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Jani Kilian Chronicles #4
Contact Imminent
A genetically altered human-diomeni hybrid, Jani Kilian finds herself caught in the middle of a looming intergalactic civil war , when a horrific terrorist attack threatens to ignite a long-feared conflict between humankind and aliens. Original.
448 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2003
18 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Kristine Smith
29 books174 followersKristine 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
Kristine Smith has also written the supernatural thrillers GIDEON and JERICHO under the name Alex Gordon.
Photo by Joel Danto/Danto Photography
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
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May 27, 2016Wow, this was good.
New readers should really begin with the first book. This one throws you right into the story, and although the author tightly weaves background data in, the operative word here is tightly, while accelerating the pacing rapidly.
This is a very complicated story, which gets even more complicated when Jani receives a message and sees a face that throws all her assumptions right out the window. Meanwhile, there are signs of conspiracy right at home, the target her Idomeni mentor.
Everybody's life gets complicated, as the political ramifications intensify toward conflict. Tautly, vividly written, this was one I couldn't put down
New readers should really begin with the first book. This one throws you right into the story, and although the author tightly weaves background data in, the operative word here is tightly, while accelerating the pacing rapidly.
This is a very complicated story, which gets even more complicated when Jani receives a message and sees a face that throws all her assumptions right out the window. Meanwhile, there are signs of conspiracy right at home, the target her Idomeni mentor.
Everybody's life gets complicated, as the political ramifications intensify toward conflict. Tautly, vividly written, this was one I couldn't put down
November 12, 2019
I loved the ending. I thought it would be more of a bloodbath with a ton of regrets but it wasn't. I know things are perfect but it seems that they are getting better. Good book/series.
April 13, 2025
For a long time (60%) I was having doubts about this. It was tedious. Lots of politics between the idomeni (aliens) and their Haarin sect (also idomeni) and humans. And May this year was not a comfortable time for reading political shenanigans. We had plenty of our own (both sides of the Atlantic). But I had bought not only this book, but the final two to boot, so… rather than waste that money, I waded through the boring stuff, and the distasteful stuff, and what seemed like flat characters, and pressed on. It came together really well, and I ended up enjoying it. Gave me a lot of trouble trying to work out how many stars to give it, but Kristine Smith writes well, even if I didn’t enjoy it until she got back to getting the characters all tied up in more understandable knots. The ending left me with the feeling the next book might be more fun.
August 22, 2007
Okay, so I'm a book junky. I read almost everything and anything. I loved this sci-fi series. I read them back to back. They're well crafted and create an interesting new world and alien cultures to explore. Great read. -BD
April 3, 2018
OK, so, this was in a stack of books I've been moving around for over a decade and had never read. I resolved that I was going to read some of them on this trip, and this was one of those.
All of that is my excuse for why I didn't know that this was book 4 of a series (my copy didn't mention that). And, since it is book 4, many things weren't explained. And I was kinda confused.
That being said: female action hero, all the rich, dashing suitors you could hope for, which is nice. But no other females; I'm pretty sure it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. And I had to force myself to read it. So, my advice is, don't start here!
(Sadly, my library doesn't have any others, so I will never know how things got to this point.)
All of that is my excuse for why I didn't know that this was book 4 of a series (my copy didn't mention that). And, since it is book 4, many things weren't explained. And I was kinda confused.
That being said: female action hero, all the rich, dashing suitors you could hope for, which is nice. But no other females; I'm pretty sure it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. And I had to force myself to read it. So, my advice is, don't start here!
(Sadly, my library doesn't have any others, so I will never know how things got to this point.)
July 7, 2020
Enjoyable Read.
I enjoyed the way she keeps showing how the characters evolve. The interaction of the characters is fantastic. Well worth the time.
I enjoyed the way she keeps showing how the characters evolve. The interaction of the characters is fantastic. Well worth the time.
December 12, 2021
Contact Imminent had big changes and discoveries. I’m curious to see what will happen next.
August 1, 2010
Not my favorite in the series so far, really a 3.5, but still quite good. I can't tell if part of my feeling of a slower pace was because I was reading an oddly formatted ebook. It's never been a super page turner of a series, more political and social drama than action/adventure. But the changing POV in this one didn't help. I didn't really enjoy the sections about Micah, but I did see the point. And the action certainly picked up near the end! Battles will do that for a story.
My only real hesitation about this part of the series philosophically is that I don't really get the whole hybridization concept. Why would people who don't need it for medical purposes what to do it? I don't feel like the motivations are clearly presented, it's just sort of presented as a given. There aren't any clear physical advantages presented. It is mentioned that the hybrids are supposed to live longer, which certainly would be something many humans would go for, but that isn't shown as a motivation at this point. I can see that some few fanatics would want to try it, or just some of the people who love to try something new and risky or to be outside societal norms, but it's being presented as a more normal choice and I can't quite see choosing to change one's entire genetic structure and race so easily.
As for the rest of the story, I enjoyed the subplots about Jani and her various men. I wish Pierce was a romantic lead and not just a best buddy, but maybe he'll find a gal in the last book. I'm lukewarm at best about John, I don't yet see his appeal (except in the brains department, but that doesn't seem to be Jani's primary interest). I'm still fascinated by Lucien and very curious as to how his story will resolve. I'm betting that hybridization will cure his problems with his augmentation and predisposition to emotional numbness, but we'll see!
The primary and overwhelming story of human-alien cultural clash has reached a major turning point in this book. The primary cultures of both worlds are at a seeming impasse, but the outcast alien culture is on an upswing. This book is full of rebels, human and alien, and there are a lot of interesting questions about what makes rebellion justified, what means are appropriate, and what happens when rebels become part of the system. I look forward to seeing how the politic situation advances in the last book.
My only real hesitation about this part of the series philosophically is that I don't really get the whole hybridization concept. Why would people who don't need it for medical purposes what to do it? I don't feel like the motivations are clearly presented, it's just sort of presented as a given. There aren't any clear physical advantages presented. It is mentioned that the hybrids are supposed to live longer, which certainly would be something many humans would go for, but that isn't shown as a motivation at this point. I can see that some few fanatics would want to try it, or just some of the people who love to try something new and risky or to be outside societal norms, but it's being presented as a more normal choice and I can't quite see choosing to change one's entire genetic structure and race so easily.
As for the rest of the story, I enjoyed the subplots about Jani and her various men. I wish Pierce was a romantic lead and not just a best buddy, but maybe he'll find a gal in the last book. I'm lukewarm at best about John, I don't yet see his appeal (except in the brains department, but that doesn't seem to be Jani's primary interest). I'm still fascinated by Lucien and very curious as to how his story will resolve. I'm betting that hybridization will cure his problems with his augmentation and predisposition to emotional numbness, but we'll see!
The primary and overwhelming story of human-alien cultural clash has reached a major turning point in this book. The primary cultures of both worlds are at a seeming impasse, but the outcast alien culture is on an upswing. This book is full of rebels, human and alien, and there are a lot of interesting questions about what makes rebellion justified, what means are appropriate, and what happens when rebels become part of the system. I look forward to seeing how the politic situation advances in the last book.
July 7, 2023
When I bought Kristine Smith's Contact Imminent I didn't realize it was the fourth book in a series. I may be missing some aspects just from it being further down the line and maybe the author didn't feel like explaining things again, but I have to say that I have no urge to pick up any of the other books after reading Contact Imminent.
Jani Killian is a genetically altered hybrid of human and idomeni, alien, traits. This puts her between two sides in conflict with each other. Acts of terrorism and politics are broadening the rift.
The book tells me that she's charismatic. It tells me that she loves John. I don't get either of these things outside of being told they happen. There are a lot more interesting things the story could have done with her hybrid nature and how her body continues to change, but rarely works with that except from the political angle.
She has four different highly placed men obsessing over her and at odds with each other because of it. Four. One or two of them often come off as desperate and pathetic because of it. Aware of this, she's attracted to all of them and occasionally does things to give each of them some continuing hope. I had to keep rolling my eyes.
That most of the POV characters are angry, narrowminded bigots didn't help this novel go down any easier for me. Things happen but I didn't feel connected to any of it.
Jani Killian is a genetically altered hybrid of human and idomeni, alien, traits. This puts her between two sides in conflict with each other. Acts of terrorism and politics are broadening the rift.
The book tells me that she's charismatic. It tells me that she loves John. I don't get either of these things outside of being told they happen. There are a lot more interesting things the story could have done with her hybrid nature and how her body continues to change, but rarely works with that except from the political angle.
She has four different highly placed men obsessing over her and at odds with each other because of it. Four. One or two of them often come off as desperate and pathetic because of it. Aware of this, she's attracted to all of them and occasionally does things to give each of them some continuing hope. I had to keep rolling my eyes.
That most of the POV characters are angry, narrowminded bigots didn't help this novel go down any easier for me. Things happen but I didn't feel connected to any of it.
April 6, 2009
This is the best of the series and gives an excellent pay off for those who have stayed with the series form the beginning. I had come to care so deeply for the characters that I had a hard time putting it down to sleep at night because I needed to find out what happened to everyone. Not action packed like a David Weber book this is more dramatic suspense with a touch of science fiction. This is not light reading and some of the adult themes would make it inappropriate for kids. An excellent conclusion to a very good series.
June 10, 2011
I wouldn't recommend this. Unimaginative aliens, horrible sentence structure (sentence fragments everywhere). The back of the book says aliens and humans are "fiercely incompatible" but I see no evidence of this in the actual book. The story is okay, but nothing amazing. Read it if there is nothing else handy and you are bored out of your skull.
February 23, 2011
While the contents of the book were interesting, there was little to drive the reader forward. A much slower paced book, making it more of a slog than a page-turner. Not a horrendous offering, but not one I can recommend unless the next in the series picks up the pace.
May 30, 2012
This is the fourth book in a series of five. The story is building nicely. There is just a enough sex to keep it interesting. I am looking forward to book five.
September 4, 2015
3 and a half stars
March 28, 2017
Either the quality of her books are deteriorating, or I am getting tired of the series. I was going to quit after this book, but will try one more.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews