21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A thoughtful conclusion to a fascinating series, October 29, 2007
This review is from: Endgame (Mass Market Paperback)
The descriptions you might see for this book concentrate on the setting: war and the threat of war, the human Commonwealth, the alien Idomeni, and a colony of hybrid alien/humans in the middle. But while the book begins and ends with a death, the focus of the book isn't on violence.
The main character, Jani Kilian, started this series four books ago as a document examiner, as an embodiment of a set of rules. In previous books, Jani has become encrusted with roles, both human and Idomeni. I don't want to read too much into the title, but the endgame in chess is a period of diminishing complexity and increasing opportunity for actions that resolve the game. As this book unrolls, Jani's roles fall away, leaving her comfortable with an unpleasant past and an uncertain future, in an situation without clear rules. It's all very zen in a way. Jani uncovers the possibility of action by leaving everything else behind, and in acting, uncovers the possibility of stillness and resolution.
The plot has a wonderful feeling of circles within circles: the actions and interactions of individuals powering the actions of larger and larger groups of people. It's a little like a ferris wheel: you speed along the bottom, and hang suspended at the top, although the plot has been moving along all the time. The story of a single person able to change the fate of galaxies is a staple among science fiction books, but Endgame is an unusually thoughtful treatment, and the leverage from the personal level to the planetary and beyond never seems forced.
What's extraordinary about this book is the way Smith conveys the details of a particular character thinking and acting at a particular place and time: this is me, this is here, this is now. Smith can place a character at a time and a place as well as anyone I've read.
You can read this book on its own if you'd like, or take this as a final goad to start the series at the beginning with
Code of Conduct. Either is highly recommended.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!, October 30, 2007
This review is from: Endgame (Mass Market Paperback)
The amazing conclusion to the Jani Kilian series starts with an assassin and plunges along with unstoppable momentum. Once again Jani is at the center of galactic intrigue, fighting hard to keep the humans and the alien idomeni from galactic war and from destroying the home that she's tried so hard to create, Thalassa. Her friends, hell bent on their own courses, seem determined to undermine everything she's done. Packed with complex characters, top-notch aliens, action, and brilliant suspense, Endgame is a story that you'll want to read again and again.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent science fiction, October 30, 2007
This review is from: Endgame (Mass Market Paperback)
Change has come to humans and the Idomeni aliens when they first met in space and got to know each other. Right now, there is an uneasy coexistence between the two species with treaties in place to guide behavior and interactions. Hybridization is a choice to blend the two species into one, sometimes for health reason and sometimes for the need to find a better way of life. The hybrids live in Thalassa which is trying to become sovereign.
The impetus for Hybridization and alien and human getting to know one another is condemned by the leader of the Idomeni people yet some are not afraid to speak their beliefs even though they are anthemia to the zealots on his homeworld. The hybrid woman Jani Killian is shattered when her mentor is assassinated and she vows to bring his killer to justice. To do that, she will have to change the beliefs of Idomeni, wreck havoc by arranging the largest mass exodus ever known and overthrow the regime whose leaders sent the killer.
This latest Jani Killian novel is science fiction at its' very best. Splinter groups try to drive a wedge between human and alien relations. Yet because the two species are more alike than different they are fated to achieve only minor success, but doomed to failure in the larger sense. Jani is a well developed character; she is independent, doesn't pay attention to diplomatic protocol, does what she believes is right even if it disturbs two civilizations and is totally loyal to her friends. Kristine Smith is a superb species builder who creates a vivid picture of aliens especially on their homeworld and a deep look at human reactions to them.
Harriet Klausner
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