Book 01 - Soulless by Gail Carriger
Soulless (Parasol Protectorate Part 1) by Gail Carriger
Alexia Tarabotti is a member of one of three types of supernatural beings living in a steampunk Austenesque version of London, and she just can't stay out of trouble.
To be honest, the first two chapters were very difficult to get through, being written in intentionally stilted Jane-Austen-style. I despaired of the thought of the whole book being like that. Fortunately, it got less extreme, or maybe I just got used to it. Either way, after the first chapter, I started enjoying it.
It's light reading - it didn't take me long to get through the rest of the book.
The world is nicely set up, and the exposition is less grating than in most other books. There is some noticeable exposition, but it's spread out over the book and didn't bother me too much.
What's really very well done is Alexia's family, which reads like it's been taken directly from Pride and Prejudice.
What I also liked were the hilarious sexy scenes - it turns out the combination of Austen's literary style and humor is not as unsexy as one would think. :D
* First things first: the cover, omg. Alexia is described as curvy and constantly eats and/or talks about food, but of course the cover has to show a corset model. I am pretty sure the author was/is not happy with that cover, either. Marketing idiots, grrr.
* I am wary of overweight heroines because of the romance novel trope that the heroine always has to be imperfect. I don't really want to put the author into the harlequin category, but my brain kept reminding me. I had trouble taking Alexia at face value in some places because of that, when I should really be happy about how she's portrayed. She's smart and curvy and she likes herself. What more could I ask for?
* I liked the whole political structures around werewolves and vampires. Finally an author who gets the century-spanning tactics of immortal beings right.
* The worldbuilding in general is pretty good. I also liked the clan/pack structures and the few details we got about international differences.
* What really annoyed me was the italicized speech of her best friend, the vampire dandy. The emphasis was always, always, on the wrong word, and it drove me batty. At some point, I just decided to ignore it altogether, and I could read it much more relaxedly then.
* I knew immediately that the American was part of the villains' organization. Typical plot device. But that he wasn't their leader, just some misguided participant who could only go along with it when he didn't know the victims, that appealed to me.
* The golem was... kinda weird? That they didn't manage to disable it earlier was also a tiny bit annoying, but I can excuse it because they were busy fighting for their lives. What bothered me more about it is that it is *impossible* to create a clockwork person using steampunk technology. Making it straight-up magic would have worked better for me. (They were already almost there with the word on its forehead, so why not just make it completely out of wax?)
* The octopi were funny the first half dozen times, and then they annoyed me at least as much as Alexia.
* I can't say I thought the same of her friend Ivy or even of her romantic interest, Maccon. Neither of them felt like persons to me, and they really should have. Especially since the first image of Maccon that stuck in my head was some old and bearded and stocky mayor-type person, and I never could get that image out again. I was always surprised whenever he was described as having wavy/shaggy blond hair. :)
* The plot itself was pretty good. I can never predict plot, but I liked that Alexia got really close. She did a lot of things right. That she still got caught was not because of stupidity or other plot devices.
* Okay, I have to say some more about the sexy scenes: they were absolutely hilarious. I don't think I have read sex scenes described in this much funny detail before (and I have read a lot of fanfic). I liked them a lot more than I thought I would. They were more fun than hot, but that didn't mean they were *not* hot.
* Also, first-time-dick-touching is always hilarious, no matter how you describe it, and the author described it wonderfully. Alexia is full of innocence and curiosity, and the combination was wonderful.
* I must say I like Alexia in general. She has interesting characteristics, never backs down from a confrontation, talks before she thinks, and she's smart. Very many traits with which to empathize.
4 stars for being hilarious!
1 - 4 stars - Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger [DW link & LJ link]
x-posted from dw (comments:
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