Bluebird hits the ground running and doesn't falter, carrying you through a space opera adventure. It is exactly what is promised, and another excellent title published by Angry Robot.

4.5 stars ^

I love scifi/space operas but one of my favourite tropes is gays in space. And this didn’t disappoint. It also has a woman who can kick butts and take down an oppressive system so what more could you want?

I dont think think there’s much more I can say about the plot without spoiling it so I’ll just say I loved it and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi or queer books. I really hope this author writes more in the future as I’ll definitely read them!

Bluebird is the story of Rig, who left her old life for one of gunslinging and attempting to make up for what she did in the past. That is, until one day her past catches up to her and the members of her old faction want her to return what she’s stolen, or her twin sister will be tortured. This sets off a space opera adventure of Rig and the mysterious mercenary, Ginka.
This book had a lot going for it! The world-building with the factions was pretty cool; there are three factions mostly run by humans in a centuries long war to conquer the galaxy. I love sci-fi populated with aliens, and both of our main characters were aliens. We don’t see too much of other aliens because this book is focused on the human-centric factions.
Unfortunately, the plot was just okay for me. I just never really felt gripped by the story or stakes, not really pulled in. Maybe part of that is a predicted part of the plot? I’m not entirely sure what it was that didn’t make it for me, but I wasn’t on the edge of my seat. It wasn’t terrible though, don’t think that. I’ve just been more engrossed in other sci-fi plots.
I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships. Rig really came into her own by the end. You start the book thinking she’s just a happy go-lucky gunslinger but as the book progresses, you see how she’s dealing with her past, with being a refugee, with her emotions regarding her sister. It took a bit to get there, but I enjoyed her personal story.
There is an established lesbian relationship between Rig and another character that was sweet. I also loved how the rocky friendship between Rig and Ginka went. They really drove the story and my desire to read it.
I rated this book 3 stars! It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s still a good queer sci-fi adventure!

If the adrenaline high of a bar fight could be captured in a novel, you’d find Bluebird at the top of the pile. The characters are interesting and a great combination of insecurity and swagger, nerves of steel and vulnerable. The main and secondary characters all felt like they were more than just cut & paste cliches or archetypes, and that’s really what lets you dig into the novel. The story itself is great. It is well plotted and well-paced, relentlessly moving forward but never feeling forced, with some brief “interludes” serving as the literary excuse to give us a second POV, and backstory of a character other than the protagonist, but also a chance to breathe between the action. The world building is on the scale of a space-opera, and I do kind of wish the story had more reason for us to visit more of the world, especially underclasses and refugees and so on, the rebels and the beggars and the working classes, all the typical characters who feel the brunt of the government’s oppression, the places where joy is rebellion are found amidst destitution and neglect. Our main character, Rig, seems to prefer these places, second maybe only to her ship, but we don’t really get to see a lot of them. It feels like the world-building is a really good set of bones and is waiting to have the details filled in, and I am hopeful that might happen in future novels, because what little we did get was exciting and fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed and endorse and would recommend this book, but some of the writing, especially in the early chapters, felt a little clunky. It wasn’t bad, it was just kind of expected and perfunctory, in some ways, both in terms of narrative and dialogue. Once the characters became more familiar the writing seemed to smooth out, as well, but I still always was acutely aware I was reading a novel, I wasn’t lost in it. With that said, the writing never slowed me down and didn’t stop me from always wanting to turn the page to see where it would go next. The story had action, intrigue, and heart, and it was a lot of fun. The characters and plot were compelling and rewarding, and nothing in terms of the story felt forced or rushed or unearned. There are so many great foundations laid I really hope more work is done in this world, whether with these same characters or not, because it is a rich universe and it seems like we have only seen the smallest bits of it.


I want to thank NetGalley and Angry Robot Books, who gave me a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this sci-fi book which delivered exactly as promised in its blurb. Rig is a female gunslinger with an attitude who doesn't belong to any of the 3 different factions in the galaxay and lives by her own moral compass.
Her old faction is chasing her to get their hands on weapon schematics and now they have kidnapped her sister to force her hand.
Forming an uneasy alliance with a fighter from another faction Rig tries to stay alive, safe her sister and make sure the weapons don't fall into the wrong hand.
Great fast-paced story with good world building, interesting characters and a great developing friendship between Gingka en Rig. This is a must read for any sci-fi fan that loves a good space fight and strong female characters.

***Thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book ***

3.5/5

Bluebird is fun. It's not the most original science fiction romp, but its action-packed scenes and character interactions make it entertaining.

Rig, a gifted weapons developer, abandoned her faction and lives as a gunslinging and thieving rebel. Her girlfriend, June, is a sexy librarian, and life is good when they're together. But, unfortunately, her former faction needs what Rig stole from them. If she doesn't give it back, they'll torture and kill her twin sister Daar.

With the help of friends and unexpected allies (Ginka, a mysterious agent of the Ossuary faction), armed with panache and pizzazz (her biocoded guns ), Rig is ready to fight. Who knows, maybe the days of the faction system will finally come to an end.

Good pacing, polished prose, and fun factor made it a quick read. Constant banter is fun until it isn't; some jokes land, some don't. It's almost as if the whole story was more banter-driven than character-driven. Not a bad thing, especially if you're looking for something lighter.

I liked the characters, but they lacked nuance and complexity. They're memorable and angsty, loud and bold, but not entirely convincing. Rig, a brilliant weapons designer, doesn't always act too bright. And that's okay - emotional intelligence doesn't always go hand in hand with the ability to solve complex scientific problems. All in all, I liked her, and I can see younger readers relate to her in ways I can't.

All told, Bluebird is flashy, action-packed, and quick to read. I had a good time reading it. It won't stay with me for months, but not every book has to. Recommended to sci-fi readers looking for an entertaining and quick read.

So this was an interesting book. It wasn't bad but I didn't find myself drawn into the storyline. This is very much a plot-driven book, so events were constantly happening and there wasn't too many slower scenes. However, I felt like this meant we didn't get the full character development that I prefer from a novel. There were also a lot of coincidences and things felt easy for the characters at all times. It didn't feel like the stakes were high or anything bad was truly going to happen. All in all, a good premise, but I felt like I wanted more from this book.

'Bluebird' is a story of rebellion, freedom and ties that cannot be broken. It's also one of the most gripping works of science fiction I've read in a while.

The main narrative of a rebel, Rig, who chooses justice and freedom over her own wellbeing, is intertwined with Ginka's history. Through a series of events, the two women become allies and friends in a world of perpetual war between factions. I enjoyed the different political dimensions of the story and found them pertinent and relatable to today's world. The relationships between the characters are complex and well thought through, making this book a highly enjoyable read.

I literally couldn't put the book down. The suspense and tension kept me on the edge of my seat all the way till the end. I was with Rig right from the start and rooted for her until the very end, yet I wasn't able to always tell how things were going to turn out.

Ciel Pierlot's storytelling is effortless. Her dialogue, characters and world-building are superb, making for an absolutely stunning debut. I'm looking forward to reading more work from the author. Big thanks to the NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for the reviewer's copy of the book.

Bluebird is a fun read, both a romp through space and a story about bringing down an oppressive system. But although I found it fun, I never really connected with it beyond that, hence the 3 star rating.

Here’s the point where I stress that a 3-star rating is not a bad rating. It means I liked this book. And I did enjoy reading it, so it’s one I would recommend. However, beyond that, I think my issues here were twofold: I never felt anything for the characters, and the plot rested solely on coincidence. Let’s take the first to begin with.

For all that I was being almost instructed to care about these characters, the people who had been pushed outside of their home (for want of a better word) and people who had chosen to leave after seeing the true face of their faction, I never really did. They were somewhat bland characters, in all honesty. None of them particularly jumped off the page for me although, by all accounts, they should have. They were interesting in conception, but not so much in execution.

Perhaps this was a result of the pacing, or compounded by it. As I said at the start, it’s a fast paced book, but that pacing works against it quite often. A lot of the plot beats rely entirely on coincidence—they hear the right conversation at the right time, they just happen across a person who can help them, they aren’t captured because someone else shows up as a distraction. None of these would be bad in isolation, but when the entire plot seems to rely on chance, it starts to become tiring. And also you start to lose interest. I never expected anything truly bad to happen to the characters because, chances were, a miracle coincidence would occur and save them at just the right time.

What I would say though, is that the balance between fast pacing and enough time to establish the world was pretty good. I never felt like the worldbuilding was too light touch. It wasn’t as in depth as I might have liked, to be sure, but it never felt lacking to me.

In the end, then, this book was one I did like reading, and one I would recommend. It just failed to become one that I loved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

First and best, I had a lot of fun reading this. I was in a bit of a reading slump when I started, but after the 30% mark or so, that reading slump had well... slumped off! Fast-paced, snarky, and warm, this book carried relationships and made them feel realistic. 4 out of 5 stars!

I appreciated the romance in it-- though I was absolutely hoping for some polyamory, I wasn't disappointed by the relationships we saw. They all loved each other so much, and understood the other had a life and priorities outside of them. I think the world-building made enough sense, if a bit cliche-- everyone choosing between three sides, outsiders disliked, but it didn't feel too aged a concept. I also really enjoyed the scenes of friendshup-making-- they felt honest and true, as did the slow trust-building.

One thing I do wonder: as Kashrini, Rig wears a headscarf, as does her sister. This is something that is mentioned in the book enough that even casual readers might notice, but something I didn't notice was an in-universe "explanation"-- it's out of religious reasons, for cultural reasons, to honor others, show devotion? While we shouldn't need reason for what can be rep in fantasy-- people can just be!-- the scene where a headscarf is used for dressing an injury and the stripping of a headscarf from another Kashrini during captivity does make me more curious as to why, especially as we get some other Kashrini lore. I wish this could have been more fleshed out! (unless I missed it-- I don't believe I did, but in that case, ignore this)

A really fun space adventure that manages to feel light even when tackling deep and messy topics. A little on the simplistic side for me, in parts, but that fit the vibe Pierlot seemed to be going for, and was balanced pretty well by things like Rig's complicated relationship with her past. I feel like it would make a really fun film!

I loved this so much. Like pre-ordered and want to own a physical copy and to shout from the roof tops that this is coming out.

Firstly the tagline of Lesbian Gunslingers in Space... can we take a moment for that? I hope it'll bring the hype that this book deserves. Because this book delivers VIBES. Is it perfect? no, it's not. But the Vibes are immaculate. I love the exploration of found family and what someone could consider the feeling of home. I appreciated the importance of names and how government/factions can take everything from you. It also explores belief systems and just how far you'll go for people who may not have supported you. It is a warm hug in those regards and the friend relationship between the two main characters Rig and Ginka (Cactus) is what I latched onto and those are the vibes. The world building was done so exquisitely and quickly that you knew just what was what, and I want all of the worldbuilding I have to endure be that seemless.

Now the semantics - THE LESBIAN RELATIONSHIP IS WITH A MAIN AND A SIDE CHARACTER, AND THE OTHER MAIN IS STRAIGHT. Just thought I'd get that out of the way first. Parts of the missions/decisions of some of the characters were confusing and a little predicable, but it kept twisting and doing things so I was still on the edge of my seat. There are things in the plot that could use some polish, but by the time we get to the clunkier parts, I was just going off vibes.

For comparisions I'd say it compares with Gideon the Ninth in the sassy vibes (although Griddle/Harrow are more sassy), maybe Mandelorian, and Illuminae too.

IF you can get past the clunkier plot points and the only one Lesbian couple, this is such a fun time and I am obsessed. I will be thinking about it for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

World building, or Universe building in the case of certain sci-fi epics, is a tricky business. Too much detail and it ends up feeling like a CIA factbook rather than a narrative. Too little and it all ends up a little sketchy, you need to know how a world works before you can judge how your characters move in it. And a problem that science fiction has is that even if your far future society has shed all of its connection with human history (or isn't even human at all) does this society seem plausible? Bluebird is a decent queer space adventure,, its characters fighting for very personal stakes in a much larger political war. But I am not sure I was ever really convinced by the politics or structure.

Known space is split between three factions, which fall down on broadly philosophical lines between science, art and unknowable religion. Dedication to your faction is everything, everyone seems to despite those without a faction, which our lead now appears to belong to. And our heroine Rig who is one of those gunslinging space pirate types is stuck in the middle of this trying to get her sister back. He sister is being held hostage by her own faction as Rig also used to be a cutting edge weapons designer. Its kind of here that I felt a real disconnect from this Universe - that no matter how cool or exciting the space action was, I wasn't completely convinced by a hyper competent scientist turned quite good rebel making pretty basic emotional errors about family and politics.

Bluebird works as an adventure piece and is gratifyingly self contained. There is also some nice stuff about libraries being sacrosanct and how friendship develop, and can be contrasted with relationships and family. But I was never sold on the setting.

Bluebird
By Ciel Pierlot

so, I haven't read that much SciFi before but this book may of just confirmed me as a fan.
Bluebird faces a lot of hard truths in a almost star wars like constructed world where those who fight for free will are seen as outlaws and thieves.

Rig is one of those outlawed when she stole her own weapon plans from her home plant to save millions of lives from the weapon that she had made.
she flees leaving behind her twin sister and joining the Bluebirds and gets to work saving lives that would of die by her weapon.
There are three factions that are fighting for control over the galaxy each one believing that they are the better and all want the weapon plans that Rig has taken, when her sister is bought into the mix, Rig doesn't hold back any longer as she and Ginka an odd girl who has saved her life a few times set out to save her.

I absolutely love this book, the detail of the worlds and plants, cities and characters is amazing and the book itself was without any flaws, I highly recommend this book for lovers of star-wars and scifi
happy reading :)

When Rig escapes off-world with crucial weapons tech, it triggers a series of events that find her fighting for her family and freedom.

Based on the blurb, I had hoped to love Bluebird. Lesbian gunslingers? Spies in space? Rig saving her sister? Sign me up! Unfortunately, while the book is filled with potential, for me it didn't quite live up to that potential. It felt to me as though there were a few missed opportunities e.g. more development with the romantic pairing or more threat from the spy operatives. My overall feeling is one of being overwhelmed by names, factions, codenames, and concepts, none of which were developed with enough time or space for me to feel settled in to the story. While I thought the story built up to an excellent and exciting finale, I struggled to care about any of the characters, and because the novel is quite long, that meant it often felt quite difficult to keep wading through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC of Bluebird. These opinions are my own.

Bluebird, by Ciel Pierlot, promises a lesbian gunslinger rebel fighting her way across the backdrop of a galaxy torn apart by war, desperate to save her sister, defy the faction she escaped, and do it all with panache and pizzazz. It didn’t just deliver. It knocked my socks off!

Everything starts when Rig escapes the life forced upon her by the Pyrite faction – one of using her incredible intellect to design weapons of mass death and destruction. Pyrite, along with rivals Ascetic and Ossuary, have waged war between themselves for millenia, conducting battle with no regard for the millions of civilians they’re killing along the way (they couldn’t hold those skirmishes on their own planets, after all). Safe to say Rig’s got a score to settle – and she gets right to it, joining rebels from outside the factions, ferrying refugees from areas about to turn into warzones, stealing back the stolen artifacts of her people – and making a girlfriend out of a gorgeous, brilliant, well-respected librarian while she’s at it.

But nothing precarious lasts forever, and when Pyrite agents track Rig down, she’s forced to join forces with a mysterious and deadly stranger known only as Ginka. Rig’s old faction have her twin sister, and a lot of pointed questions about just where the deadliest weapon designs she’d ever produced vanished to on the night she left. What follows is a high-stakes rescue mission across the galaxy – because all’s fair in love and war, and not everyone’s above fighting dirty.

When I tell you I loved this book, it doesn’t even come close. Rig and her assorted acquaintances are the kind of characters that will live on in my head – they felt real, they were just the right amount of sardonic, and they managed to both surprise and delight me (and cause me endless stress by being selfless heroines who crack wise, but care deeply, and put themselves in danger for others over and over again). There is a deep core of kindness to this book, but while Rig’s determined that pessimism is boring, she’s also an absolute crack shot and not afraid to be quick on the draw when people live down to her expectations. Ginka, meanwhile, is tiny, deadly, and prone to impromptu naps. The plot itself was so satisfyingly twisty, and the locations we were taken to along the way – stunning! Ciel Pierlot has built an entirely original universe, and described it beautifully – think of the landscapes of the Fifth Element, or Bladerunner, teeming with people or stark and isolated, glossy and shimmeringly beautiful or grimy, gritty and downtrodden by turn.

Bluebird has captured my heart entirely, and while it seems to be a standalone, there’s a whole galaxy left for the author to play with, should she choose to return. With her unusual blend of heartwarming, action-filled, high-stakes storytelling, I’ll be back for anything Ciel Pierlot does next.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I did find this book enjoyable overall, the plot did drag at times, and I could never find myself really invested in it or engaged with the characters an I never felt we really got to know them well enough.

I felt that the world building was the strongest part of the book, but it could have been more in-depth.

Excellent world building and action packed heroines. Interesting political takes allows a robust Robinhood vibe, with a bit of a love story or two thrown in. A fast and fun read.

FIRSTLY, a big thank you to NetGalley and to Angry Robot for giving me this ARC.

after a month of trudging through this novel, i have finally finished! overall, i enjoyed it.
here are the 4 things i liked about this story, and the 2 things i did not:

<u> what i liked about <i> bluebird </i> </u>

<b> the world-building </b>
i loved the world that this novel introduced me to. while the story did drag at times, i never felt as though the author was trying to info-dump in order to explain the world to me. i was, as a reader, able to follow along and gain a deep understanding of the factions and the different characters that existed in the world.

<b> the interludes </b>
i found the interludes to be the most interesting parts of the story. the history of Seven and X-74 was beautifully written and i was so captivated by their story.

<b> Ginka </b>
although not the protagonist of this story, Ginka remains my favourite character. i much preferred her over Rig. i found her story so much more interesting and i thought that her character was so much more likeable. her character growth was a pleasure to read.

<b> the last 30% of the story (including the ending) </b>
the action and plot of the last section of this story was what i had been hoping for throughout the first 70%. although it took a while for me to be truly interested in the plot, the last 30% did not disappoint me.

<b> the romances </b>
while cringy and immature at times, i did think that the romance between Rig and her librarian girlfriend, June, was cute and mostly well-written.


<u> what i did not like about <i> bluebird </i> </u>

<b> the humour attempts </b>
at times in this book, Rig cracked jokes that i found to be immature. some of her jokes read as though she was in middle-school, which was quite upsetting as i thought that her character was written well enough to be the comedic relief of her own story.

<b> the length and first half of the plot </b>
i did find this book to be longer than it needed to.
while the first half of the book was indeed action-packed, i didn’t find that it was always necessary for the plot and felt that it dragged at times.


overall, i am glad that i read this, there were just some points that made me unable to rate this book higher. thank you so much for this ARC, i’m very appreciative.

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.