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A review by librarianinperiwinkle
Soulless by Gail Carriger
5.0
I absolutely love Gail Carriger's books! She is one of the rare authors who excels in all 4 appeal "doorways"--great characters, interesting plots, witty language, and incredible world-building (steampunk Victorian London where vampires, werewolves, and ghosts are not only part of society but play crucial governmental and military roles).
In Soulless we meet Alexia Tarabotti, strong-willed bluestocking spinster of half-Italian blood who inherited not only her father's tan skin and strong nose but also his lack of a soul. This isn't as dire as one might fear--it merely means that she possesses the very rare ability to return a vampire or werewolf to fully human form as long as she remains in physical contact and to exorcise a ghost permanently by touching the cadaver. It's a useful talent to have when attacked by a hungry, newly minted vampire lacking all knowledge of feeding etiquette, although accidentally killing said vampire makes her the focus of intense scrutiny from both gossipmongers and Lord Maccon, Alpha werewolf of the Woolsey pack and chief investigating officer of the Bureau of Unnatural Registration (BUR). For it turns out the rogue vampire is part of a larger experiment by fanatical scientists, and their discovery of Alexia's unique physical properties puts her life in danger, as they seek to examine her, preferably via dissection.
In Soulless we meet Alexia Tarabotti, strong-willed bluestocking spinster of half-Italian blood who inherited not only her father's tan skin and strong nose but also his lack of a soul. This isn't as dire as one might fear--it merely means that she possesses the very rare ability to return a vampire or werewolf to fully human form as long as she remains in physical contact and to exorcise a ghost permanently by touching the cadaver. It's a useful talent to have when attacked by a hungry, newly minted vampire lacking all knowledge of feeding etiquette, although accidentally killing said vampire makes her the focus of intense scrutiny from both gossipmongers and Lord Maccon, Alpha werewolf of the Woolsey pack and chief investigating officer of the Bureau of Unnatural Registration (BUR). For it turns out the rogue vampire is part of a larger experiment by fanatical scientists, and their discovery of Alexia's unique physical properties puts her life in danger, as they seek to examine her, preferably via dissection.