Carriger review
So I read a book called Changeless by Gail Carriger. It was the second in a series, and I liked it so much I blasted Overdrive at the local library with requests before the trip. I picked up the audiobooks for book #1 (Soulless) and #3 (Blameless), the paperbacks for Blameless and #4 (Heartless), and the e-book for Soulless. I listened to Soulless on the way down, finished it as e-book, and plan to listen to Blameless on the way back and finish it in paperback once I get home. The audiobooks are 11 hours long, and the trip is 8.
Soulless sets up an alternative universe where vampires, werewolves, and ghosts inhabit a steampunk world. It sounds awful and a bit trendy, but I liked it a lot. All the permutations; economic, historic, and political are well worked out. The heroine, Alexia Tarrabotti, is soulless. Born without a soul, she has the power to return the supernatural to normal, at least as long she remains in physical contact with them. Those who can be turned supernatural are believed to have an excess of soul, so the preternatural, or soulless, provide a counterbalance. Alexia has a particularly analytical turn of mind, and has taught herself the emotional ways of normal and supernatural from books.
I think the part that tickled me the most was Alexia's analyzing her own physical response to Lord Maccon's (Alpha werewolf of the Woolsey clan and head of the BUR, Bureau of Unnatural Registry for Her Majesty Queen Victoria's government) advances. It was the trap I generally fall into when writing soft pron for fic; going into physical detail and missing the emotional punch. Here the analysis is concurrent with Alexia totally losing it and it's marvelous fun to read.
So many times characters tug at your emotions in an obvious way and the emotion fades after the book is done. Some of Alexia's travails really touched me, and I want to know what happens to her. There is a strong element of Amelia Peabody about Alexia, and there's nothing wrong with that :) The steampunk elements get shown off in Alexia's strong interest in science and technology. Practical concerns like werewolves being naked when they change back into human form (they carry long cloaks folded into neat parcels in their mouths) are addressed. I always wonder about things like that. I think there's probably going to be a bit of repetition from one book to the next, accentuated by reading them one after another.
So, recommended for light reading! Have fun!
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Soulless sets up an alternative universe where vampires, werewolves, and ghosts inhabit a steampunk world. It sounds awful and a bit trendy, but I liked it a lot. All the permutations; economic, historic, and political are well worked out. The heroine, Alexia Tarrabotti, is soulless. Born without a soul, she has the power to return the supernatural to normal, at least as long she remains in physical contact with them. Those who can be turned supernatural are believed to have an excess of soul, so the preternatural, or soulless, provide a counterbalance. Alexia has a particularly analytical turn of mind, and has taught herself the emotional ways of normal and supernatural from books.
I think the part that tickled me the most was Alexia's analyzing her own physical response to Lord Maccon's (Alpha werewolf of the Woolsey clan and head of the BUR, Bureau of Unnatural Registry for Her Majesty Queen Victoria's government) advances. It was the trap I generally fall into when writing soft pron for fic; going into physical detail and missing the emotional punch. Here the analysis is concurrent with Alexia totally losing it and it's marvelous fun to read.
So many times characters tug at your emotions in an obvious way and the emotion fades after the book is done. Some of Alexia's travails really touched me, and I want to know what happens to her. There is a strong element of Amelia Peabody about Alexia, and there's nothing wrong with that :) The steampunk elements get shown off in Alexia's strong interest in science and technology. Practical concerns like werewolves being naked when they change back into human form (they carry long cloaks folded into neat parcels in their mouths) are addressed. I always wonder about things like that. I think there's probably going to be a bit of repetition from one book to the next, accentuated by reading them one after another.
So, recommended for light reading! Have fun!
This entry was originally posted at http://vjs2259.dreamwidth.org/290842.html. Please comment there using OpenID.