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A review by lisawreading
Competence by Gail Carriger
4.0
Picture yourself floating through the air, with a ladybug-spotted balloon overhead, surrounded by your best friends and some adoring crew members. Picture yourself floating above India, Africa, even the Pacific Ocean. Picture yourself with fancy hats, stylish traveling dresses, and oversized parasols.
Fun, right?
Did all that imagining make you feel light and bubbly, maybe even a little giddy? Well, that's a bit what reading the Custard Protocol books feels like, start to finish. The books in this delightful series are clearly fantasy, feel-good adventures, featuring exotic locales and extravagant fashion mixed with plenty of tea, camaraderie, and mid-air shenanigans.
Competence features Primrose Tunstell as lead character (although she occasionally cedes the POV spotlight to her brother Percy.) Through their eyes, we set out for adventure on board the Spotted Custard dirigible, floating from Singapore all the way across the ocean to Peru. Prim is a very proper young woman, a steadfast friend, and one heck of a ship's purser, responsible for keeping the dirigible stocked, fueled, and ready to float off at a moment's notice. Despite being determined to achieve a society-approved good marriage, Prim finds herself increasingly drawn to Tasherit, the exotically beautiful werelioness who is now a full member of the crew. Prim can't quite bring herself to venture so far outside the bounds of approved English standards as to enter into a relationship with a woman, but there's no denying the spark between the two, and as Prim acknowledges, cats can be very persistent about getting what they want.
Meanwhile, the Spotted Custard's adventures include the discovery of a strange and endangered breed of vampires, unusual weather patterns and weird pirate ships, and a spontaneous heist of helium from an unsuspecting tourist vehicle. Plus, the usual shipboard quibbles and romances, as well as philosophical discussion groups and scientific theorizing.
Competence is just as much fun as the first two books in the series. In this book, the romances in focus do not fit the mold of Victorian social acceptability -- but the author's depiction makes it clear that the characters are open-minded and refuse to be bound by meaningless judgment. On the Spotted Custard, love is love, period... and that's a very good thing, for the characters as well as for the readers. Prim takes a very long time to make up her mind, but the banter and flirtation between her and Tasherit light up the page, so you know it's just a matter of time...
I listenened to the audiobook version of Competence, and like the previous audiobooks in the series, it was amazing. Narrator Moira Quirk does an outstanding job with the characters, capturing their voices, their accents, and their personalities, and making each one distinct and instantly recognizable. She's also great with the action scenes, and really brings out the humor of Gail Carriger's fantastically quippy dialogue.
The Custard Protocol series is truly delectable, and Competence is a wonderful addition. And now, we wait... Book #4, Reticence, is due out in 2019.
For more, see my full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
Fun, right?
Did all that imagining make you feel light and bubbly, maybe even a little giddy? Well, that's a bit what reading the Custard Protocol books feels like, start to finish. The books in this delightful series are clearly fantasy, feel-good adventures, featuring exotic locales and extravagant fashion mixed with plenty of tea, camaraderie, and mid-air shenanigans.
Competence features Primrose Tunstell as lead character (although she occasionally cedes the POV spotlight to her brother Percy.) Through their eyes, we set out for adventure on board the Spotted Custard dirigible, floating from Singapore all the way across the ocean to Peru. Prim is a very proper young woman, a steadfast friend, and one heck of a ship's purser, responsible for keeping the dirigible stocked, fueled, and ready to float off at a moment's notice. Despite being determined to achieve a society-approved good marriage, Prim finds herself increasingly drawn to Tasherit, the exotically beautiful werelioness who is now a full member of the crew. Prim can't quite bring herself to venture so far outside the bounds of approved English standards as to enter into a relationship with a woman, but there's no denying the spark between the two, and as Prim acknowledges, cats can be very persistent about getting what they want.
Meanwhile, the Spotted Custard's adventures include the discovery of a strange and endangered breed of vampires, unusual weather patterns and weird pirate ships, and a spontaneous heist of helium from an unsuspecting tourist vehicle. Plus, the usual shipboard quibbles and romances, as well as philosophical discussion groups and scientific theorizing.
Competence is just as much fun as the first two books in the series. In this book, the romances in focus do not fit the mold of Victorian social acceptability -- but the author's depiction makes it clear that the characters are open-minded and refuse to be bound by meaningless judgment. On the Spotted Custard, love is love, period... and that's a very good thing, for the characters as well as for the readers. Prim takes a very long time to make up her mind, but the banter and flirtation between her and Tasherit light up the page, so you know it's just a matter of time...
I listenened to the audiobook version of Competence, and like the previous audiobooks in the series, it was amazing. Narrator Moira Quirk does an outstanding job with the characters, capturing their voices, their accents, and their personalities, and making each one distinct and instantly recognizable. She's also great with the action scenes, and really brings out the humor of Gail Carriger's fantastically quippy dialogue.
The Custard Protocol series is truly delectable, and Competence is a wonderful addition. And now, we wait... Book #4, Reticence, is due out in 2019.
For more, see my full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.