At best, this is a book of wild conveniences. 

But the human behavior on display here is the most alien shit and not even one character bats an eyelash at it.

I'm supposed to believe that humans are going to ignore aliens murdering a ship full of children, and instead focus on the real crime... of having an alien artifact in the human museum. People don't give a shit about returning stolen cultural artifacts to the original countries as it is. I don't believe they would give an entire speech about how the aliens -- who just murdered a ship full of children -- are the real victims.