Amazon stats: 4.5/5 Stars based on 177 Customer Reviews
Synopsis:
Queen Victoria has a Shadow Council made up of top representatives from all supernatural species, and the Council oversees law and justice. However, when the super naturals come under attack and fingers are being pointed everywhere only Alexia Tarabotti can see both sides of the coin. But can she stop the killings before she herself ends up as victim?
Author:
Gail Carriger was one of the attendees at the recent Balticon44 convention that I attended over the Memorial Day Weekend. I had never heard of her before that, but found her to be very pleasant and knowledgeable.
Ms. Carriger is New York Times Best-selling author for The Parasol Protectorate which is described as a Victorian-era, steam punk, urban fantasy series.
Review:
I did enjoy the book overall but found very little “steam punk” to crow about. The book had a single dirigible that played no part of the overall plot. The only real clockwork element was the main character’s parasol. And steam works only really came into play as a world-building element. The lack of more steam punk was not a crime to me, but I did find using it almost solely as world-building to be a cheap gimmick to fit the book into a popular new genre.
25-year-old, bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster in Victorian England. Her father, deceased; her mother, remarried with two new daughters from the remarriage. Sound familiar? I saw the trope as Cinderella meets a Jane Austen novel.
My impression of the overall story was “entertaining” and even “full of action” in some parts. The humor is very Victorian, full of wit and sarcasm. While this cannot carry a story, it served Ms. Carriger very well and I found myself giggling and laughing all the way through the book.
Soulless is based on a romance novel type story arc with mystery mixed in, so do expect to come across some more risqué bits. However, it was very tastefully portrayed and to a certain extent, integral to the over-all plot.
The vampire versus werewolf [V vs. W] trope can be very over used and very badly done in most urban fantasies. While Soulless was not the best example of a well-done V vs. W, it was by no means overdone or hard to believe. The story is set in a world where the supernatural species are common knowledge to the normal’s. As such, shadow government agencies are in place to protect both the supernatural and the common.
The politics and scheming were easily understood and quite believable. However, there did seem to be a major element of the Underworld understanding of viruses and such causing the supernatural changes. While this seemed to have been done away with at the end of the book, the idea was left hanging long enough that it seemed as though the author was not quite sure herself why the super naturals existed.
The mystery aspect was definitely worth the reader’s time; but as a prolific reader of the Lord Peter Wimsey series and Hercule Poirot I found the dénouement a bit telegraphed.
Summary:
While I enjoyed the book and will probably find myself reading the rest of the series as they come out, I had some major issues with the logic and reasoning behind certain aspects. It was a fun ride through Victorian England and had enough romantic fluff to keep my brain from working too hard. Which, I’ll admit it, was a major reason I picked up the book in the first place.
I would recommend it as a lazy afternoon read; or as in my case, a good sick-day read. It is just fun enough to keep the reader engaged, and just heavy enough to be inclined to keep reading the series.
FINAL RATING: I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
