Book Review: Alien Proliferation

This series manages to remain engaging as our heroine, Kitty, gives birth in a rather dramatic (melodramatic?) way. Her husband, Jeff, survives her labor pains — barely. Then, of course, all heck breaks loose. An old friend from high school barely escapes goons intent on killing her, there are traitors who need unmasking, and evil pharmaceutical companies are testing drugs on unsuspecting victims.

So basically, more of what you’ve come to expect if you’ve been reading this series. If you’re liking it, you’ll like this as well.

I do just feel the need to say that Kitty’s breastfeeding experience seemed incredibly odd to me, even given that she had a half-alien baby and her own body seemed to have been genetically modified by the experience. Nursing often strikes me as odd in fiction — usually glossing over early challenges and turning supply into a simple matter of inflated/deflated boobs. (Feelings of fullness are not necessarily indicative of milk availability.) The torpedo analogy utterly failed for me, but maybe Kitty had a severe oversupply.

In the midst of all this, there was some flat-out incorrect information, and I wanted to set the record straight. The book suggested that milk could be stored for up to two weeks in a freezer. Um, WHAT? In a deep freeze, it’s good for up to a YEAR. (six months to a year, depending upon certain factors). In a regular freezer, it’s good for 3 months. Heck, it’s good in a refrigerator for up to a week, and on the counter in a normal 70 degree room for 4 to 8 hours (so not as much urgency to get it on ice as suggested). So I honestly have no idea what the “up to two weeks in a freezer” bit was about — very strange. Almost as strange as the fact that in a single session of pumping, a woman with a newborn (meaning milk supply is only just being established) was able to pump enough milk to be away from her baby for many hours.

Rating: 3/5

Title: Alien Proliferation
Author: Gini Koch
ISBN: 0756406978
Published December 6, 2011

Posted in Book Reviews, Science Fiction and tagged , , , , , , .