3.5 out of 5
I was hoping to read some deeper character developments or
improvements to the main storyline; after all, this is the fifth book I have
read in the series. However, everyone remains the same, and the plot remains
the same: little mentions about the characters’ school lives, sucked into the
black hole radio, meeting alien species, bad ugly, good cute, and characters do
some elaborate things to save the oppressed aliens, all the while barely have
any sense of danger or worries, and everything always goes in their way,
regardless of how elaborate the challenges and threats they face. I also have
more struggle to like the characters; they still feel detached and annoying at
times, and the implication of cheating in their sports game is a bit hard to
brush off.
However, maybe I’m reading and wanting it to be a more
mature book that doesn’t simplify issues that much, and that must be the wrong
way of reading it because this book is definitely not intended for me. Most
likely, the target audience would like it the way it is. Furilani is a
fast-read, entertaining book, with the idea of sploot being the winner. I like
their uniqueness and their camouflage ability. Besides that, world-building is
creative and fun.
The main storyline is for the characters to take pity and
try to free these sploots, who have become merely fashion, hanging onto the
owners as part of accessories. Although thankfully, they don’t have to be dead
for that. I feel that with this plot, a big loophole hasn’t been answered. For
their ability and intelligence, it becomes questionable why sploots can’t save
themselves because they are clearly very capable of doing so. Something is
missing about why they ‘oblige’ when they can easily escape. It doesn’t have to
be extravagant; maybe the bad guy has some other control over them instead of
just questionable physical control. In that way, the ending would work better,
that the sploots want to entertain, not have to, and maybe they can still
become ‘fashion’ by being happy pets and bring out the colors without being
forced because, after all, the evil characters and community changing their
minds, habits, and cultures over a parade is just too magical.
