Soulless by Gail Carriger
Aug. 12th, 2010 09:17 am
Title: Soulless
Series: The Parasol Protectorate (First in the series)
Author: Gail Carriger
Genres: Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Vampires & Werewolves, Romance
Pages: 384 for paperback
The protagonist, Alexia Tarabotti, is a fuddy-duddy spinster more educated and assertive than she should be. She is also a soulless, a being that 'shorts out' paranormal powers. Combined with a desire to get in on the action, she is a constant problem to Conall Maccon. Essentially he runs the government branch that manages the paranormal along with the local werewolf pack. When Alexia is attacked by an random vampire, she plunges headlong into a mystery that threatens the delicate balance of paranormal and normal.
NGL, aside from the steampunk these aren't really my genres. That said, I really had fun with this book and will check out the sequels. The biggest seller to me is the tongue-in-cheek narrative. You get a solid (if slightly predictable) story, distinctive and fun characters, interesting mixture of mythos and world-buildinging, along with many chuckles. Its not deep, but its quality fun.
( Likes, dislikes, meh. Light on spoilers. )