Rules of Redemption (Firebird Chronicles, #1)

by T A White

[llamareads]

Wow, this is exactly the kind of scifi book I love! It's got a strong female character, lots of well-written side characters, and a bit of romance!

While I'm often critical of books that parcel out information in bits and drabs, I think it worked very successfully here. In the first few chapters, we know that a war happened and that our main character Kira served but has a lot of regrets around it. What exactly happened to alienate her from her old squad remains a mystery for a good part of the book, as well as her ultimate motivation for becoming a scavenger. There's layers on layers on layers, and every time I reread it, I find something new. The pacing is tight, with lots of action interspersed with the world building portions.

I loved Graydon, the love interest. While the majority of the book is from Kira's third-person POV, we get a few chapters from his POV that hint that there's more to the Tuann than meets the eye. What I loved the most was that while he's certainly protective of Kira, he also trusts her enough to step back and let her deal with her problems. That's the best kind of alpha male, in my opinion!

Overall, I absolutely love this book and can't wait for the sequel. While it's not as romance heavy as Ilona Andrew's Sweep of the Blade or Jessie Mihalik's Polaris Rising, I think readers who enjoyed those books would also love this one!