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Gail Carriger

Author of Soulless

52+ Works 28,171 Members 2,012 Reviews 95 Favorited

About the Author

Gail Carriger is a New York Times Bestselling author. Her books are urbane fantasies mixed with steampunk. Her debut novel, Soulless, won the ALA's Alex Award and was nominated for the Compton Crook, Campbell, and Locus Awards. Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, Timeless, Soulless Vol. 1 (the show more manga), Soulless Vol. 2 (the manga of Changeless) were all New York Times Bestsellers. The first in her steampunk Finishing School series for young adults, Etiquette & Espionage, released Feb. 5 2013, was an instant NYT Bestseller. The second book in the Finishing School series, Curtsies & Conspiracies, released Nov. 5, 2013, and debuted at #5 on the NYT YA Bestseller list. In 2015 her title, Prudence, also made The New York Times High Profile Titles List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Gail Carriger

Soulless (2009) 5,779 copies
Changeless (2010) 3,156 copies
Blameless (2010) 2,793 copies
Etiquette & Espionage (2013) 2,787 copies
Heartless (2011) 2,229 copies
Timeless (2012) 1,862 copies
Curtsies & Conspiracies (2013) 1,447 copies
Waistcoats & Weaponry (2014) 1,142 copies
Prudence (2015) 1,082 copies
Manners & Mutiny (2015) 888 copies
Imprudence (2016) 628 copies
Competence (2018) 387 copies
Poison or Protect (2016) 316 copies
Romancing the Inventor (2016) 282 copies
Reticence (2019) 275 copies
How to Marry a Werewolf (2018) 223 copies
Romancing the Werewolf (2017) 210 copies
The Sumage Solution (2017) 161 copies
Defy or Defend (2020) 140 copies
Marine Biology (2010) 129 copies
The 5th Gender (2019) 110 copies
The Omega Objection (2018) 86 copies
My Sister's Song (1988) 85 copies
Ambush or Adore (2021) 83 copies
Fairy Debt (2007) 75 copies
The Enforcer Enigma (2020) 62 copies
Crudrat: The Tinkered Stars (2015) 57 copies
Divinity 36 (2023) — Author — 36 copies
Demigod 12 (2023) 23 copies
Dome 6 (2023) 20 copies
A Carriger Quartet (2015) 14 copies
Fan Service (2019) 12 copies
Vixen Ecology (2021) 11 copies
Voices of Clay (2006) 7 copies

Associated Works

Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded (2010) — Contributor — 305 copies
Sword and Sorceress XVII (2000) — Contributor — 304 copies
The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2 (2010) — Contributor — 152 copies
Sword and Sorceress XXII (2007) — Contributor — 71 copies
Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy (2007) — Contributor — 33 copies
Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt (2017) — Contributor — 28 copies
The Mammoth Book of the Mummy (2017) — Contributor — 25 copies
Funny Fantasy (2016) — Contributor — 23 copies
The Book of the Dead (2013) — Contributor — 21 copies
FenCon VIII — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

adult (133) adventure (134) alternate history (566) anthology (173) audiobook (141) ebook (680) England (397) fantasy (3,359) fiction (1,919) finishing school (171) goodreads (142) historical (370) historical fantasy (258) historical fiction (484) humor (343) Kindle (438) London (263) mystery (361) own (148) paranormal (1,096) paranormal romance (381) Parasol Protectorate (541) parasol protectorate series (165) read (382) romance (1,121) science fiction (536) series (691) sff (298) shapeshifters (201) steampunk (4,381) supernatural (480) to-read (2,658) urban fantasy (719) vampire (241) vampires (1,773) Victorian (673) werewolf (139) werewolves (1,536) YA (388) young adult (500)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Borregaard, Tofa
Other names
Borregaard, T.
Carriger, G.L.
Birthdate
1976-05-04
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Bolinas, Marin County, California, USA
Places of residence
California, USA
England, UK
Education
University of California, Santa Cruz (M.A.) (Anthropology) (2008)
University of Nottingham (M.Sc.) (Archaeological Materials) (2000)
Oberlin College
Marin Academy
Occupations
novelist
short-story writer
archaeologist
Organizations
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Short biography
Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit. Soulless is her first book.

Members

Discussions

How to Correct Series Order in Librarything Series (March 2022)

Reviews

Series Info/Source: This is set in the Tinkered Stars universe but standaalone. I borrowed a copy of this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: I absolutely adore the Tinkered Starsong Trilogy and was incredibly excited to read another book set in that world. This ended up being okay but not nearly as well done or as fun as I expected. I think if I had read this before I read the Tinkered Starsong series I might have been more excited about it. That series set my expectations really high and additionally I didn't get the wonder about learning about this world since I already knew about it from that series.

This story follows Maura, a crudrat, who is getting too big for crud-ratting. Her and a friend start to dream up ways Maura might escape the Wheel. However, they are only dreams until Maura spots an alien getting led to prison and ends up involved in helping him escape.

This started out really slow and I really struggled to engage with Maura and the story. I was hoping that we would learn a lot more about the Wheel and Crudratting here and we do learn a bit more but it just wasn't built out as much as I had hoped. For the first 50% of this book I struggled to stay engaged, I kept putting the book down to find other things to do. There were also a lot of typos in the first parts of the book; misspellings, faulty punctuation...really basic stuff. I really wanted to love this though, so I stuck with it.

The second half of the book was a lot better. Maura gets to experience a new planet and see new species of aliens. I really enjoyed this a lot and thought Maura really came into her own as the story progressed. I loved that she knew her strengths and was happy to live up to those strengths rather than try to meet other people's expectations of her. I also loved that we saw other parts of cultures and aliens that were also talked about in the Tinkered Starsong series, this built out some of the races better for me. I did think things ended very unfinished feeling and would love to see a book that builds out more of Maura's story.

So, I am a bit torn on this one. I really loved the second half of the book but thought the first half was slow and awkward. This book really needs some better editing, luckily I borrowed this from the library and didn't purchase it, so I don't own this poorly edited book. Hopefully they will push out an updated, edited version at some point.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall I am glad I read this but really struggled with both the beginning of the book and the poor editing. I oscillated between 3 and 4 stars, so ultimately decided on 3.5 stars. The real question is whether or not I will read "The 5th Gender". I am a bit reluctant too because of how poorly edited this book was, but I do love this world and would like to read stories set in it.. I would definitely recommend reading The Tinkered Starsong series over this series. This book does give some additional background on The Wheel, but I am not sure if it was enough background to enhance my enjoyment of The Tinkered Starsong series.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
krau0098 | 3 other reviews | Mar 7, 2024 |
An excellent short story providing background for the entire parasol protectorate series. Stands alone very well.
Multi-voiced audio is clear and well done.
 
Flagged
scraps | 19 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
I’ve missed Dimity and this book was perfect. Her whole renovation takeover and handling of the hive was entertaining and very well done. I love her relationship with Crispin and it would be terrific to have a book with all of the new couples coming together and interacting. I think at this point I’ve read everything by Gail Carriger and I can’t wait for the next one. Conveniently it also works for the "A Spy Novel" part of my 2020 reading challenge.
 
Flagged
Linyarai | 8 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
I didn't love this one. I'm glad it was for charity and I understand why she wrote it and the message, but it just felt a bit short and rushed. I know a short story is supposed to be short, it was just lacking the magic of the rest of the series.
 
Flagged
Linyarai | 2 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |

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Carrie Schechter Cover artist, Cover photographer
Derek Caballero Photographer, Cover artist
Alison Impey Cover designer
Allison Impey Designer
Lena Karlin Translator
Jensine Eckwall Illustrator
Starla Huchton Cover designer
Tracy Shaw Cover designer
Nina Pierce Designer
Anita Nirschl Übersetzer
Emma Newman Narrator
Chad Roberts Designer
Michael Roberts Cover artist
Vanessa Applegate Photographer
Don Sipley Cover artist
Larry Rostant Cover artist
Peter Newman Narrator
Jim Vetter Cover artist
Kirt Graves Narrator
J. Daniel Sawyer Cover designer
Paul Sizer Cover artist

Statistics

Works
52
Also by
10
Members
28,171
Popularity
#717
Rating
3.9
Reviews
2,012
ISBNs
334
Languages
12
Favorited
95

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