Audiobook11 hours
Space Unicorn Blues
Written by T.J. Berry
Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
A misfit crew race across the galaxy to prevent the genocide of magical creatures, in this unique science fiction debut. Having magical powers makes you less than human, a resource to be exploited. Half-unicorn Gary Cobalt is sick of slavery, captivity, and his horn being ground down to power faster-than-light travel. When he's finally free, all he wants is to run away in his ancestors' stone ship. Instead, Captain Jenny Perata steals the ship out from under him, so she can make an urgent delivery. But Jenny held him captive for a decade, and then Gary murdered her best friend... who was also the wife of her co-pilot, Cowboy Jim. What could possibly go right?
Related to Space Unicorn Blues
Titles in the series (2)
Space Unicorn Blues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Unicorn Flush Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Space Unicorn Blues
Rating: 3.6923076923076925 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
26 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I didn't get very far into this. The concept was fun - humans encounter aliens and it turns out aliens very closely resemble creatures from human mythology. But the opening chapters were a big long action scene, including a long complicated fight between lots of characters, and the action was really poorly written. It seemed very contradictory (one moment, the half-unicorn main character is talking about how heavy unicorns are, and the next moment, he's sitting in the lap of a woman in a wheelchair), and really confusing - I was trying to picture what was happening, and it really didn't make any sense.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An excellent story. It has just the right amount of sarcasm and an edge that makes it hard to stop reading. And I really liked the throwback to the Haunted Mansion (not a spoiler)!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Imaginative meld of fantasy and sci fi. We've gone into space and met dwarves, satyrs, unicorns and other fantasy critters. And what happened. Of course we had a war with them.I enjoyed the story, the world building and the characterization.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book, THIS book, THIS BOOK. What do you get when you cross Star Trek with Terry Pratchett's Discworld, a splash of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and any three of your favorite fantasy series? You get Space Unicorn Blues. Humorous and fun with a splash of commentary on human nature. You will LOVE these characters and hate these characters. I cheered and sobbed (literally) while reading about the aftermath of a war between humans and magical creatures (in space!).
..and I have it on good authority that this is the start of a new series (YAY!).
A review copy was provided by the publisher. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The idea of space unicorns made me anticipate this book with something like glee. The novel's handling of that beloved icon, however, surprised me. It's much grimier than I ever expected. As a science fiction novel, it presents a future extrapolated from humanity's worst behavior -- and, frankly, falls logically into recognizable patterns, indicting the way that humans probably would behave if/when we encounter other inhabited planets and species. And it's not pretty. Grim is the word I would use, in truth. It's also a compelling interplanetary adventure. The reader is introduced to Gary, an ex-convict half-unicorn who is quickly reunited with the crew of spacers who mistreated him years before, which led him to murder. The relationship between these characters is much more complicated than it sounds, with the entire history of human-alien relations playing out between this group of roughshod space adventurers, the government that's after them, and the magical aliens (unicorns, elves, dwarves, etc.) whose lives are at stake. Believe me, there are no sparkles and rainbows here. It all feels real and gritty and grounded.While the writing plays fast and loose with ideas, and sometimes tangles itself up enough that I had to go back a page and reread to understand the dynamics at play, the fusion of fantasy tropes with sci-fi, the sheer brass of the worldbuilding, is enough to keep one reading. Add to that the interesting emotional themes as Gary comes to terms both with his own past and the humanity of the people he used to hate, as well as the overarching story of impending doom, and you have a novel that carries you right along. I wouldn't call it a perfect book, but it's one of the most intriguing and certainly one of the boldest I've read in a while. The ending, which flirts with deus ex machina like it's an old boyfriend, doesn't satisfy so much as create a sense of anticipation: there's more story coming from this mess of a future and I want to be there for it. It's definitely not pretty, it's not the unicorns you expect, but this book is worth a read.