A review by elizbee
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really fun space opera that seriously fumbles the ending, but being a debut, I won't dock it too hard for choking on the last few chapters.  On the up side, the characters and humor are delightful, and we get a primary cast of all non-humans in a human-dominated society, which is really cool.  The world is fascinating, even if we didn't really get to see as much of its depth as I would have liked.  Unfortunately, the plotting is a bit simplistic with a lot of major ... twists?  I guess? ... being foreshadowed with all the subtlety of an approaching firetruck.  This is mostly because a lot of supposedly highly competent characters are, as depicted on the page, somehow also the densest and most clueless people who have ever lived, and that includes protagonist Rig.  There is plenty here that shows great promise for this author's writing career, which I intend to follow, but readers looking for sci-fi with depth may find themselves gravely dissatisfied.