Soulless by Gail CarrigerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Alexia Tarabotti is one of the rare prenatural; born without a Soul. This serves her two functions; one is that she can nullify any supernatural being's abilities. The other is that she is a no nonsense, insatiably curious, intelligent, strong headed young women living in 19th century London when women have a very particularly role to play. Compounding to all this is her Italian heritage which makes her independent streak even stronger while giving her unconventional beauty perhaps a bit too sharp the time period.
In an alternative London much akin to a steampunk Victorian world, Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghost not only freely walk among humans but have been integrated into London's society and politics. Soulless focuses on Alexia Tarabotti's adventures of becoming entangled in an interesting struggle between the supernaturals, humans and those who are not so happy with the supernatural societal integration. Oh and we can't forget the werewolf romance!
I picked up this book on a lark. I'm hungry to read and it seemed to have an interesting premise. I wanted so hard to NOT like this book once I started reading it. The author's metaphors need work. Describing a dying vampire as "overcooked asparagus" was a bit much for my tastes. I'm also not one to like romance (spelled out in great detail) in my books. This book has the many moments of cheesy romance which at first seemed far to forced to have any hint of believability. Of course, my own personal reading taste has me staying as far away from cheesy romance as possible so it might strike such distaste with other readers.
Despite this I found myself deeply and immensely enjoying this book and the story within. Once I got past the first few chapters I couldn't put the book down. I found myself intrigued and interested in the life of Alex Tarabotti and those around her. I finished this book while on a research trip to Vegas and had to pick up the second one Changeless while there.
I'm looking forward to many more adventures of The Parasol Protectorate.
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