Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The 5th Gender

This book marries the language and humor levels of

“You’re porking a geriatric!”

with pretty heavy topics of bio-deterministic societies or “your biological sex dictates your place”

and mandated/mandatory pregnancies pregnancy.

If there’s an author that can do that mash-up justice is this one, ridiculously overwrought sex scenes nothwithstanding. But the worldbuilding is very detailed, and, more importantly, very consistent.

Would have been worth exploring abortion.

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worthleyv's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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melodypowers65's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The 5th Gender is set in the same sci-fi universe as Crudrat, but where Crudrat was firmly YA, The 5th Gender is very much adult (including sex scenes between male humans/aliens and discussions of sex, murder and suicide).

Tristol, the main character, is a lovable, enthusiastic lavender alien from a race (Galoi) with 5 sexes/genders. Detective Drey Hastion is human, but seems to be from a different set of space humans than the Wheel humans from Crudrat. Comparing the different species in space and their attitudes to sex, gender and sexuality made for an interesting and open exploration of humanity's own, sometimes limited, views on those topics.

Overall the book is light, funny and sweet - generally what one expects from a Gail Carriger book! I think I preferred it to Crudrat, maybe because I felt like the sci-fi elements were less present? At its heart, the book is a romance and mystery story.

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alwaysshure's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Should've been called the sixth gender???? Because the plot was exploring zyga, which keeps being referred to as a gender.

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lisrt's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

The book tried to build a diverse and complex science-fiction world, which I think it does with relative success. This being said, some elements of the galoi felt a bit transphobic to me. The author tries to differentiate them from humans with galoi having 5 genders and humans having fewer, but this dichotomy erases the infinite number of genders that humans have.

The relationship between Tris and Drey felt rushed and without any real substance, though both characters were likeable enough. I did like the general plot of the book, but I think that many elements of the story could have used more polishing and detail.

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jennifox's review

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

The relationship felt a bit rushed and underdeveloped and the mystery was a bit preachy. Interesting universe though. I wish we'd seen more of life on the space station.

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