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A review by caitybell
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
5.0
If you are on TikTok, more specifically your FYP is all BookTok videos, you’ve probably seen all of the Ice Planet Barbarians shenanigans. I found it hilarious, but Scifi has never been a favorite genre of mine and neither has “Monster Romance”, which is what I categorized alien smut under (I no longer believe this). I figured it would not be my cup of tea.
I have never been more wrong in my entire life. Never. I binged the first four and the first novella and I feel like a changed woman. These are the some of the most feminist books I’ve read and I don’t know how Ruby Dixon has so much material to work with for such a limited cast, but, my god, I’m obsessed. The emotional depth and development between each human woman/alien couple continues to be as engaging and entertaining as the last.
Seriously. I’m not joking and I am not at all ashamed of my love of this series. When I say that my least favorite trope of all time is the pregnancy trope I mean it. I think I’d even take a love triangle over a plot centered at a woman getting pregnant. Apparently I’m a lying liar, because that is a driving force of this whole series and I love it.
I’m going to do a broad review of the series and after that, each individual book review will just be me fingerling, probably. But, here’s what you need to know about the series:
A group of women are abducted by aliens, only to be dropped off on a random planet as extra cargo due to some mechanical issue the alien’s spaceship has. This planet is covered in snow and ice. The women begin to call it Not-Hoth. While on this planet, barely surviving, they are discovered by the locals who are indeed very large blue aliens (sort of like Avatar’s aliens, tails and all) except these aliens are decked and built for a woman’s pleasure—they are ribbed…everywhere. All they want to do is find a mate and take care of their woman, but their tribe has very few females so they are ecstatic to find the human women.
There are sci-fi elements I’m leaving out, and a lot of individual development, but each book is a new couple and new struggle and personal trauma to overcome. And the spice is soooo good, it’s super smutty and delicious. Ruby Dixon really gives us what we want, a wide variety of tropes (there’s even one that I swear is basically a Tarzan and Jane retelling), romance (breeding kink, different sexual kinks, courting kink—I’m penning this term because the courting and relationship building in this book is *swoon*), characters (diverse), and development (actual emotional depth). Not to mention the books are short and so easily bingeable! And let’s talk about the covers, they are awful and only get more ridiculous as the series progresses but I wouldn’t have Ruby Dixon change them for the world!
I will also mention a few trigger warnings, there are elements of trauma that some of the girls either experience in the books or had experienced when they were back on Earth and are still working through their trauma. Such as SA, terminal diagnosis, and depression. While I find these books to be lighthearted, there are some darker moments. However, the main thread throughout each book is how these women overcome their past and heal from the horrors they’ve experienced.
I have never been more wrong in my entire life. Never. I binged the first four and the first novella and I feel like a changed woman. These are the some of the most feminist books I’ve read and I don’t know how Ruby Dixon has so much material to work with for such a limited cast, but, my god, I’m obsessed. The emotional depth and development between each human woman/alien couple continues to be as engaging and entertaining as the last.
Seriously. I’m not joking and I am not at all ashamed of my love of this series. When I say that my least favorite trope of all time is the pregnancy trope I mean it. I think I’d even take a love triangle over a plot centered at a woman getting pregnant. Apparently I’m a lying liar, because that is a driving force of this whole series and I love it.
I’m going to do a broad review of the series and after that, each individual book review will just be me fingerling, probably. But, here’s what you need to know about the series:
A group of women are abducted by aliens, only to be dropped off on a random planet as extra cargo due to some mechanical issue the alien’s spaceship has. This planet is covered in snow and ice. The women begin to call it Not-Hoth. While on this planet, barely surviving, they are discovered by the locals who are indeed very large blue aliens (sort of like Avatar’s aliens, tails and all) except these aliens are decked and built for a woman’s pleasure—they are ribbed…everywhere. All they want to do is find a mate and take care of their woman, but their tribe has very few females so they are ecstatic to find the human women.
There are sci-fi elements I’m leaving out, and a lot of individual development, but each book is a new couple and new struggle and personal trauma to overcome. And the spice is soooo good, it’s super smutty and delicious. Ruby Dixon really gives us what we want, a wide variety of tropes (there’s even one that I swear is basically a Tarzan and Jane retelling), romance (breeding kink, different sexual kinks, courting kink—I’m penning this term because the courting and relationship building in this book is *swoon*), characters (diverse), and development (actual emotional depth). Not to mention the books are short and so easily bingeable! And let’s talk about the covers, they are awful and only get more ridiculous as the series progresses but I wouldn’t have Ruby Dixon change them for the world!
I will also mention a few trigger warnings, there are elements of trauma that some of the girls either experience in the books or had experienced when they were back on Earth and are still working through their trauma. Such as SA, terminal diagnosis, and depression. While I find these books to be lighthearted, there are some darker moments. However, the main thread throughout each book is how these women overcome their past and heal from the horrors they’ve experienced.