Alien Research (Katherine "Kitty" Katt, #8) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Dec 17, 2012 Sandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: paperback, own, gini-koch, scifi-rom

This one gets a 4 for the story and 5 for the emotional roller coaster.

Don't really want to say too much because you really need to read the story as it unfolds or it just won't have the right impact.

The story unfolds as all Kitty Katt stories do, bad guys trying to take over the AC population and particularly Kitty's daughter Jamie, and the ACs fighting back. However, things take a turn for the worst, and keep going bad from there.

On a side note, we finally get the explanation for the AC Elves ...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Larissa rated it it was amazing

Originally Posted at Welcome to Larissa & Friends' Bookish Life

It's that time of the year again, time for another Alien novel by the awesome Gini Koch. The Katherine "Kitty" Katt series is one of my all time favorites and Gini continues to deliver amazing heart-stopping stories that make me keep begging for more each time.

Alien Research is no exception and I will go as far to say that it might the best Alien novel yet.

I mean, I personally LOVE all of Gini's books and this series sucks you in lik ...more

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Nov 11, 2017 KarenF rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, science-fiction

This book took me forever to read but I think that was more me than it. Work craziness has wrecked my concentration and even though these are typically "fun" reads, they are packed with characters and plot so you have to keep up. I think this one felt overpacked and that's why I kept reading in small doses. The ending was more emotional than I was expecting and that probably raised my rating. I'm not sure about some of the changes that happened but I'll check out the next one to see. ...more

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Aug 09, 2018 Katyana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, uf, fantasy, sci-fi, kleenex-required

Well. Wow.

Okay, so, I've been blitzing through this series... and I do mean blitzing. Anyone who follows my reviews will notice that I have read these first 8 books in probably the last 10 days. And so you'll know that I liked the first 3 or so VERY much. Disliked the next 3 VERY much. Was hopeful after the last book. And now we're here.

Guys, I loved everything about this book. And I bawled my eyeballs out through most of it. I mean, at a couple points, huge sobs meant I had to get it together t Well. Wow.

Okay, so, I've been blitzing through this series... and I do mean blitzing. Anyone who follows my reviews will notice that I have read these first 8 books in probably the last 10 days. And so you'll know that I liked the first 3 or so VERY much. Disliked the next 3 VERY much. Was hopeful after the last book. And now we're here.

Guys, I loved everything about this book. And I bawled my eyeballs out through most of it. I mean, at a couple points, huge sobs meant I had to get it together to continue onward.

The two threads I've hated most in earlier books - "Jeff the jealous douche" and "let's keep Kitty in the dark on what's going on, to "protect" her, even though it backfired on us the last 234987 times but maybe it will really work this time" - seem to be officially dead, as neither was a real presence in this book. And hallelujah for that. Additionally, we have less of Reader swinging the big dick (and being a big dick) about "YOU WILL ALL RESPECT MY AUTHORI-TAY" (yes, Cartman-style), which was the thing seriously getting on my nerves since the DipCorps transition. So hooray for that.

I don't want to talk about a whole lot, because I feel like almost anything will be a spoiler. So incredibly much goes on in this book, and all of it is just captivating. It's an emotional rollercoaster. I just want to say one thing, to folks who were perhaps as unhappy with the earlier books as I was: this book is well-worth holding out for. I'm so happy I did.

One other thing I want to talk about that I haven't mentioned in other reviews of this series. I know the pacing of this series is break-neck, and sometimes it feels exhausting. But I also think that's why I've been so captivated by the series. It's a fascinating and unusual way to move through a plot. In most other books - including my favorites - the heroes unfold / unravel the evil plot piece by piece... like building a puzzle that you patiently assemble as you get each new piece and figure out where it goes, slowly revealing the picture.

In this series, every time the heroes get a new piece, they make plans, form theories, and re-assess what they think the picture is. They're not always right, or not entirely right, and so through the book there's a constant narrative of refining the plan and re-assessing the picture as they move forward and we find a new piece. That means we get false starts, like "OMG THIS is where they are going!" We also get plans they are put into motion and are later discarded - (view spoiler). It makes the pacing very fast and sometimes confusing. But it also makes it ... very real. And I think that's why I am so sucked into the series. Because in reality, there would be no calm, patient puzzle solving. You'd have a theory, an alternate theory (probably several)... and plans and contingencies for handling them. All that you'd be constantly reshaping on the fly as you move forward and learn more. I honestly don't know that I've ever read another book written that conveys that kind of ... erratic, reactive scramble to put things together on the fly better than the books in this series.

And that's why even the books that seriously pissed me off a few books ago didn't end up being deal-breakers, because the fascination on the threads finally pulling together was enough to keep me invested. I'm not saying I wouldn't have thrown in the towel if that continued on - I would have, because I was hitting a place where I seriously disliked several major characters - but it's why I held out longer than I think I usually would.

I just wanted to touch on that, because it's so different from anything I can recall reading before. I love it, and I'm excited to see where it goes next. But I need a pause. Like, for a day or two. Because I'm all cried out, and I can't imagine things will get easier from here.

*****5 stars***** ...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Daffodil rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, science-fiction, color-orange, aliens

The first half through two thirds of this book was difficult. I had a hard time staying immersed in the universe, was easily distracted from reading (which hardly ever happens) and wondered what had happened to the book series I love. I plugged away at it and suddenly, somewhere in the last half of the book, realized I was caught up in the action and had been for quite some time. I'm trying to pinpoint exactly what was wrong in the beginning and I think part of it had to do with so many secondar ...more

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