Scan barcode
A review by graculus
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot
3.0
Since I've been reading SFF for longer than I care to think about, one of the things I'm always looking for is a book that's going to knock my socks off, taking me somewhere I've not been before, but sadly Bluebird is just not that book.
The basic premise is that it's set in a universe divided between three factions, each with their own way of doing things and each resolutely convinced that their way is The Right Way. Our protagonist, Rig, is a former scientist and member of a minority group who'd been doing research for one of those factions, only to realise that this particular research makes for an ideal targetted weapon since it can be used on groups of people with specific DNA (like, for example, the group she's a part of).
Understandably, she decides to go on the run and while doing so, we meet both her librarian girlfriend and a mysterious woman with deadly prostheses who calls herself Ginka. Since the book is interspersed with short chapters about an assassin working for a different faction, it doesn't take much figuring out that Ginka's original mission was to retrieve Rig (or, more importantly, her research) and deliver it to the faction to which she belongs.
Bluebird is an entertaining enough book but somehow for me it lacks that certain something that takes a book from 'solidly good' to 'great'. The overall world-building is nicely done, the characterisation is pretty solid most of the time, it just never quite manages to take that final step - there are no reveals I didn't see coming and in the end I was left feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole experience.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion on the book in question.
The basic premise is that it's set in a universe divided between three factions, each with their own way of doing things and each resolutely convinced that their way is The Right Way. Our protagonist, Rig, is a former scientist and member of a minority group who'd been doing research for one of those factions, only to realise that this particular research makes for an ideal targetted weapon since it can be used on groups of people with specific DNA (like, for example, the group she's a part of).
Understandably, she decides to go on the run and while doing so, we meet both her librarian girlfriend and a mysterious woman with deadly prostheses who calls herself Ginka. Since the book is interspersed with short chapters about an assassin working for a different faction, it doesn't take much figuring out that Ginka's original mission was to retrieve Rig (or, more importantly, her research) and deliver it to the faction to which she belongs.
Bluebird is an entertaining enough book but somehow for me it lacks that certain something that takes a book from 'solidly good' to 'great'. The overall world-building is nicely done, the characterisation is pretty solid most of the time, it just never quite manages to take that final step - there are no reveals I didn't see coming and in the end I was left feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole experience.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion on the book in question.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror and Medical trauma