Alien Redemption by Gloria Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Claudia Zimmerman is a doctor, or at least she used to be before she was thrust out of her profession after being blamed for something which wasn’t her fault, all thanks to her employer wanting to save face rather than admit a mistake. The main drawback to this is that it has meant she has had to stay in hiding under an assumed name and not spending long periods in any one place.

As part of her disgraced status, she finds a job on a ship for medical personnel and decides it might be her only way off of the station she is currently in and escape her woes, however, that was not to be and instead she finds that the captain knows exactly who she is and what she has done, or at least been railroaded for. She is in shock and has no idea how to respond until the captain decides to go in for a little blackmail and threatens to turn her in if she doesn’t join his crew and so reluctantly, she does exactly that.

As the days and weeks pass, Claudia becomes more used to her situation and her role, as well as the challenges which come with it, including and almost permanent state of stress and anxiety about what the captain will threaten her with next, but she does her job well and looks after the crew. Normally, she isn’t allowed off the ship while they are on jobs, but one day, she is requested, and she knows full well that what she is about to do is something she will have qualms about. It turns out she is right, and her assignment is distasteful and downright abhorrent, especially when it turns out that the reason she is there, is for her to run checks on a new, sentient and humanoid species for a very specific purpose.

The more time she spends with these individuals, the more she comes to feelings of protectiveness and is loath to let the captains plan come to fruition, but will she be able to do that and stay alive while looking after these beautiful, birdlike creatures, or will she end up out of her depth? This is an epic sci-fi adventure full of plots, secrets, lies and revelations as one woman seeks to protect a new species from a less that positive fate while battling her internal mechanisms and biases, which spins a story full of unpredictability and emotional ups and downs throughout.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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