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A review by pastelwriter
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot
dark
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have such…conflicting feelings about this book.
On the one hand, I enjoyed myself while reading this. I really liked our main cast of characters (i.e. Rig, Ginka, and Crane).
Rig and Ginka had great witty banter between each other. Their friendship was absolutely heartwarming 🥺💖 And Rig giving her the nickname Cactus? Be still my heart! They’re precious.
Ginka absolutely stole my heart with how awkward she was because she doesn’t really know how to express her feelings all that well. She’s the character that undergoes the most growth as she has to grapple with the beliefs she was raised with and her growing affection for Rig. Her relationship with Crane was also everything to me 😭 I adore them SO MUCH. Maybe the straights do deserve rights 🥺
Rig herself was also really fun to follow. She’s…a lot. But the best kind of a lot! I also enjoyed her relationship with June 💖 I didn’t really root for them as much as I did Ginka and Crane, but I largely blame this on the fact that they were in an already established relationship. Those are always trickier to get me to invest in.
My main issue with this book was that… there was absolutely NO NEED for it to be 437 pages long aka 14hrs long in audiobook format. There was so much that could have been cut out. That’s why I lean to say that this is a character driven novel. There’s for sure a plot in here, but it didn’t need this page count to resolve. I’m all for developing character dynamics, but this just felt like a drag at times. The plot felt both too present and too absent. I prefer my novels to pick a struggle if they’re really gonna prioritize something, because this lead to a book that read like it had no stakes…even though there WERE stakes. I felt very little to no urgency during most of a novel where the main character is trying to rescue her sister who has been kidnapped 🙃 like what?
I just felt like something about the writing was off. It was enjoyable, but it wasn’t quite satisfactory enough to lead me to love the novel as a whole. I loved pieces of it.
On the one hand, I enjoyed myself while reading this. I really liked our main cast of characters (i.e. Rig, Ginka, and Crane).
Rig and Ginka had great witty banter between each other. Their friendship was absolutely heartwarming 🥺💖 And Rig giving her the nickname Cactus? Be still my heart! They’re precious.
Ginka absolutely stole my heart with how awkward she was because she doesn’t really know how to express her feelings all that well. She’s the character that undergoes the most growth as she has to grapple with the beliefs she was raised with and her growing affection for Rig. Her relationship with Crane was also everything to me 😭 I adore them SO MUCH. Maybe the straights do deserve rights 🥺
Rig herself was also really fun to follow. She’s…a lot. But the best kind of a lot! I also enjoyed her relationship with June 💖 I didn’t really root for them as much as I did Ginka and Crane, but I largely blame this on the fact that they were in an already established relationship. Those are always trickier to get me to invest in.
My main issue with this book was that… there was absolutely NO NEED for it to be 437 pages long aka 14hrs long in audiobook format. There was so much that could have been cut out. That’s why I lean to say that this is a character driven novel. There’s for sure a plot in here, but it didn’t need this page count to resolve. I’m all for developing character dynamics, but this just felt like a drag at times. The plot felt both too present and too absent. I prefer my novels to pick a struggle if they’re really gonna prioritize something, because this lead to a book that read like it had no stakes…even though there WERE stakes. I felt very little to no urgency during most of a novel where the main character is trying to rescue her sister who has been kidnapped 🙃 like what?
I just felt like something about the writing was off. It was enjoyable, but it wasn’t quite satisfactory enough to lead me to love the novel as a whole. I loved pieces of it.