Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless by Gail Carriger
Pub. Date: October 2009
Publisher: Orbit/Yen
384pp

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.

Soulless is laugh out loud funny! I really didn’t know what to expect going into reading this book, but I am thrilled to say that it delivered on all accounts. The plot, characters, and writing has me wanting to dive in and read more of Carriger’s books.

Once I got use to the jargon and supernatural culture in Soulless, this was an exciting page turner for me. I had some late nights with this book and it was so hard to put it down. The main character Ms. Alexia Tarabotti is downright hilarious. She is outspoken, witty, and charming throughout this whole book. I absolutely adore her! I loved every interaction Alexia had with Lord Maccon, a sexy alpha werewolf who also happens to be a government official sent to investigate the supernatural disappearances in Victorian London. You could practically see the sparks flying between these too. The secondary characters deliver too. One of my favorite characters in this book has to be eccentric vampire, Lord Akeldama. He is so funny and charming with his words of endearment for Alexia. Just about everything that came out of his mouth had me laughing.

I will admit there were times where I was tempted to pull out a dictionary with some of the medical terms that were used to describe the whole soul measuring process, but I love the direction Carriger took with this book. All the supernatural beings and their culture were a great addition to the story and I was quite intrigued with the mystery behind discovering the chances of drones surviving metamorphosis if they were to be turned into a vampire or werewolf.

Soulless totally rocks and if you’re looking for something different, this highly entertaining historical fantasy is definitely a great book to read.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars