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June 02, 2010

Review: Soulless

2009 Finishes: Books

I realized that I listed this as one of the best books I read last year, but never actually posted anything about it. Time to remedy that.


Soulless by Gail Carriger
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Pages: 373
Rating: 9.4

Imagine vampires and werewolves as an accepted but not exactly welcomed part of society - and part of Queen Victoria's government. Honestly, even if this book had nothing else going for it, it would have had me right there. But it does have other things going for it. Read this description (pulled from Amazon; I think it was on the back of the book, because I know I've read it before):

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
It's every bit as funny as that makes it sound. The steampunk version of Victorian England is well-drawn, the characters are vividly drawn (if a tad overdone at times), and the romance is both sweet and pretty hot without being sappy or sentimental. Fans of Amelia Peabody, especially, will love Alexia. I'm about to read the sequel, and I can't wait.

Posted by Kat at June 2, 2010 01:00 PM
Comments

I'm taking the sequel on vacation with me - it's been killing me to not dive in but I think it will be a nice beach read. I liked it a LOT more than I ever thought I would.

Posted by: Amy at June 3, 2010 09:02 AM

Thanks for posting this. I was going back & forth over whether to buy this book from Amazon for the last week and your review made up my mind. Just ordered via the link you posted.

Thanks!

Posted by: Jesilea at June 3, 2010 02:57 PM
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