Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) Mass Market Paperback – International Edition, October 1, 2009

If you're looking for a very,very light steampunk read, heavier on romance, give this a try. I don't read romances, but a few months ago, this was one of the Kindle Daily Deals and I bought it since I was a new Kindle user. It started out really amusing and I was hopeful. I loved the humor and the cool, lethal parasol (even though I've been "over" vampires and the like since the late 90s)... Here, I thought, was going to be a steampunk adventure about a spunky woman-out-of-her-time... Meh... More like out of her depth. Alexia's intellect isn't appreciated by the world around her, even her own family, and her self-esteem is so low, it some times *hurts* the story. For a supposed "blue stocking," she's slow to catch on at times. I wanted to scream at her and slap her when Lord Akeldama, despite his on desperate situation, was trying to get through her thick skull how to destroy the "monster"... In the end, I found Alexia too snobby and judgmental, despite being on the on the fringes of "high society" herself, to be sympathetic. The sex scene at the end was just awkward. It felt contrived, since the natural conclusion, I felt was more the pack's recognition of her as Alpha female. Honestly, it seemed like the whole carriage scene was just one big excuse was to have a "real" sex scene in the book. I really doubt I'll read more of this series, especially since it's been months since I read this and I'm just now leaving a review. LOL

Pros:

-The Setting: Carriger sets up a fascinating world that entices the reader to continue on with the story almost by its existence alone. Vampire “hives”, werewolf packs, Shadow Counsels, Beureua of Unnatural Registry—there’s so many interesting paranormal quirks added to the usual alternate-universe-Victorian-era that steampunk introduces by default, and yet none of them seem out of place. They’re woven into the fabric of the story masterfully, creating a rich backdrop for the story.

-The Plot: While the story starts out a little slow, when it picks up it brings the reader along for a heck of a ride. Soulless knows when to hit the proper beats, when to pump up the action, and when to allow a little quiet time for the characters to gather themselves. Once I started reading, I didn’t stop until I had finished it a few hours later. I was totally all in for the ride and, overall, was fairly satisfied with the ending. It left the world open for further exploration (which is done, presumably, in the next four books of the series) while at the same time delivering the requisite HEA with a nice bow on top. Were there any great twists or surprises? No, but I wasn’t expecting any. It was just a fun read.

Cons:

-The Tone: This was obviously meant to be a sort of mystery/romance hybrid, akin to Bones, Castle, and others of that ilk. Maintaining a consistent tone between those two very different genres is hard and, unfortunately, Soulless doesn’t pull it off very well. The perfect scene to express this is just after Alexia has been captured by the bad guys (left nameless for spoiler reasons). She hears her self-professed dear friend screaming in nearly inhuman pain as he is being tortured and crucified; the literal next instant she’s having witty banter with Lord Maccon in between intense making out. The plot wants to be both gritty and flirty and, in the process, ultimately fails to deliver either with much satisfaction.

-The Characters: None of the characters are badly written, but they are unfortunately cliché. Alexia is the sadly stereotypical (by this point in literature, anyway) perfect female heroine, also known as a Mary Sue. The reader is told she is “ugly” because of her Italian blood in an otherwise British cast, but obviously very pretty and buxom. She’s super special, so rare in fact that she’s the only “soulless” individual living in the British Isles. She’s smarter and wittier than anyone else, especially more than the other women in the story. This, sadly, makes her rather boring to read about; characters without flaws are nearly impossible for readers to bond with. The rest of the characters are also stereotypical. Lord Maccon is your average Alpha male (literally), perfect and manly and smart but not quite as smart as Alexia, who is apparently even more of an Alpha than him despite being simply human. The secondary characters are more interesting but given little screen time. While no one is blatantly offensive, no one comes across as original or lifelike either.

Overall, I give Soulless a 3 out of 5. It’s far from a horrible read and manages to be quite fun, even if it comes across like a Young Adult thriller with more in common with Meyer than Austen. If you enjoy steampunk or the paranormal, there’s no reason you shouldn’t give it a read one afternoon. But if you’re looking for an original story or even titillating romance, this book sadly doesn’t deliver.

UPDATE: After going back and trying to reread this book a second time, my usual test to see if a book is truly good or not, I found myself unable to get past how stiff and unnatural the writing was. Things that I had forced myself to accept the first time through in hopes of finding a good story leaped out at me in the second reading and made it impossible to get immersed in the story at all. Therefore, I'm dropping my rating to two stars as even a mediocre story can be elevated by organic, flowing writing. But if the writing it frozen and rigid, there's no saving the story, in my opinion.

I'm not finished reading (and listening) to this first Soulless tale, but had to stop long enough to commend Ms. Carriger on her prolific, detailed and hilarious story. I've been rather unwell for several months and everything I've been reading has done nothing to impress my mood. Until discovering this book. Her characters are written so realistically that I can clearly see them. Very well fleshed out. Every scene, mood and thought is fresh. The ENTIRE nature of the lead character is (to me, anyway) very unusual from ANY I've read. The dialogue between the main character and a supporting character is downright hysterical. My first favorite part is the lady-like manner by which our leading lady handles the uncouth assumptions of a supernatural boor. She DOES offer him the opportunity to redeem himself and what results had my laughing so hard I didn't need to work my abs today!
I bought the narration so I could do other things as I listened and am in love with the narrator and hope Ms. Carriger continues using her for subsequent books.
No. I was not paid or anything for my review-I just REALLY love my new treasure in this book and new author.