She works hard to avoid clich s. Jani seeks closure for the old and bloody events of her life, but her state of crisis is a quiet one, tempered by time. Unfortunately, characters are usually more dramatic when they are closer to the edge. Smith's realistic and intelligent approach means that Jani is in many ways simply dull. Readers may expect more depth and resourcefulness from a woman in her forties, who has survived an alien civil war, an attempt on her life, drastic surgery and 18 years of pursuit by law enforcement.
Novels featuring older women as protagonists are rare things, generally to be treasured.
Somehow, though, Jani fails to shine, fails to make the most of her age and experience and fails to provide a thoroughly admirable heroine. The intense interplay of human-idomeni relations is rich and well realized in Code of Conduct . Despite a sparseness of information about the idomeni and the long-ago civil war, richness and complexity pervade Evan's household. When combined with the double fistful of loose ends at the novel's close, this sense of unearthed riches will definitely leave readers wanting more. Alyx Back to the top.