Author: Julie E. Czerneda
First time published: May 2004, DAW
SPECIES IMPERATIVE #1
Synopsis
When her Field Base is mysteriously attacked, Dr. Mackenzie Connor must flee for her life. Joining forces with an alien archaeologist, she escapes to his planet on a quest to find a defense against the unknown agressor-before they launch a full-scale invasion of Earth.
Reviews of this book
By Torbjørn Pettersen
from Stavanger, Norway
Date: 22.04.2004
Dr. Mac Connor, a biologist doing research on salmon, working with her colleague Dr. Emily Mamani suddenly finds here life turned upside-down and inside out. What she thought would be a season working with Dr. Mamani on one of their most important projects turns into her worst nightmare, their very important field research interrupted by an unwelcome, and alien visitor.
An invisible, and very deadly, force is heading for earth. The only one that can reveal their secret is Mac, if she can survive to find the hidden truth. But friends turns into enemies, and those she thought she could trust.... can she trust anyone? Can she even trust herself?
This is Species Imperative: Survival. If Julie E. Czerneda was a painter, this would be the worlds new Mona Lisa. It had me hooked from the first page, and I allowed myself to be reeled in without putting up any form for fight. There is no mercy shown from Czerneda's side, neither towards her readers need for sleep, which I didn't get much of (you know the problem; just one more page), nor towards the characters in her book. Death and mayhem, no one is safe. And don't ever think you know who the villain is, it's certainly not the butler that did it in this one.
It's still early in 2004, but I think this one will be hard to beat.
Julie E. Czerneda, I think it's time to make sure you have a spare shelf space on your trophy wall.
