If you imagine a Labrador puppy turned into a purple humanoid, you’ve pretty much got the idea Tris is sweet, kind, curious about everything, quick to joy, and pretty hyper. Tris is – biologically at least we’ll get to that – a male loga, which in human terms means he presents as male, has a male-analogous form, and uses male pronouns he is, however, capable of becoming pregnant, which is hugely relevant to the story in the sense that reproductive capability is of supreme importance to the galoi, the alien race to which he belongs. It’s more of a romance than a murder mystery, but to be honest that was a relief, since I’m not great with investigative stories and if the romance was maybe not the most realistic, well – it does make much more sense within the context of the story, and it’s cute and sweet enough that I was willing to suspend my disbelief and go with it. If anything, 5th Gender is slightly too simplistic to be ideal (at least for me), but it’s entertaining enough for me to forgive it for that. I didn’t expect it to be as sweet and adorable as it in fact was, and despite a few tragic revelations it made for wonderful fluff-reading – exactly what you want after a rough day at work when the 600-page-epic-fantasy-tome just feels like more work, and uncomplicated escapism is a nice warm bubble-bath. This is a wonderful little book – I pre-ordered it on a whim, mainly because I’ve found Carriger’s writing entertaining before and I’m always interested to see takes on alien gender and sexuality. Carriger) brings you a light-hearted romantic cozy mystery featuring an adorable lavender alien and his human crush. New York Times best selling author Gail Carriger (writing as G.L. and lots of emotively sexy tentacle hair. Which means that he and Detective Hastion are on the case… together.Ĭontains men who love other men in graphic detail, regardless of gender, biology, or skin color. Murder is so rare, the galoi don’t even have a word for it. They need the help of a human detective because there’s a murderer aboard their spaceship. He’s even begun to understand the complex nuances of human courting rituals.ĭetective Hastion is finally flirting back!Įxcept that Tristol’s beloved space station is unexpectedly contacted by the galoi – a xenophobic species with five genders, purple skin, and serious attitude. But he’s built a life for himself aboard a human space station. CarrigerĪ species that has no word for murder, has a murderer aboard their spaceship. The 5th Gender: A Tinkered Stars Mystery by G.L.

The 5th gender a tinkered stars mystery