Quick review for an afternoon/evening read of 90,000 words. I definitely felt like I ran a marathon after I read this book - so much happened between these pages that I could probably write a book on the book. I received "Stellarnet Rebel" as an ARC on NetGalley back in 2012. I didn't realize I still had it until going through my old digital galley stack. I'm glad I was able to read it. If "The Shape of Water" were a futuristic cyber-action story with political tensions among different alien races across space, a kick-butt heroine, with some romantic (including polyamory!) elements thrown in for good measure, you'd likely get a version of this story.

The only downside that really affected my enjoyment of "Stellarnet Rebel" is that the story gets in its own way to a point where I felt the weight of getting through it. For all the action scenes, human-alien tensions, political intrigue, and romantic interludes the story featured - many of which really intrigued me - there were also as many moments where the pacing slowed and I had to readjust to understand what was going on. I really liked following Genny, Duin, and Belloc among the cast of characters in this story, particularly seeing how they fought against the corruption and prejudices they were up against.

It's really rare to see a heroine like Genny in an ambitious sci-fi story with romantic elements like this. She's a blogger originally from Earth on a space station (Asteria) interacting in the Stellarnet trying to break a story big enough to expose the corruption in the colony. She gets the story of a lifetime when she meets Duin, a Glin fighting for the freedom of his people and planet from the control of the Tikati. Duin, an alien among a majority human population, tries to appeal to humans because of learning of their commitments to fighting injustice and promoting ideals of freedom. Of course, being of an alien race, Duin faces his share of prejudices and rebuffs because of who he is and can't get as wide or supportive an audience as he'd like. Genny and Duin work together to showcase the story to their audience, which gets a huge amount of traction. Along the way, as their exposure climbs and their personal relationship grows closer, Genny and Duin find themselves in multiple conflicts across different groups seeking to cover up the truth and the corruption that their coverage exposes. That lends to assumed friends becoming foes and having to find allies in short notice to help them out.

The worldbuilding in this story is intriguing, if a bit clunky for execution. So much so that I had to reorient myself a few times as I was reading to make sure I was following what was going on. (There is a full glossary with the language of the Glin and terms that are used, so that helps a little.) I found myself really caring for the main cast of characters. For as many conflict heavy encounters as there were in the text, there were other moments when I felt the transitions between scenes were sluggish and not necessarily moving the plot along. I could follow the relationships in this story fine, though it definitely made for a few awkward moments between the characters as there are stark differences between how humans and the Glin navigate their relationships (both romantic and not). The attention to detail on those interactions is nice, though at the same time - as with some of the narrative worldbuilding, somewhat clunky.

I wasn't aware this book had a sequel, and I'm definitely curious to return to this world again and revisit the characters to see how things turn out. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, but I also understand why it has mixed reception because of how the presentation of the worldbuilding and narrative comes across. It was still worth the read for me, even if it took me a little bit to really get into it.

Overall score: 3/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Carina Press.