55 Books in a Year: Book #33 Changeless

So, after I read Soulless I spent a lot of time on Gail Carriger's website/bloggie thing. It's a pretty awesome site, but it's even cooler after you've read her book and gotten into the minds of her characters...she's pretty adorable. There's a daily dose (your moment of parasol, your infusion of cute, your tisane of smart, and your writerly tinctures) and she's so clever all of the time.

This book isn't really much different than the first. There are some adorable times with Lord and Lady Maccon (why buy nightgowns, really?), there's a scene where Lord Maccon is naked in the middle of London...that was fun to imagine *cough, cough*, Ivy's love life also heats up which is pretty fun to read about, there's a fight on a dirigible (who's reasons and answers aren't totally fleshed out by the end of the book, I believe on purpose!), and there's a mummy full of mystical wonder. Alexia's sister is also along for the ride, I'm still not really sure why she's in the book as there are enough characters to keep track of without her whining and complaining and flirting and fainting. There are some new gadgets like the aether transmitter and the book takes place mostly in Scotland.

You know actually when I think about it, this story much like the story from the first book is full of mystery and kept me on my toes throughout. It's the characters that didn't really do it for me. Like I mentioned there's Alexia's sister (I can't even remember her name), Ivy is especially annoying and faints too and often, and then there's this character a tall French lady, Madame Lefoux, who Alexia thinks may be a spy (this woman has some sort of crush on Alexia that I just found distracting and unnecessary), Angelique shows her true colors, and Lord Maccon's wolf and human (yes, human) descendants are a bit stubborn and don't understand why he is so angry with them.

So, storywise, Book Two in the Parasol Protectorate series is just as good as the first. It's the characters that make it a little less than the first. It isn't until the end that this truly comes into fruition. Since I don't have to wait until the third book, I know everything turns out all right in the end I'm not too worried about it...I'm pretty sure that if I'd read the book when it first came out I'd have been as tee'd off as heck. This is one of the majors reasons that I wait until a series is finished before digging in.


If you can manage to not get annoyed by Felicity-wait! that's the sister's name--or ticked off at Lord Maccon, Ivy or the French Spy you are in for a wild and fun ride through the moors of Scotland. I won't be picking up the third book until after the Summer...I've read the blog and know what's going on...I'm willing to wait. And, yeah, this review seems a little disjointed because I don't know where I stand on this book...let's just end with I love it, go read it...and, if you can't wait you'd better have that third book ready!

55 Books in a Year: Book #31 Soulless

I absolutely love this book and when I love a book I have a hard time focusing on what I want to say about it. This book is especially hard to talk about because it has so much going on...first it is set in London and is Steampunk, it has werewolves and vampires and supernaturals and preternaturals. It has witting dialogue and romance woven in to a story of mystery and science. It may seem like a simple Steampunk novel, but, the author Gail Carriger touches upon the big themes of acceptance, playing God and gender roles in society. Seriously, it's a whopper, a fun and sexy (seriously werewolves, I want one) whopper, but a whopper nonetheless. 

To keep myself focused on reviewing the novel, I've found a lovely article that delves into the Steampunk genre without talking above my head and gives three tropes that most Steampunk stories and novels seem to possess. I will use these three to discuss Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Carriger.

Language

Either Cockney or the Queen's English (in terms of the Victorian Era)

Through language Carriger distinguishes the many social levels evident in her book. Lord Maccon, of course, being the upper crust, has such a gentleman's voice that all the other male characters pale in comparision. He seems smooth and controlled, Lord Akeldama would be the opposite of that and then the various underlings take on various accents and characteristics appropriate to their level in society. We even understand the Alexia Tarabotti is a bit of a posh, who may be separated from others in her society by her Italian blood, but who language is elevated compared to her best friend and opposite Ivy Hisselpenny.

Industrialization

"Machinery that either experiments with the use of steam, or involves industry on some scale"

This is an easy and fun aspect to think about concerning this novel. There are glassicals (Ben Franklin type trifocals with various levels of examination), mechanical carriages, funky hats and parasols. While I don't think these machines are as fleshed-out and realized as those in other Steampunk novels I've read, I do believe they help set the scene for this Victorian London.

Historicism

Questions authority and "offers interrogations of famous figures, historical events"...this looks different in the States (think the Wild West) versus England (think Queen Victoria as a robot)

Soulless is a novel full of social commentary. I love that there are so many times that Alexia is prohibited by her gender and literally her skirts from being the true bad-a she'd like to be. She also recognizes that if she were married she'd be able to do more and she understands the class system. Sometimes all of this knowledge is detrimental as it prohibits her from having thoughts of freedom and, sometimes it limits her ability to see herself as a woman who possesses all the traits women want to possess. Even she is trapped in seeing herself as an object.

"A novel of vampires, werewolves, and parasols"...what more could you really ask for, I mean really?

Cravat count: 29

55 Books in a Year: Book #21 and #21b The Girl in the Steel Corset and The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I prefer to view my steampunk, rather than to read it (I love Wild Wild West, the show and movie, I love Treasure Planet, 9, The Golden Compass, those new Sherlock Holmes movies, The Prestige, Sucker Punch, Hugo, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing and so on). Of course, this comment excludes the original fathers of steampunk HG Wells and Jules Verne, I could read their novels all day and have taken reading challenges, just so I could do this very year. You see, modern (those styled after Wells and Verne) steampunk novels include affectations that drive me completely and utterly insane. It seems to me that these novels are more about the gadgets, the setting, the feel for an anachronistic Victorian England than they are about the characters and the plot...if I have to read one more time about some guy's cravat, I may just...ugh...

I know what you are thinking (or at least will be thinking soon), Stephanie, if you dislike steampunk so much than why do you read it. Hmmmm, I read it in the hopes that one day I will read a steampunk novel that comes closer to Wells and Verne than what I've read so far.

I think this book, The Girl in the Steel Corset, and its novellette companion, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne, may be the closest I've seen yet.

Finley Jayne has literally run away from her job...of course, she did this after clocking the living daylights out of the son whose hands were just a little too friendly. She runs right into millionaire and Duke, Griffin King. He takes her back to his mansion/castle via his velocycle were we meet a group of young castaways. Via the aether Griffin can see the future, read your thoughts, locate your whereabouts and communicate with the dead, Sam Morgan is a big tall hunk of metal, literally, as he was torn into pieces and put back together, who mopes around lamenting his real heart and his true love. His true love happens to be the beyond brilliant Emily Kingston, who can fix anything, as she can communicate with machinery. There's Jasper Renn, a cowboy from the wild west, who is running away from something and joins the crew and there's Jack Dandy, the villian who sports an unrealistic cockney accent on purpose. And, then there's Victorian England and Victoria herself both of which are in danger of being destroyed by a brilliant, but crazy mastermind.

This book is released by Harlequin Teen (didn't even know this division existed) and written by a former romance novelist and you can tell, most of the time in a good way as we get to read more in-depthly about the dresses, the city, the men and the clothes and the walls, seriously beautiful and breath-taking...when it comes to the portrayal of Finley Jayne it didn't work so much. Although, she can punch through walls and throw grown men and machinery across the room, she still light and fluffy and girly...gag.

Frankly, I like the novelette better, Finley seems less conflicted and I like how the story is set up, so we know she wasn't just kicked out of her former employers home. We know that Finley is passionate and strong. It segues nicely into the novel. Although it was released after the novel, I wish I would have read it first, as I would have found Finley less annoying.

Oh, and cravat is only mentioned nine times; how refreshing.

And, since Steampunk looks so pretty on the screen, I'd love to see this as a movie...it's too bad Jude Law is way to old *wimper for the sake of all humanity* to play any of the male characters.

I look forward to reading The Girl in the Clockwork Collar.