Having heard rave reviews of Rusch's work, I picked up _Alien Influences_ with high expectations. Unfortunately, the book should have been a hundred pages shorter. Many elements could have been tightened up, and the "hanging suspense" endings invariably fizzled. I found myself being so annoyed with the overuse of the words "tangy" and "cinnamon" that I began keeping track of how many times each was used, and felt strongly that they were simply being repeated as convenient shorthand. Overall, I loved the book's concepts (with the exception of a slight sell-out at the ending regarding one of the Dancer Seven), but wished that Rusch's editor had sent back the manuscript one more time.