You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I thoroughly enjoyed this installment of the Parasol Protectorate and have to give it five stars. I liked the third book even more than the first two in the series. Ms. Carriger's writing gets better and better, and I laughed more in this book than either of the other two. Maybe it's just getting to know the characters, but the way Carriger puts words together makes her books a joy to read (listen to).
So good! Very funny, witty, exciting, etc. Better than either of the preceding novels, in my opinion.
I've JUST finished this book -- tore through it in a day or two -- and despite not having bothered yet to write reviews for the first two, I need to get out my thoughts about it, so I'll write this first. Soulless was delightful, although FAR more romance-oriented than I had expected; Changeless was fine, a pleasant read. Blameless was also quick & easy -- I know Carriger herself refers to her writing as "frosting," and I'm reading this as a distraction from dissertation work, so frosting is fine by me!
The thing about this particular book was, the drama just wasn't there. After that explosive breakup at the end of Changeless , I was READY for scandal, intrigue, lesbian affairs, you name it. I even softened to Alexia after realizing the pickle she'd gotten herself into, quite without her intention. It was seriously "Lucia di Lammermoor" levels of Scottish scandal (great opera, check it out y'all). But in the third book, instead of drama, we mainly see Alexia mooning around thinking about Conall's biceps and other naked werewolf parts. Ugh. I personally would've preferred a storyline where Alexia does fall for Madame Lefoux, where they consensually explore the pleasures of the French ... ;) But that is clearly because I've read too much French lit, lol, and Alexia is much too British, staid, and -- distressingly -- wifely, to have any exploratory tendencies. (As I said, I already thought Alexia had agreed a bit too quickly to marry Conall; how interesting would it be to discuss the implications of such a binding choice in the Victorian era, once you realized maybe it *wasn't* the right one? Alexia as independent spinster, taken in by paranormal romance, only to have it snatched away unexpectedly... To be on the run in Europe with your lesbian lover, a MASSIVELY possessive spouse at your heels, who happens to be supernatural as well... yes, I'm getting carried away with myself... I should probably read Anne Rice, lol.
Now for my other annoyance with the series as a whole -- there is SO much fat-shaming. I hesitated to call it that, but what else can you call it when Alexia continually moans about how her body is too big to be sexy/attractive/the body of an earl's wife? And Queen Victoria is described as too round and too brown to be immediately recognizable as being a queen?!? I know that Queen Victoria really was short and rotund; I'm just uncomfortable by what's being implied (brown skin = not pretty; bigger bodies = not sexy). I really didn't get the feeling at any point that Alexia felt pride, not shame, in her appearance. She's just defensive. I don't think that was the intention , but as a reader who is not, in fact, slender, I was just deeply uncomfortable. Especially at the end when Alexia belly-dives onto Conall's naked body (yep, that's the ending) and literally knocks the breath out of him. And he's the biggest werewolf around?! shouldn't he, with his supernatural strength, be MORE than able to handle even a decent-sized woman he's literally INVITING to jump on him??? the baby is like, so small you can't even see it (externally) at this point.
If it seems like I'm not really talking much about the story, it's because the Goodreads reviewers are right: there *isn't* really much of a story, and what there is gets resolved entirely via deus-ex-machina, or should I say werewolf-ex-machina. I did enjoy the traveling; I did NOT enjoy the fake German (what WAS that?!?! -- sincerely, a German teacher). (Extra rant: And also, how on earth did Alexia parse out that entire Latin curse when she's supposedly just okay at the language, and how does she randomly know how to ask that boy in the mountain lift how to drop the cargo? Heck, I was a French major and I don't know the word for "cargo"! And she's a gentlewoman; what does SHE know about cargo? ... anyway. It's not just a Carriger thing, but weird/uncomfortable use of foreign language/accents IS my pet peeve in novels.)
Well, enough ranting! I do think this is a fun series, even if it may not have aged well in some cases. (I know, it's not even ten years old, but from what I see, Carriger has moved on to doing far more queer-focused novels; I have NO idea if they're any good and they seem to be entirely romance-focused, which isn't my thing, so I'm skipping them. But it seems promising.) I know Carriger had a past life as a PhD student herself, in Archaeology, and it's fun to see what facts and scenes she probably took from her time there. And let's close on a high note -- the scene with Biffy, after his metamorphosis -- tore my HEART out. I just. Wow. I'm telling you, THAT is the kind of drama I expected; THAT is the operatic, Victorian excess that I swoon for.
The thing about this particular book was, the drama just wasn't there. After that explosive breakup at the end of Changeless , I was READY for scandal, intrigue, lesbian affairs, you name it. I even softened to Alexia after realizing the pickle she'd gotten herself into, quite without her intention. It was seriously "Lucia di Lammermoor" levels of Scottish scandal (great opera, check it out y'all). But in the third book, instead of drama, we mainly see Alexia mooning around thinking about Conall's biceps and other naked werewolf parts. Ugh. I personally would've preferred a storyline where Alexia does fall for Madame Lefoux, where they consensually explore the pleasures of the French ... ;) But that is clearly because I've read too much French lit, lol, and Alexia is much too British, staid, and -- distressingly -- wifely, to have any exploratory tendencies. (As I said, I already thought Alexia had agreed a bit too quickly to marry Conall; how interesting would it be to discuss the implications of such a binding choice in the Victorian era, once you realized maybe it *wasn't* the right one? Alexia as independent spinster, taken in by paranormal romance, only to have it snatched away unexpectedly... To be on the run in Europe with your lesbian lover, a MASSIVELY possessive spouse at your heels, who happens to be supernatural as well... yes, I'm getting carried away with myself... I should probably read Anne Rice, lol.
Now for my other annoyance with the series as a whole -- there is SO much fat-shaming. I hesitated to call it that, but what else can you call it when Alexia continually moans about how her body is too big to be sexy/attractive/the body of an earl's wife? And Queen Victoria is described as too round and too brown to be immediately recognizable as being a queen?!? I know that Queen Victoria really was short and rotund; I'm just uncomfortable by what's being implied (brown skin = not pretty; bigger bodies = not sexy). I really didn't get the feeling at any point that Alexia felt pride, not shame, in her appearance. She's just defensive. I don't think that was the intention , but as a reader who is not, in fact, slender, I was just deeply uncomfortable. Especially at the end when Alexia belly-dives onto Conall's naked body (yep, that's the ending) and literally knocks the breath out of him. And he's the biggest werewolf around?! shouldn't he, with his supernatural strength, be MORE than able to handle even a decent-sized woman he's literally INVITING to jump on him??? the baby is like, so small you can't even see it (externally) at this point.
If it seems like I'm not really talking much about the story, it's because the Goodreads reviewers are right: there *isn't* really much of a story, and what there is gets resolved entirely via deus-ex-machina, or should I say werewolf-ex-machina. I did enjoy the traveling; I did NOT enjoy the fake German (what WAS that?!?! -- sincerely, a German teacher). (Extra rant: And also, how on earth did Alexia parse out that entire Latin curse when she's supposedly just okay at the language, and how does she randomly know how to ask that boy in the mountain lift how to drop the cargo? Heck, I was a French major and I don't know the word for "cargo"! And she's a gentlewoman; what does SHE know about cargo? ... anyway. It's not just a Carriger thing, but weird/uncomfortable use of foreign language/accents IS my pet peeve in novels.)
Well, enough ranting! I do think this is a fun series, even if it may not have aged well in some cases. (I know, it's not even ten years old, but from what I see, Carriger has moved on to doing far more queer-focused novels; I have NO idea if they're any good and they seem to be entirely romance-focused, which isn't my thing, so I'm skipping them. But it seems promising.) I know Carriger had a past life as a PhD student herself, in Archaeology, and it's fun to see what facts and scenes she probably took from her time there. And let's close on a high note -- the scene with Biffy, after his metamorphosis -- tore my HEART out. I just. Wow. I'm telling you, THAT is the kind of drama I expected; THAT is the operatic, Victorian excess that I swoon for.
adventurous
fast-paced
On the plus side, the ending wasn't as rage-inducing as in the second book. On the minus side, the way the reconciliation between Alexia and Conall was handled seemed forced and out of character (for Alexia, anyway). This could be because they spent all of 5 pages together. The madcap chase across western Europe was... fine, really. I won't nitpick. The steampunk-scientific explanations for Alexia's powers were tedious. The events surrounding Akeldama, Biffy and Professor Lyall were poignant. I picked this book up to find out how things were resolved between Alexia and Lord Conall; if I continue to read this series, it will be because of Biffy and Akeldama.
The saving grace for me was the introduction of new characters and the development of secondary characters. I must admit that Alexia and Lord Conall are beginning to be one note songs.
That was a rip-roariously preposterous set of events that were highly enjoyable with two story arc's working side to side so closely! Such a state of affairs that will have you aching to read the next book as soon as this one is finished. So much new information, so many new players and so much change to the balance of the status quo. I did not expect the amount of drunken werewolves, running, assassination attempts, bad nicknames or the scandalous lack of tea! Though I will say it was highly entertaining throughout.
NOT ENOUGH AKELDAMA. Needs more gay vampires. This is the third book in the series and it's still kinda boringish. This series of 5 could probably be a trilogy of 3.
But I guess the books are like:
1. meet guy
2. marry guy
3. get pregnant by guy
4. birth baby
5. deal with newborn baby?
So that's why it's like that. But I can't help but be like, well that's not very interesting. Why not like, Alexia discovers her special uniqueness, special uniqueness invites people who fear it to fight her and get in her way, Alexia with special uniqueness triumphs, you know, like usual. As it is it's so boy and baby focused, and I am not a boy and baby focused person, well not like that anyway. Which is weird because you have Alexia being all like, "infant inconvenience" but like, the whole series is about this right? As if it wasn't that kind of romance novel. Also, I am not so enamored with descriptions of objects and fight scenes, generally speaking, so those parts of the book wear me down, even if it is steampunk.
But it has vampires and it's funny so I will continue reading it. And it's not bad despite my griping for like an entire essay just now. It's a ROMANCE NOVEL, JOANNA get over it
But I guess the books are like:
1. meet guy
2. marry guy
3. get pregnant by guy
4. birth baby
5. deal with newborn baby?
So that's why it's like that. But I can't help but be like, well that's not very interesting. Why not like, Alexia discovers her special uniqueness, special uniqueness invites people who fear it to fight her and get in her way, Alexia with special uniqueness triumphs, you know, like usual. As it is it's so boy and baby focused, and I am not a boy and baby focused person, well not like that anyway. Which is weird because you have Alexia being all like, "infant inconvenience" but like, the whole series is about this right? As if it wasn't that kind of romance novel. Also, I am not so enamored with descriptions of objects and fight scenes, generally speaking, so those parts of the book wear me down, even if it is steampunk.
But it has vampires and it's funny so I will continue reading it. And it's not bad despite my griping for like an entire essay just now. It's a ROMANCE NOVEL, JOANNA get over it