Reviewed by Chris

TITLE: The 5th Gender

SERIES:  Tinkered Stars Mystery

AUTHOR:  G.L. Carriger

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  346 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 18, 2019

BLURB:  

A species that has no word for murder, has a murderer aboard their spaceship.

ALIEN

Tristol lives in exile. But he’s built a life for himself aboard a human space station. He’s even begun to understand the complex nuances of human courting rituals.

Detective Hastion is finally flirting back!

MURDER

Except that Tristol’s beloved space station is unexpectedly contacted by the galoi – a xenophobic species with five genders, purple skin, and serious attitude. They need the help of a human detective because there’s a murderer aboard their spaceship. Murder is so rare, the galoi don’t even have a word for it.

Tristol knows this because he is galoi.

ROMANCE

Which means that he and Detective Hastion are on the case… together.

Delicate Sensibilities?

Contains men who love other men in graphic detail, regardless of gender, biology, or skin color… and lots of emotively sexy tentacle hair.

REVIEW:  

“There is no doubt about it. Humans are weird.”

There is something special about a story that grabs you in the first couple of  sentences. Looking at them again, there is nothing so unique about these two sentences. Nothing so shocking or awe-inspiring. And yet…I was caught, filled with an almost instinctual knowledge, grown out of decades of reading, that I was going to love this journey. Maybe it was because I am predisposed to like this author’s stories. Maybe it was because I was looking forward to this book. Or maybe, sometimes us humans are weird and find the oddest things intriguing. And in the brief few seconds it took me to read these sentences I was hooked. But that would have meant very little if the proceeding sentences, pages, and chapters had not kept me hooked.

The premise of the story is rather simple. Tristol, a galoi in exile from his home planet, lives aboard a space station working as a negotiator and go-between for the various people and aliens who live and interact there. It is a role he is most suited for, as galoi of his gender are predisposed to be liked by pretty-much everyone. However, he can never seem to catch the eye of the human he has longed to keep as his own, Detective Hastion. When a galoi ship unexpectedly shows up at the space station, though, things start to get a bit interesting. Not only are the galoi notoriously xenophobic and rarely seen (at least those who are not exiled), but the galoi have come in search of help in discovering who killed one of their shipmates–a crime that is incomprehensible and unknown to the galoi.

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a story from this author that was bad. Sure, there have been ones that have been too YA for my own tastes, but I generally feel safe in assuming that picking up one of their books means I will be having a good time. So I don’t think it will come as too great of a shock when I say this was a very good book. It was the first sci-fi book by Carriger that I’ve ever read (I’m unsure if she has written any previously and I just missed them), so it was different enough for me to not know exactly what I was in for. But be it sci-fi, paranormal, or steampunk…Carriger is a master at crafting characters that leap off the page and into the readers imagination.

And can I just say, Tristol is one of the floofiest and adorable characters that I’ve read about in a long time. But he is not without layers and depth. When he talks about why he left his planet, what life has been for him in the intervening years, you can’t help but feel a deep sympathy for him. You care for him. Want him to succeed, and thrive. And it is done so efficiently and quickly that you are not more than a page into the story when you realize that you’d do anything to see him happy. This level of character writing is how I know I’m reading a story from someone who knows how to put together a book worth reading and savoring.

I will say that the only real drawback I found in this story is how little of the mystery is actually on the page. While it was interesting, it mainly served as a way for Hastion (and readers) to get to know Tristol and the galoi better. Not a horrible thing, since all of it was incredibly interesting, but the lack of real page time meant the mystery was definitely a B-plot in the story. So if that is what you are looking for, you might come away a bit disappointed.

If, however, you want to read a sci-fi romance with a truly adorable couple, this is going to be right up you alley. All the romance parts are just too precious for words. Readers who have liked Lyn Gala’s Claimings series should really check this book out. Not exactly the same, but there were defiantly some of the same vibes going on. And not just because there are purple (excuse me, lavender) aliens involved. This story hits a lot of the same buttons, but also has it’s own interesting world to explore. I really do hope that this is but a taste of what is to come in this series.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon