Soulless

Oh, if life had allowed me to read this book in one sitting, I would have!

I've been reading a lot of paranormal romances lately, getting a feel for what I prefer in them, and this is the cream of the crop so far. I love the romance (and it's sense of equality!!), I love the characters (from the butler Floote to Lord Akeldama), and I love the worldbuilding (all bustles and Britishness and the clever intermeshing of the supernatural - and preternatural - with the world of Victorian England). Alexia is a delight, with her curves and her not-quite-beauty, not to mention her within-the-realms-of-believable feistiness, and Lord Maccon was a breath of fresh air as a love interest (at least, to me. He was still shouty, you know, but in a fun show more way, and he never acted as though he had a right to take things just because he was strong or powerful).

Everything about this book was a romp. A . show less

Overall a fun read that I finished quickly. I enjoyed Carriger's new take on magical/ supernatural systems, namely, Alexia being "soulless," and therefore anathema to magical creatures. She was a strong, funny and determined character, and I enjoyed reading about her adventures. I wasn't expecting a romance, but would say that despite being fairly heavy on the romantic element, it was well done and kept a light, funny tone. I did get the Wodehouse overtones, where adherence to Victorian conventions and social standards creates awkward situations. I thought the pace was great, a nice balance of action and dialogue. Credit for using the obvious antagonist as an unwilling dupe, not someone of sinister intent, and extra credit for making show more the automaton seriously creepy.

A couple of times the story switched perspective to that of Lord Maccon and then his sidekick Professor Lyall, which seemed odd when most of the story was from Alexia's viewpoint. I'm not sure that it helped develop suspense.

Characters were somewhat stereotypical, but done well. Our heroine was a self-reliant yet well-mannered "spinster" who frequently colluded with her personal Jeeves to circumvent family restrictions. The half-sisters were a little too Cinderella-styled, but they didn't linger.

I'm no specialist in the Victorian era, but there were a couple language anomalies that bugged even me. A character starting a phrase with "Gee..." sounded particularly suspicious. However, if one takes it lightheartedly and without a great deal of inspection, it's very enjoyable. I'll definitely be adding the next to my "to read" list, but will grab it from the library. show less

Miss Tarabotti is a proper Victorian lady. The daughter of upper class, proper British society with all the refinement, expectations and proprieties that entails.

She’s also a spinster at the grand old age of 25, cursed by her Italian father to be too dark, have too bold a nose and far too bold a tongue to ever fit in proper, elegant, high society. Miss Tarabotti is also Soulless. Soullessness is a trait that she inherited from her Italian father and like everything derived from him is considered without doubt to be a negative.

Unlike vampires and werewolves who have an overabundance of soul which grants them numerous special abilities, Miss Tarabotti’s lack of soul causes her touch to counteract their abilities, rendering them no show more more powerful than a normal human being. It should be noted that soulless people are far more rare than supernatural creatures, in fact she is the only one in Queen Victoria’s London, and at one time were used to actively hunt down paranormal being.

And this, coupled with her highly inquisitive nature and wide reading, leads her to explore this paranormal steampunk world to discover the fate of several missing vampire and werewolves - as well as the origin of brand new vampires that seem to have come from nowhere.

I have to say before anything how much I love the language of this book. It really does set the scene for a paranormal steampunk and I’ve not read one before that had such a powerful sense of era. I would be remiss if I did not point out that if one is unfamiliar with the vocabulary of time period, it could make for difficult reading or at the very least plenty of trips to the dictionary. Though the writing itself is extremely descriptive, it never rises to the level of florid.

Miss Tarabotti was a very appealing character to me. She was very strong, assertive and had a lot of her own agency and complete unwillingness to be ruled - yet at the same time always fit her position and time period - and it’s actually hilarious (seriously, I laughed out loud) to have this extremely sassy, assertive, sarcastic and witty character express herself entirely in the formal, flowery language of the Victorian upper classes. She has a lot of agency and, for once, very little spunkiness. We had all of this power and pressure on her to conform, to be a proper, respectable lady (and a spinster) which she constantly resisted. She managed to assert more agency than we have seen in protagonists of modern urban fantasy - without ever losing her sense of time and place. It was a very elegant characterization.

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This wonderful combination of romance, fantasy and steampunk was a joy to read. 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. The book reminds of the best of the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters and the books of Amanda Quick. I can hardly wait for the sequel.

Basically, I picked this book up because for certain reasons I figured it'd be good karma. Honestly, werewolves and vampires in Victorian London? Not really my thing. But the steampunk part intrigued me a little more, but even so I had no hopes of liking this book. Vampires bore me a lot.

To my surprise I found myself loving it. Oh, yes, Miss Tarabotti does suffer from the special snowflake syndrome, being soo much better than your average lady of the time, but this did not bother me as much as it could have. I found myself liking her sisters and airhead best friend, and I don't think they were treated too poorly by the narrative either. Miss Tarabotti isn't your average Victorian lady, since she doesn't possess a soul. Although, as we show more find out, she still suffers from a whole range of emotions, not all of them proper.

There are a lot of not nearly but definitely getting there sex-scenes in the book, but I thought they were hilarious, in a good way. They may not all have been necessary (come ON, the bad guys have you captured and are torturing your friend - and you're trying to seduce your boyfriend? Alexia, you know better than that...), but hey, compared to a lot of others books I've read this year no twins fucked each other, so that was a plus!

The fact that I am far from a library with no means to pick up the next book in the series annoyed me so much I had to buy all five books, hoping they'll be waiting for me when I get home from my vacation. This did not seem like my genre at all, but it turns out I may not know what kind of books I like after all. show less

“Soulless” did not live down to its title. It is, in fact, a book that demonstrates remarkable spirit and significant amounts of pluck under pressure.

Set in an alternative Victorian London, in which vampires and werewolves have been Establishment figures for centuries, dirigibles fill the sky and respectable young ladies do not move about town without a chaperon, “Soulless” tells of the trials and tribulations that befall the remarkable Miss Alexia Tarabotti after she unintentionally kills an impertinent vampire with the aid of a hair stick and a parasol.

Miss Tarabotti is remarkable not because of the stain of having had an Italian father from whom she has inherited unfashionably tanned skin and an over-proud nose, nor because, show more at twenty-seven she is still a spinster, nor even because of a regrettable tendency to read science and ask inconvenient questions, but rather because she was born without a soul. Being soulless gives her the ability to neutralize the powers of supernatural beings, cancelling out the over-abundance of soul that is believed to explain their existence.

“Soulless” is witty, fast-paced, and complex: It is delivered with a deftness of touch that keeps it from plummeting into the horrors of pastiche. It is far from simple to create a Victorian feel to a book while introducing supernatural beings and an alternative political history but Gail Carriger does it with an ease of execution and flair for linguistic nuance which enables me almost completely to overlook the misfortune of her having been born in America. This is, after all, not her fault.

“Soulless” provided me with a splendid diversion from its first page to its last. It was aided in this by skillful and playful narration by Emily Gray, who mastered not only the rhythm of the language and the pace of the humour but the wide variety of voices and accents that the book calls for.

If you feel the need, or simply are privileged enough to have the opportunity, to spend a few hours away from the cares and traumas of the early twenty-first century, then this reader recommends an excursion into a supernatural Victorian London in the company of Miss Alexia Tarabotti. show less

Alexia Tarabotti is not like other girls, she's old, twenty-six actually, and plain with a large nose and tan skin, but being half Italian she can help neither the nose nor the tan. All of this is undesirable enough without being outspoken and assertive; it's no wonder that she is a soulless spinster.

All Alexia wanted was a quite place to be alone to enjoy some tea and treacle tart without being harassed, accosted or annoyed in any way. However she suffered the height of rudeness when a rogue vampire not only tried to bite her but sat in her treacle tart without even the manners to intrude himself first.

Well what choice did she have but to kill the insufferable fellow, besides with that badly tied cravat and cheep shirt the vampire was show more practically asking for it. Lord Maccon, werewolf and head of the BUR, would gladly liked to have seen an end to the whole messy affair were it not the beginnings of a dangerous and attractive mystery.

Soulless gives a Victorian twist to the vampire/werewolf genre that is highly creative and utterly hilarious. Traversing the dangers of social etiquette, scientific advancements, rituals in courtship and an unknown danger that is putting all at risk, Alexia is able to keep her dignity, for the most part, but her reputation may be shot. A daringly delightful detective story that is deliciously satisfying. show less