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A review by nonesensed
The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger
4.0
Tristol is a galoi and an exile. This means that, while still biologically a galoi, his xenophobic species has exiled him to live among aliens. Tristol is fairly happy with his life despite this. Humans are fun and funny, and he's got a very attractive human detective to moon over. Said human detective unfortunately lives under the impression that all galoi are polyamorous, which isn't his cup of tea at all, so the mutual romantic and sexual attraction there might lead nowhere. Or? Well, add in an approaching galoi ship in need of a homicide detective and the maybe-couple will have other things to occupy their minds too very soon.
A fun read! I love stories with culture clashes, especially ones where we explore what it would be like to meet different sentient species (be they aliens or fantasy creatures). The galoi, and the other alien species mentioned in this book, were fun non-humans to get to know, and the romance was cute.
As a personal preference, I would have enjoyed a little more unresolved sexual tension between our two leads before they hooked up, even if it's par for the course that the leads get together in romance/erotica books. A little more build-up would have been fun since miscommunication was their introduction to the reader, so to speak. The mood of the book also whip-lashed a bit, going from sugar sweet romance with explicit but equally sugar sweet explicit sex, to a murder investigation that turns out to be a suicide due to an unwanted pregnancy... and the briefly back to sugar sweet at the very end.
All in all, I enjoyed this! Would absolutely read more stories set in this universe, to see more of the galoi and address all the things Tristol clearly doesn't know about his own species. For example, I highly doubt that "being trans" is a uniquely human thing, but I do believe that Tristol thinks so, and that the culture he grew up with thinks so, based on how little he knows about his own situation re: exile and his own gender.
Recommended if you want a fun, light read about a sexy purple space elf with tentacle hair finding love, but do keep in mind that the story also focuses on a murder investigation, with all the terrible things such a storyline can entail.
A fun read! I love stories with culture clashes, especially ones where we explore what it would be like to meet different sentient species (be they aliens or fantasy creatures). The galoi, and the other alien species mentioned in this book, were fun non-humans to get to know, and the romance was cute.
As a personal preference, I would have enjoyed a little more unresolved sexual tension between our two leads before they hooked up, even if it's par for the course that the leads get together in romance/erotica books. A little more build-up would have been fun since miscommunication was their introduction to the reader, so to speak. The mood of the book also whip-lashed a bit, going from sugar sweet romance with explicit but equally sugar sweet explicit sex, to
All in all, I enjoyed this! Would absolutely read more stories set in this universe, to see more of the galoi and address all the things Tristol clearly doesn't know about his own species. For example, I highly doubt that "being trans" is a uniquely human thing, but I do believe that Tristol thinks so, and that the culture he grew up with thinks so, based on how little he knows about his own situation re: exile and his own gender.
Recommended if you want a fun, light read about a sexy purple space elf with tentacle hair finding love, but do keep in mind that the story also focuses on a murder investigation, with all the terrible things such a storyline can entail.