Title: Timeless Author:  Gail Carriger Series: Parasol Protectorate #5 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Paranormal Steampunk Excerpt: Yes Source: Bought Reviewed by: Abigail Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Orbit (February 28, 2012) ISBN-10: 0316127183 ISBN-13: 978-0316127189   Sexual Content: Kissing. References to heterosexual & homosexual sex. Scenes of homosexual sensuality. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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*This title will be released on June 28, 2011*

Title: Heartless Author: Gail Carriger Series: Parasol Protectorate #4 Cover Art: Lauren Panepinto  Genre: Paranormal Steampunk Excerpt: No Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Orbit; Original edition (June 28, 2011) ISBN-10: 0316127191 ISBN-13: 978-0316127196 Sexual Content: Kissing. References to homosexuality. References to sex Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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Description

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

Review

Few things in life are more delightful than a new Alexia Tarabotti book.  In HEARTLESS, the best installment since the debut, every single page is embellished with equal parts wit and farce.  The Parasol Protectorate series, a comedy of manners set in a paranormal steampunk Britain, chronicles the adventures of Lady Alexia Tarabotti and her latest escapades involve attempting to thwart as assassination plot on the Queen, keeping the local vampire hive from killing her yet again, and finding a solution to a former vampire wannabe’s unwilling induction to the werewolf pack…all while eight months pregnant.

I’m going to be using the word delightful a lot in this review because it so perfectly describes nearly every aspect of HEARTLESS from the absurdly charming characters, to the outlandishly entertaining plot, and the endlessly witty—and thoroughly British—writing.  Never a dull page, never a flat line, and never a wasted opportunity for preposterous frivolity.  All of the characters we’ve grown to love and loath over the series are present in HEARTLESS, most prominently Lord Akeldama, Biffy, and Professor Lyall.  We learn a number of very revealing details about the latter as well as Alexia’s father. 

One of my complaints about the last two books was how little page time Alexia and her husband shared since their relationship and interaction was one of the things that made the first book so fantastic.  I have nothing to complain about on that point in HEARTLESS.  Alexia and Conall are together in nearly every other scene.  I loved watching him fuss over her because of her pregnancy and then grit his teeth when he had to let her run off—or waddle off as Alexia called walking at eight months pregnant—into potential danger. 

The end of HEARTLESS was unbelievably good.  So much is set up for the next book, specifically regarding the infant-inconvenience.  Exactly what kind of baby will a preternatural and a werewolf have?  I would never have guessed and I’m predicting it will add significantly to the already very unique mythology in this series.

Overall, book four in this indomitably clever and charming series, is as delightful as I hoped.  The fifth book in The Parasol Protectorate series is called TIMELESS and will be published on March 1, 2011.  It is currently the last book planned in the series, but I will always hope for more.  We will be getting a spin-off YA series set in the same universe twenty-five years earlier called The Finishing School series.  The first book is tentatively titled ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE and will be published in 2012.

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
Soulless - 5/5 Changeless - 3/5 Blameless - 4/5	what sarah reads

Book Description

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.
Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

 Review

Book 3 in The Parasol Protectorate Series

Julia and I decided to do our first joint review of BLAMELESS by Gail Carriger.  Hopefully this will become a regular feature here on ATUF.  Let us know what you think.

Abigail: Blending paranormal, steampunk, and romance, Soulless was one of those books that was shockingly good (as in 5/5 bats). Changeless, while still good (3/5 bats), didn’t manage to recapture that perfect mix of British humor and horror, and made the grave mistake of keeping the hero and heroine apart for nearly the entire book (although the ending was excellent). With the third Parasol Protectorate book, I tried to keep my expectations in check and hope for the best. Soulless is still the best book in the series to date, but BLAMELESS is an excellent installment, full of biting wit, outlandish farce, and exquisite characterization.

Julia: Beloved characters, the comedy of Victorian social mores being observed amongst robotic swarms and evil minion attacks, droll bon mots and repartee that had me giggling and highlighting and wishing for someone to share them with... BLAMELESS rekindled my delight in Alexia Tarabotti and her Parasol Protectorate. I heartily agree with Abigail’s 5/5 rating for Soulless, it is a book that I have read again and again (and have, on more than one occasion, tried to explain to hapless family members at holiday dinners). My devotion to the series was sorely tested by Changeless, which was so top heavy with arcane magical principles that Carrigner’s characters had a hard time carrying the plot. However, characters and concepts that so bogged down Changeless were much more palatable in summary form, and I found BLAMELESS witty, fast-paced, and original all over again.

Abigail: Oh good. I was half afraid we’d disagree and turn this into a throw down :) I mentioned that I thought one of the big problems with Changeless was the fact that Alexia and Conall were separated for nearly the entire book. In BLAMELESS that is again the case, though it worked better this time, and I can’t help but think that this book would have been even better if they’d had more interaction together. What do you think?

Julia: Throw down averted! Or maybe just postponed... (cue ominous music). Changeless was definitely light on any romance that could have cut the density of magical theory. Perhaps this is the band-aid theory of series writing. Changeless “ripped off” our expectations of seeing Alexia and Conall together, and the ending certainly set the hook for a classic romantic conflict. Despite them being apart for most of BLAMELESS, that hint of future conflict was enough to get me a few chapters in, and then the story itself did the rest. Who can resist finding out how to get a werewolf drunk? (It was the “wee pickles” part that had me doubled over in laughter). I’m an optimist, though. I have high hopes that Victorian sensibilities isn’t excuse enough to keep them apart for the entire series. The question is, however, how long will Carriger keep us hanging on? Will Heartless be our first glimpse of Maccon’s domestic bliss, Lord and Lady and baby?

Abigail: I think Heartless might be the pregnancy and we’ll have to wait for the as yet untitled book 5 to see what happens with the “infant-inconvenience.” Speaking of which, one of my favorite elements of this series is its unique mythology. Everything from the werewolves Anubis form, to the vampires hive structure, and of course the concept of preternaturals who are the antithesis of all things supernatural. I loved that in BLAMELESS we got to learn more about the nature of soullessness in general, specifically Alexia’s family history (And who doesn’t love the mysterious Templars?). What did you think about the new characters who revealed these new tidbits?

Julia: A whole book devoted to the pregnancy? Be still my heart! I can’t think of anything more comical than an estate full of werewolves trying to keep up with a pregnant Alexia... unless it’s Lord Maccon trying to make up with a pregnant Alexia. As for the new characters in BLAMELESS, I admit, I’m slow to warm up to most of Carringer’s supporting characters, all I want is Conall and Alexia, Conall and Alexia! BLAMELESS was the first time I wasn’t anxious to skim past Professor Lyall’s perspective hoping to see more of Lord and Lady Maccon. I’m glad I learned to relax into the rhythm of this book. Madame Lefoux, Lyall, those damned, illusive hedgehogs... every detail was too good to miss. Of the new characters, no one gave me more entertainment than Monsieur Lange-Wilsdorf and his high-strung Pooche. Despite the obsessed scientist calling her “The Female Specimen”, and his dog’s endless, maniacal barking, Alexia navigates it all with wit, humor, and a well-placed napkin.

Abigail: See now as much as I love Alexia and Conall, I’m a bit obsessed with the supporting characters in this series. I could have read a whole book about Alexia’s family. They are so wonderfully horrible. As far as the new additions this time out, Lange-Wilsdork, the leading preternatural expert, was my favorite. Analytical, and obtusely clueless when it came to people skills, I thought he was the perfect counterpart to Alexia’s escalating emotional state throughout BLAMELESS. Speaking of which, I was equally taken with the mystery of what exactly Alexia was carrying and all the dire predictions and secrets about previous preternatural pregnancies of the past (try saying that three times fast). I’ll be looking forward to learning more in Heartless and seeing exactly how Alexia takes to motherhood, assuming the baby is born by then. Either way the series as a whole is one of my favorites and BLAMELESS has done its job of leaving me desperate for more.

Sexual Content: References to sex. References to homosexuality. A mild scene of sensuality.

My Rating (out of 5):
Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & pre-order the sequel.

Click HERE to read an excerpt from BLAMELESS

Trailer

Previous books in the series:

1. Soulless
2. Changeless

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316074152
• ISBN-13: 978-0316074155
• Cover Art: Lauren Panepinto 

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*Disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Orbit Books

Book Description

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

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Book 2 in The Parasol Protectorate Series

Review:
Sadly CHANGELESS does not live up to its title as it unfortunately changed a lot from the first book in this series.  Not all the change is bad.  As the cover shows, the steampunk elements have more prominence in this book (dirigibles, and even fax machine like devices), and a visit with Lord Maccon’s family fills in several gaps in his personal history.

The bread and butter of theses books remains a consistent high point. The dialogue is as smart and snappy as ever, full of intelligent humor and artful verbal sparing. And the characters are the same wonderful personalities from Soulless (with a few unwelcome additions and one notably scaled back Lord Akeldama. I’m hopeful that he’ll have a bigger role in the next book). The storyline, however, was a bit all over the place.

The idea of a phenomenon that humanizes any supernatural within certain areas provides a great catapult in CHANGELESS when both Alexia and her husband set off separately to discover the cause. But it never really develops beyond that fun premise. Alexia gets saddled with chaperoning her spiteful sister, navigating the complicated love life of hat-challenged Ivy, and avoiding various attempts on her life. When we eventually come back to the changeless phenomenon at the end of the book, it has almost nothing to do with anything that happened during the majority of CHANGELESS.  And to be honest, the resolution to the problem was a bit of a let down. 

I’m probably being unduly harsh here.  CHANGELESS is suffering more from comparison to Soulless than anything else. Soulless was one of my favorite reads in recent memory, and I expected CHANGELESS to be even better.  It’s not. But despite its flaws, I’m still recommending it largely because the ending was a stroke of brilliance.  I was completely shocked and simultaneously overcome with an all consuming curiosity about what will happen next when Blameless releases on September 1st. 

Sexual Content: References to sex. References to homosexuality. A few scenes a mild sensuality.

My Rating (out of 5):
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

Click HERE to read an excerpt of CHANGELESS

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316074144
• ISBN-13: 978-0316074148

Disagree with my review?  Contact me your review for this or any other book I’ve reviewed and I might use it for 2nd Opinion Review

*Disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Orbit Books

Book Description

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.

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Book 1 in The Parasol Protectorate Series

Review:
If you're a fan of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody Series and always thought the one thing they were missing was a healthy dose of werewolves and vampires, you will love SOULLESS. I know I did.

The world building is familiar with it's treatment of werewolves, but presents a welcome twist on vampires likening them to bees or ants in terms of structure with one queen ruling over each hive. The queen alone has the ability to make new vampires.

The real departure from traditional paranormal lore is the concept of soul and how the amount of soul an individual possesses impacts their ability to become a werewolf or vampire. Only those with an abundance of soul will survive the bite and transform.

As the titles suggests, the main character Alexia Tarabotti is something of an anomaly even in a world populated by supernatural creatures. She was born without a soul, what the book calls a preternatural. Basically she is the antithesis of supernaturals, even her touch will temporarily strip them of their abilities; bye-bye vampire fangs, see you later werewolf fur.

In addition to solid world building, the romantic tension between Alexia and Lord Maccon (aka the Alpha of the London werewolf pack) is among the best I've read in years. It's tantalizing and teasing all at the same time. Lord Maccon reminds me a bit of Curran from the Kate Daniels series, especially in his approaching Alexia according to pack rules rather than human rules.

However you classify it (I'm calling it Victorian Paranormal), SOULLESS is a must read. The writing is packed full of wit and intelligent humor. The romantic tension completely satisfying, and the world building equal parts fresh and familiar. Bottom line, SOULLESS is an utter joy to read on every imaginable level. Changeless is out now, and Blameless will be released on September 1, 2010.

Sexual Content: References to homosexuality. A few scenes of sensuality. One sex scene.

My Rating (out of 5):
Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend.

Click HERE to read an excerpt from SOULLESS

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; Original edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316056634
• ISBN-13: 978-0316056632

Disagree with my review?  Contact me with your review for this or any other book I’ve reviewed and I might use it for 2nd Opinion Review