Blameless
23. Gail Carriger, Blameless
Warning: MAJOR spoilers for Soulless and Changeless!
After her very public separation from her husband, Lady Alexia Maccon moves back in with her insufferable mother and obnoxious half-sisters. Alexia is now practically an outcast from polite society; she no longer has the support of the Woolsey pack, and Lord Akeldama - who would presumably have been her ally - is mysteriously out of town. Unwilling to take rejection lying down, Alexia is determined to vindicate herself in the eyes of both her husband and the world. To do so, she must leave England and confront the greatest danger she has faced yet: the Templars. Accompanied by Madame Lefoux and the faithful Floote, Alexia travels to Italy, battles murderous vampires, tastes pesto for the first time…and makes a shocking discovery about her unborn child.
This latest installment in the Parasol Protectorate series has gotten me very excited about the next two books - I can’t wait to find out what happens to these characters! Despite the breezy, tongue-in-cheek tone of the series, there are a few darker turns in this book which I found intriguing. There’s definitely room for a lot of interesting developments with the supporting characters, and I look forward to seeing what directions the various relationships will take. (Sorry that’s a bit vague, but I don’t want to spoil the book!) The plot of this novel is also very interesting, although interspersed with several dull action sequences. I just couldn’t concentrate on them, for some reason, and thus they failed to convince me. I still loved the comedy-of-manners aspect of the book, though, and I’ll definitely be reading Heartless when it comes out this summer.