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Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)

Gail Carriger

Discussion: General Book & Genre Discussion

Discussion leader: Tabitha

Why we're reading this: A strange but charming combination of steampunk, comedy of manners, Victorian-era urban fantasy, Soulless…more
[close] A strange but charming combination of steampunk, comedy of manners, Victorian-era urban fantasy, Soulless is a fun romping adventure in a strange yet familiar world.

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General Book & Genre Discussion

* May 2017
By Tabitha · 5 posts · 10 views

last updated May 16, 2017 09:29PM

* Monthly Themes for 2017
By Tabitha · 9 posts · 23 views

last updated Jan 28, 2017 10:16PM

What Members Thought

Feb 11, 2017 Tabitha rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

Another book devoured! I would have read it in one sitting but I made the mistake of starting it just before bed and so, sadly, I had to put it down about halfway through and wait till today for a spare moment to finish it. It was, no joke, the thing I looked forward to most today. And of course I finished it asap. As usual I'd sat in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea and cozied up to finish it but I was so enamored with the book I never even touched my tea or even realized my toes were g Another book devoured! I would have read it in one sitting but I made the mistake of starting it just before bed and so, sadly, I had to put it down about halfway through and wait till today for a spare moment to finish it. It was, no joke, the thing I looked forward to most today. And of course I finished it asap. As usual I'd sat in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea and cozied up to finish it but I was so enamored with the book I never even touched my tea or even realized my toes were getting just a little too warm stretched out in front of the fire... but no regrets!

Carriger's writing voice took some time to get used to admittedly but once I overcame the campy paleofutureness of it (it's almost like a mocking of Austen but done playfully) I felt right in love with the sassiness of heroine Alexia Tarabotti and the unending humor of this story of gentlemen monsters. I love the attention to detail, from the silly ornate frocks to the sandwiches to the only slightly otherwordly Steampunk touches of Carriger's alternate earth. She creates this preposterous mundanity of, well, 'yes, there are werewolves and vampires and ghosts, as well as these weirdo machines and dirigibles and Frankensteinian mad science labs but it's all totally normal, totally!' that I loved even more when put expressed through the propriety and moral rules of Victorian-era English high society. Really, if I were to describe Soulless in one word it would be charming.

Then there are the characters-- oh man, I totally get why everyone who reads this just falls head over heels in love in Lord Conall Maccon. He is Mr Darcy if Mr Darcy were a Scottish alpha werewolf who struggled in polite society in the most adorable way. I wasn't just throwing out that Austen reference willy-nilly earlier either; the relationship between Lord Maccon and Alexia is very reminiscent of that of Darcy and Elizabeth, especially when they're trading barbs. Carriger ups the heat between them by a 1000x compared to Darcy and Elizabeth though, to such a palpable degree I wasn't sure if the blush in my cheeks was from the toasty fire or intense sexual tension. There were a great deal of super likable side characters as well, all of whom I look forward to getting to know better in the sequels (which I plan on starting immediately!).

Now, while I'm giving this book five stars and am probably counting it among my favorite books, like, ever since finishing it, I will say it's not totally flawless. There was a lot of weird racial issues in it, mainly regarding the overt praising of alabaster skin and Alexia's own hangups on the fact her half-Italian ancestry has made her just a tinge darker than ghost-white. Literally every character, aside from Maccon, in the book makes some comment on her not being super freaking pasty and how that makes her ugly (especially her family, my god)! I'm not ignorant to the racial problems of the past or anything (and present, for that matter) or of British colonialism's effect on whiteness being overtly favored in their former colonies or that Italians were once considered not to actually be white, but from a modern pov the attitudes would've made more sense if Carriger had made Alexia something more than just half-Italian (I am aware some Italians can be darker, like Luke Pasqulino, but that's not how Alexia's descriptions came across). Every time it was brought up I was just left shaking my head because Carriger describes her as being white, just not ghostly white. It was just super weird. Like, really really weird, to the point where it was off-putting because it was brought up so often. All of this would've made for a much more interesting story and more genuine struggle if Alexia's father had actually been a minority.

Why didn't I remove at least a star for all that though? I get what Carriger was trying to do with the whole angle. I don't think it was done well but she did try. And all the good things in the book are just so. good.

eta: I just read a bad review of this book... and I actually agreed with it. Again, I still enjoyed this book a lot but perhaps in reading it as quickly as I did I overlooked more problems than just the racial one. I'm going to remove a star for that reason, because this bad review had me nodding my head going 'yep, yep I agree!' I still loved Soulless, for all it's problems there still so much to like about this book, but for a great view of the other side I recommend checking out this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . Because it also rings to true to what this book is. ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Kerri (aka Ciarda) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Feb 06, 2017 Keri marked it as to-read

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