Soulless, by Gail Carriger
I picked up this book on a whim with the Borders gift card I got for Christmas. It's an urban fantasy with some steampunk elements, set in alternate Victorian England inhabited by werewolves and vampires. Sounds right up my alley!
The protagonist of the book, Alexia Tarabotti, has a special power of her own - she's a preternatural, able to neutralize the supernatural powers of werewolves and vampires. This makes her an ideal vampire/werewolf hunter, and also a target. But this book is a romantic comedy, which means she spends most of her time flirting and trading witty repartee with them instead.
Alexia, although likeable, is also the book's greatest flaw. She's too perfect. Sure, she's outspoken and excessively educated and not particularly good looking by Victorian standards, but that's just another way of saying she's confident, smart, and voluptuous. From a modern perspective, these are all positive qualities, and her character comes across as anacrhonistic.
Another frustration is that Alexia doesn't make any mistakes. I don't want to reveal too many spoilers about the plot, but all of the undesirable things that happen to her, happen because she's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since she doesn't make mistakes, she doesn't learn from them. The Alexia on the last page of the book is the same as the Alexia on the first page. Add in the fact that two (rich, good looking) men fall in love with her, and Alexia looks a lot like a Mary Sue.
That said, there was a lot to enjoy in this novel. The world building kept me reading more than anything else; the theories put forth to explain supernatural ability were entertaining and seemed suitabily Victorian. (After all, the era was one where people obsessed over spiritualism!) Half the fun was picking out the differences in our time line and this alternate one. Not everything is explained, but little details add to the authenticity, and are dropped into the plot as if completely ordinary. For example, the Colt Lupus revolver, which shoots silver bullets, is used for hunting werewolves in the American West... little details like that make the alternate world come alive.
There were steampunk elements (airships, machina) but they weren't overly emphasized. I would call this an urban fantasy with steampunk elements, and not a steampunk novel.
The tone was light and witty, and the dialogue occasionally made me laugh out loud. The characters were preoccupied with etiquette, clothing and food, which could be very entertaining considering Victorian era customs seem bizarre today to begin with. I was particularly amused by the descriptions of Lord Akeldama's mansion, decorated in a sort of smutty rococo.
The romance elements were reasonably well developed, with the love interest being a more interesting character than Alexia herself. He at least had some internal conflict to deal with. I found the lengthy descriptions of their make out sessions to be gratuitous, but maybe I'm just old fashioned to prefer character and relationship development over smooching.
Overall, this was a fun and entertaining read, but nothing deep. The good worldbuilding and comic tone maintained throughout made it worth a read. If the author can work on her character development, she has potential as a solid writer of romantic fantasy.
The protagonist of the book, Alexia Tarabotti, has a special power of her own - she's a preternatural, able to neutralize the supernatural powers of werewolves and vampires. This makes her an ideal vampire/werewolf hunter, and also a target. But this book is a romantic comedy, which means she spends most of her time flirting and trading witty repartee with them instead.
Alexia, although likeable, is also the book's greatest flaw. She's too perfect. Sure, she's outspoken and excessively educated and not particularly good looking by Victorian standards, but that's just another way of saying she's confident, smart, and voluptuous. From a modern perspective, these are all positive qualities, and her character comes across as anacrhonistic.
Another frustration is that Alexia doesn't make any mistakes. I don't want to reveal too many spoilers about the plot, but all of the undesirable things that happen to her, happen because she's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since she doesn't make mistakes, she doesn't learn from them. The Alexia on the last page of the book is the same as the Alexia on the first page. Add in the fact that two (rich, good looking) men fall in love with her, and Alexia looks a lot like a Mary Sue.
That said, there was a lot to enjoy in this novel. The world building kept me reading more than anything else; the theories put forth to explain supernatural ability were entertaining and seemed suitabily Victorian. (After all, the era was one where people obsessed over spiritualism!) Half the fun was picking out the differences in our time line and this alternate one. Not everything is explained, but little details add to the authenticity, and are dropped into the plot as if completely ordinary. For example, the Colt Lupus revolver, which shoots silver bullets, is used for hunting werewolves in the American West... little details like that make the alternate world come alive.
There were steampunk elements (airships, machina) but they weren't overly emphasized. I would call this an urban fantasy with steampunk elements, and not a steampunk novel.
The tone was light and witty, and the dialogue occasionally made me laugh out loud. The characters were preoccupied with etiquette, clothing and food, which could be very entertaining considering Victorian era customs seem bizarre today to begin with. I was particularly amused by the descriptions of Lord Akeldama's mansion, decorated in a sort of smutty rococo.
The romance elements were reasonably well developed, with the love interest being a more interesting character than Alexia herself. He at least had some internal conflict to deal with. I found the lengthy descriptions of their make out sessions to be gratuitous, but maybe I'm just old fashioned to prefer character and relationship development over smooching.
Overall, this was a fun and entertaining read, but nothing deep. The good worldbuilding and comic tone maintained throughout made it worth a read. If the author can work on her character development, she has potential as a solid writer of romantic fantasy.