accelerates like a runaway train, leading to a tense, gripping climax. Enough resolution for a breather, setting up for the next book.

This is one of my favorite SF novels, that has a bit of space opera feel. I am so glad to see it offered as an ebook, newly proofed and with a beautiful cover.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 11/17/2019 - The wonderful thing about having my (lack of) memory is that I can sometimes reread a good book and only remember details as they re-occur. This happened here and I got to enjoy the book all over again a second time. My own review caught my eye recently and since I'd never moved onto the second book, I brought both books with me for my travel this week. I can't wait to move on to the next!
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This was just a whole lot of fun. I'm so glad Sherwood Smith reviewed it so favorably. There was so much unexpected delight in the story. It's an odd sci fi story, but I found it completely engaging with an awesome main character, fantastic setting, and a well-paced plot.

I really appreciated some of the originality shown here. The galaxy consists, so far, of a single alien race (in addition to humanity, of course) and a lot of the story revolves around the interactions between the races. Interestingly, there isn't a lot of conflict between them. I get the impression that competition for resources isn't that pronounced with plenty of settlement area open to both, even though they share compatible environmental niches. So the conflict between them is mostly cultural with a side of scientific competition. The aliens are better at biological manipulation, for example, which is central to the story. The originality comes in the aliens' preoccupation with their philosophy/religion and how that penetrates their society—and that of the humans by association. Since our main character is a graduate of their top training, this aspect penetrates the story in dramatic and revealing ways that I found utterly fascinating.

My main draw, though, was Killian herself. I have a soft-spot for the realistically hyper-competent and she's one of those with a believable (and consistent) mixture of coping with weaknesses and maximizing strengths. She has some serious drawbacks she is managing due to an injury acquired during the incident that drove her into hiding, but she also does a great job maximizing opportunities that come her way with a mixture of sense, observation, and confidence. I particularly enjoyed that she mostly used her brains to navigate some really tricky social/political waters and only let things devolve to physical/combat solutions when there really was no other way (but without hesitation when the situation truly got that far).

The supporting cast was fun, as well, with a great mixture of characters with their own motivations and relationships that felt organic and, well, right. The story is an investigation into events in the past and Smith does a great job keeping the pace going even through the research and information gathering phases. It helps, of course, that the stakes are life and death (both literal and political) so people are at their most extreme (and therefore interesting). But it also helps having Killian as the ultimate disruptive outsider catalyzing events, sometimes deliberately, sometimes opportunistically, but always serving as a spur to action. Thus you have cover-ups and murders and feints and threats and all that fun stuff for Killian to bounce off of.

And I can't say how much I appreciated the ending. There's a solid conclusion to the story that drove the plot, with all the relevant threads wrapped tightly, but Smith also managed a new status quo for Killian that makes me excited to see what comes next, as well. That ending is what bumped this from a solid four edging up to the solid five stars I ended with.

So yeah, I was completely engrossed and only supreme self-control kept this to two late nights (as opposed to a single devastating all-nighter). It was a disturbingly close call and only preparation for some important business meetings gave me the willpower to put it down in the middle. I'll definitely be looking for the next in the series and hope it continues as great as this start.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith's first novel definitely feels like a first novel and as a whole, I am rather mixed; it had some great aspects such as the aliens but it was also way to complicated and 'busy', making it a confusing slog at times. Our main protagonist, Jani Killan, starts this novel on a distant planet where she is working a job under an alias. So, we know from the get go she has something to hide, and also, that she was associated with the military from her 'shooter'. Smith does not mess around with big info dumps, giving you just enough to barely understand what is going on. Essentially, her old lover and 'boss' arrive on planet to take her back to Earth for a 'special assignment' and the rest of the novel basically chronicles a few days Earthside in Chicago (the capital).

The aliens, the 'idomeni' are humanoid, but their culture is very different (of course). This had shades of Cherryh in that the alien society was very well developed and yes, very alien. The idomeni for example always eat in private, even from one another, as part of their spiritual heritage. Idomeni society is arranged in some sort of clan structure and the 'leaders' of their society are from the dominant clan at the time. One thing the idomeni cherish above all is order, and humans are very disorderly! 'Rogue' idomeni reside on some human planets, but human-idomeni relations had been discontinued for almost two decades. In the prologue, Jani watches on holovision the new ambassador to humanish society, which happens to be one of her idomeni instructors from long ago. So, we know right off the bat that Jani is something special, having been a student at one of the idomeni schools (where few humans had ever studied) and that she was part of a disastrous civil war among the idomeni, largely about the favorability of human-idomeni relations...

The alien part gets dropped in via orts and scraps; the main focus of the novel concerns Jani's 'special assignment'. Her old boss, Evan, is from one of the 'families' that must constitute some sort of oligarchy in human society and currently is the PM of 'interior'. His wife died (suicide or murder) a few years ago and her task to find clarity on the issue. Nonetheless, when she starts digging, she turns over some rocks that have some ugly secrets from the civil war that Evan really wants to stay buried.

This would have been quite enough, but Smith beguiles us with even more. Jani was badly hurt in the civil war and 'reconstructed' via some 'experimental' techniques. She is also 'augmented' (a bit unclear here); in fact, she is something of a cyborg, though she can pass for human with enough prep. We also have rumors of some strange 'colonial disease' affecting humans. Finally, we have many complex social relations among the families and their minions, all of which Jani finds herself in the thick of. Toss in the aliens and we have a very busy story!

Smith just tried to do too much here; the frenetic pacing only added to the sense of being overwhelmed at times just trying to sort out what the hell is going on. The attention to detail is great, but that also became overwhelming at times. I liked this, but jeez, it could have been so much better with a better editor! The thriller aspect compromised the main plot, but the aliens were the most interesting part; I wish she would have focused on them! 2.5 confusing starts, rounding up for the idomeni!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽]

Hey, look at that! A book already on my TBR list is a Kindle freebie!

A couple of my GR friends have really liked this SF thriller.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a lot confused reading this book. I had the short-story prequel and really liked it. This is 15-ish years later. I'm not exactly sure what/who the female protagonist is - ex-soldier, document reviewer, alien, cyborg. The main bad guy (there are many) for this story wasn't really a surprise. Even though I'm confused, I still enjoyed the book. So I'm reading the rest of the series.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - fulfilling the steriotype of the albino mad scientist, complete with "ungodly" pink eyes (did the author not even read a wiki on the condition).

I am sick of media that only shows albinism as an indicator of evil. No mad scientist, no evil assassin, no assistant in the pit of despair. My son deserves more than a negative trope.

[Mara]

A political thriller set in a future setting. I found it confusing, a slow read with many moments when I wanted to DNF it.

But it is definitely a case of me, not you. I see it's a good SciFi, with a great plot and a better heroine. Unfortunately I couldn't care less. My only nit: her accepting to help didn't make sense to me. I wasn't given enough to understand the reasons for this choices.

Please read Jacob's review to see why you should read it:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Katharine Kimbriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding SF -- the best alien species since Cherryh's Atevi books. If you like future world building, definitely check these out!

I loved this enough to blurb it when it first came out, and that hasn't changed. It has all the wonderful uneasiness of great adventure fiction without stupid reasons for things. It's wonderful to see it out in ebook now, and a lovely new trade edition. With a great new cover!

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has some interesting ideas, but the plot felt at parts disjointed and generally difficult to follow. Most of the characters, including the protagonist, were one-dimensional and just not compelling enough to bring life to the world it portrayed.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good.

[Tressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Code of Conduct was intriguing. There are several threads running through the story and some are explained, but I want more. I look forward to the next book.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read for pleasure, I don't like books where I have to work very hard to understand what's going on. I had to keep going back to understand who said what. Very confusing book.

[Tibor Konig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorozatkezdő sci-fi kalandregény, női főhős, akciódús, de valószínűtlen eseményektől hemzsegő cselekmény - viszonylag jól van megírva, de csak erős közepes. Nem fogom folytatni a sorozatot.

Felmerülhet a kérdés: miért is vásárolok ilyen könyveket? A főbűnös egy BookBub (https://www.bookbub.com/launch) nevű szolgáltatás, amely napi hírlevélben hívja fel a figyelmemet a jelentősen (1-2-3 amerikai dollárra) leértékelt e-könyvekre. Ez az ár annyira alacsony, hogy minimális lelkifurdalással megveszem az akár csak marginálisan is érdekesnek tűnő műveket, aztán pár év múlva fejvakarva nézem, mi minden sorakozik a Kindle-ömben. Most már igyekszem jobban odafigyelni...

[Alyssia Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books that could have been great if it wasn't so difficult to wrap your head around what's going on. There's a lot going on here and the information to make sense of it is rationed out so slowly that most of the novel is confusing and frustrating. It frequently splits off into an alien perspective that just made things even more difficult to understand as well. I was joking to my mother in law that at 70% in, I was just as flummoxed as when I started the book. I had started to see how some of the threads were coming together, but mostly I was in a constant state of bemusement. It's a pity, because there are some absolutely fascinating scenes here and the central mystery at the heart of the novel is fascinating.

Killian is some sort of strange hybrid mix of human and alien. After an explosion which ought to have killed her, she is rescued and put back together. She's been on the run ever since. But her actions all those years ago haunt her to this day and if the authorities catch up with her, death by firing squad is perhaps the kindest of the possible consequences. But she isn't quite as well hidden as she might have thought and her old lover, Interior Minister Evan van Reuter, tracks her down to enlist her help in solving the old mystery of just how his wife died.

That historical mystery was by far the best part of this novel. If the novel had stayed with Killian's perspective and focussed in on the political and personal mystery elements, it would likely have been an easy four star read. Without the secondary perspective, more background could have been included in the main focus of the plot, allowing the reader to piece together essential background and not feel like they were drowning through lack of information. The way the various historical and current threads wound together for example, linking various characters and previous events together was beautifully done by the end... but it was almost a miracle that I got that far.

There were so many characters and so many names and it felt almost impossible to keep straight who was who. The main characters were easy enough as they were involved in the current events, but the multitude of background characters who you only know of though one sided dialogue and historical references made it difficult to keep track of who was who. I will admit though, it was the alien perspective that almost made me give up on the book entirely. Whilst there were some fascinating insights into the differences between the human and alien mind, it was one hell of a long build up to the finale where all of the pieces finally start to come together.

Essentially, this didn't feel like a first novel. It felt like I'd been dropped into the middle of a series and was therefore floundering trying to figure out existing relationships and previous events. It jumped around so much and the duel perspective felt unwieldy and disjointed, knocking me out of whatever sketchy equilibrium I had managed to find with the main plot. If it was number three or four in a series, that would be my own fault. But it's not. This is meant to be your entry to this universe and it hurls you in at the deep end without trying to find out if you can swim first. It's a shame, because some of the writing was fantastic and the main characters were exceptionally real. This had the potential to be great, but as it stands it was confusing and rather messy.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

General Outline:
Jani Killian is just trying to survive and forget the past when her former lover Evan van Reuten tracks her down and wants her to help him find out who killed his wife. Turns out that Jani used to part of the military in what is equivalent to the diplomatic corps. Unfortunatley things went sour with the aliens and she got involved in the resulting conflict. This resulted in her disobeying a direct order to cover up some illegal experiments, killing 26 or so aliens that were going to attack what remained of her troops and her getting blowed up in a transport and then put back togehter with alien genetic material. Suffice to say her ex-lover showing up and more or less making her go with him opens up a whole can of worms Jani does not want to deal with. When she arrives she finds herself in a cat and mouse game that quickly goes from looking for a murderer to uncovering a far reaching scheme involving illegal augumentation, war crimes, and the destiny of humanity and the aliens.
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First, this is a *very* slow paced book. All the shooting, and running around and people getting confronted and dealt wiht happens toward the very end. So unless you like very detailed slow build up with a lot of talking and a lot hide of seek this is proably not for you. Other than that this was a very enjoyable book I kept wanting to find out what happened next and see how it ended. Unfortunatley this meant that I ended up reading it till about 2 in the morning, since I couldn't skip the talking parts and get to the action because it wouldn't have made any sense. The only other problem I had with the book is that it is kind of vague on the aliens, the great war that was lost, what exactly the "paper" system is but I imagine this is dealt with in the later books. All in all a good read, would recommend to anyone who likes their scifi stories detailed.
m.a.c

[Jeri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This looked like it might have some romance (a plus for me), but it didn't. The heroine has been in hiding for 18 years, ever since she was involved in an alien conduct situation where things went drastically wrong. If the powers-that-be knew she were alive, she'd face court martial and execution. Her one-time lover (the heir to a powerful family) finds her and asks her to help him prove he didn't murder his wife. She gets involved in an investigation that has links to her own situation ...

This was pretty good, with a complicated background and interesting characters. I liked it, but didn't love it. I think too much is left for inference (without being explained) and there is one significant plot thread that is obviously left dangling for future books.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another 3 1/2 star book. Judged as a first novel, it is probably a four-star book. But judged by the standard of the work of China Mielville, with which it wants to compete, it doesn't come anywhere near. The book is well plotted and some of the characterization is very interesting. But on the negative side, the style that makes Embassytown an award-winner, the stylistic polish and original energy, is lacking.

[Angus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not totally sure what to say about this book. I found it quite hard to read—it's definitely not a book to race through, and if it doesn't make you think, you haven't read it right—and it took me a long time to finish. I came away very glad to have read it, and at the same time unsure of whether I want to dare any of the sequels.

It's really good, I'll give it that. Five stars, less one star because—and this may be wildly unjust of me—I still can't tell if I liked it or not.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly interesting. Reads a bit like an early Michael Crichton novel - intrigue revolves around "document examiners." How Kristine Smith made paper-pushing exciting is a feat. The backdrop is a fascinating woman hiding from her past, charged with uncovering a murder plot, also connected to her own death 18 years ago in an alien rebellion.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the start of this book really hard work, part of this was the amount of information and alien terminology, but it was also the author’s style of writing. This felt disjointed, it was like a collection of more or less random thoughts put on the page without any real concern of how they fitted together.

[Seon Ji (Dawn)]

Freebie today 3/15/17

Tried it out.

Not my thing. deleting off Kindle

[Gary Sedivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well now, I will admit I may have missed a page or two while reading this on my iPad - errant thumbs or fingers causing the pages to flip without warning. I say this because as I read the synopsis on GoodReads (after finishing the book), I realized the synopsis filled in a bunch of info that would have been nice to know.
Truthfully, I still don’t know much about the idomeni, nor the Laumau, or the Venshaaya ( don’t think I spelled those correctly - but don’t care enough to go back to check). Don’t know enough about the ruling structure, or who was human or not. And if humans, why are they called ‘humanish’? And, what augmentation? A prosthetic limb, or nervous system, improved mental capacity? What?
The author did a decent job of telling the story of a person who is trying to hide from some authorities, has been commissioned with solving a crime, gets entangled in ‘palace intrigue’, almost dies, and survives to fight another day! The story is told from a 1st person point off view of the two main characters. It works, because you can follow along without getting confused.
If the second book comes along free on ‘BookBub’ I might download it. Maybe this one will be easier to grok out, being somewhat familiar with the setting.

[Karl Perodin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Code o Conduct... Why 3 stars instead of a potential 5?

This book is very difficult to read.

I bactrackeld often, either trying to figure out to whom I should attribute the last quoted dialog, or whose 1st 2nd or 3rd alias is the new name I just read, or is it from a new character entering the scene... I also backtracked from the middle of the book all the way to its first paragraph in order to make sure I did not skip whole chapters that would explain the current obscure context! I even wondered, at one point, if this was Book II of a series, which would explain the already on-going plots that I was trying to decipher!...

Yet, I kept on reading because of a fascinating alien character whose name - just one of them, alas - is Nema.
Nema’ mindset was original enough to make me want to read on. I ended up reading that book twice in order to slightly improve on my grasp of the authors intent, which I still found fascinating! ... Thus my giving this book 3 stars instead of its potential 5,

Karl_

[Llamaraptor]

I might revisit someday, but for now it's a Did Not Finish at 10%. Part of the problem is I had just finished Marge Piercy's A Woman on the Edge of Time, and the contrast between the inventiveness of the future society in that book, versus the vaguely 1980s society in this book, was a little too immediate. I'm not sure exactly how far in the future Code of Conduct is set, but so far you could change just a few details and have it comfortably take place in some generic Western country. If a character shows up in a position of power, or in a military role, so far he's guaranteed to be a white male. The exception is our heroine Jani who shows encouraging signs of badassery and down-to-earthness, but even she gets dragged around by the arm and put in impractical heels and dress by her powerful boss/ex-lover. The book has not shown signs so far of planning to confront/explain some of these issues - my guess is it'll be a good adventure story, but that's not what I'm in the mood for.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, interesting plot, protagonist well developed. Humanity has met an alien race and the start of a kind of melding of the two species has begun through a process of 'augmentation'. However some missteps have taken place and the process is not generally known by the public. Who is augmented is also not easily identifiable.
The book plays off of multiple themes of intrigue which plays well in today's atmosphere where numerous conspiracy theories are held by a significant number of people. Smith was somewhat prescient as she wrote/published this in 2015...well before the latest onslaught of conspiracies which have flowered in the days of covid, vaccine mandates, and the shut down of society. (Of course the Trumpian era was on the verge of exploding, so there was that.)
I did not find the story to my taste and thus have only given 3 stars...others may well think far more highly of it as it is really very well written.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, written just as the Internet and networks were becoming known in popular culture. I thought it had more to do with augmentation, as in human/machine interface. But it is more of a political thriller, set on an interstellar Earth that has (very cold) Chicago as its capital.

The author posits a society that runs on paper, but paper with special capabilities. Embedded fibers, textures, and smart verification methods make for highly verifiable documents. Not super secure, as characters can still move around with them. It could be a potential future for us if hacking servers gets too easy.

I will look to see if the next books are more political thriller or sci-fi. The main character is called a toxin or change agent, which could open up a lot of interesting stories.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like quitting on books once I start them but I was sorely tempted on this one. It did get a little better as it went on with the second half much better than the first half.

Overall this was very confusing and I'm still not sure I understand all the interplay of characters. Felt like the author was trying to build a world without being too direct about it. I realize this can be difficult but on the spectrum of spoonfeeding the reader versus making it incomprehensible this tended towards the latter.

On the plus side, readers that are drawn to the complex interactions and intrigue of politics between planets and species, ala "Dune," this will be right up your alley.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Jani Kilian Chronicles by Kristine Smith. In this one, Jani Kilian has been on the run for almost 18 years. She soon finds herself drawn back into her past by a former lover. A past where she was nearly killed and was then rebuilt using forbidden alien tech. A past where she is accused of committing a crime that has her branded as a traitor and under a death sentence. She is asked to come back to Earth to solve the murder of Evan Van Reuter's wife. When she starts finding more than many people want to be known her own life is endangered. Jani will not stop until the mystery is solved as it will also clear her name. A good start to this series.

[Martyn F · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you see a book with a woman on the cover holding a big gun, you think the gun is going to be used at least a few times. That is not really the case in this book.

Which of course is not bad per se. But I expected a tense story at least. Which is not really the case either. Probably because you don’t know what Jani is getting into till you’re halfway.

The characters are interesting. Especially the alien Tschecha. And how different they think from humans.

The story is interesting too, though sometimes a bit hard to follow.

Maybe this series will get better, so I will try the next part.

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A science fiction novel about second chances, evolution, “the art of seeming to give in when actually giving nothing,” and trust. It’s a cold case investigation with political intrigue and alien relations that elevates paperwork and “document examiners” (dexxies) to new importance. The world-building is fantastic, with a strong back-story and complex and compelling relationships. Jani is smart, persistent, cynical, decisive, evasive, and an agent of change, affecting the people around her and gaining allies. She keeps her opinions close and we are never sure who we can trust.