A review by trin
The 5th Gender by Gail Carriger, G.L. Carriger

3.0

Enjoyably stupid; stupidly enjoyable. I tried Carriger's much more famous Parasol Protectorate series and did not like it all, but I was in the mood for some (NON-RAPEY -- surprisingly hard to find!) xeno romance and this fit the bill. The worldbuilding was sloppy -- a frequent thought was, "gosh I wish I could have done an editorial pass on this" -- but again, enjoyable; the aliens are really alien, not just humans painted purple. (Though they are...also that.) The pacing is bizarre, with the main couple getting together and falling in love and incessantly calling each other "baby" way too quickly, but ultimately, I just didn't care? I'm weirdly picky about schmoopy nonsense, and this was the rare schmoopy nonsense that (mostly) worked for me. Briefly, my brain turned off. I'll take the win.