Jenny Jaybles reviewed The luck of Brin's five by Cherry Wilder
Early steampunk cute alien family sci fi adventure from 1977
4 stars
There are some really lovely beautiful imagery and moving moments. It is not just a sci fi adventure story but a cute family story with elements of steampunk before that was even a thing. There are minor things one could nit pick about the book. The Mourians have way too many similar sounding names which makes you get the characters confused. Because an alien teenage boy character is the narrator he glosses over a lot of stuff about their culture that the character would probably assume you understand but of course you don't. And so although that is realistic if we are imaging this story being told by someone from another planet with a very different culture it can make the reader confused. However you can just delight and roll with the mystery and spend time trying to figure out the culture from the little clues. It's up to you …
There are some really lovely beautiful imagery and moving moments. It is not just a sci fi adventure story but a cute family story with elements of steampunk before that was even a thing. There are minor things one could nit pick about the book. The Mourians have way too many similar sounding names which makes you get the characters confused. Because an alien teenage boy character is the narrator he glosses over a lot of stuff about their culture that the character would probably assume you understand but of course you don't. And so although that is realistic if we are imaging this story being told by someone from another planet with a very different culture it can make the reader confused. However you can just delight and roll with the mystery and spend time trying to figure out the culture from the little clues. It's up to you to figure out if you want to have fun reading this book or get all frustrated and impatient at some minor stuff.