Book Review: Timeless by Gail Carriger

Another Gail Carriger book? Yes, I love her books! I have written about Souless and Heartless before and now it is time for Timeless. I really want to read Changeless, Blameless but they aren't available on kindle format, yet. I hope they will be one day and hopefully soon!

One funny thing, even when I am in full force with my 25 things before my 25th birthday list I keep on thinking about what will be on my 26 things before my 26th birthday. One of the things is I might only buy kindle book for that year. 

Back to Timeless, this is the last book that has been published in The Parasol Protectorate series. I don't know if there will be more books published in this series or if I should try to read some of her other novels. The book description is quite intriguing, which they usually are for these books.

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle. 

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

The story is hilarious (as always), and since I read Heartless shortly before I read Timeless the sheer amount of character wasn't as big of a problem as when you just start reading her books. I really liked how Alexia's daughter, Prudence, fitted well into the story and even had her own story line.

"It's bath night. You don't have a choice. Real ladies are clean ladies," explained her mother, rather sensibly, she thought."  Page 7

"If Alexia had not interfered, Lord Akeldama would have remained mortal, and Prudence a fanged toddler, until sunrise." Page 10

"Foo Foo," replied Prudence with equal gravitas. Then, after giving the lady dressed as a gentleman a very assessing look, she added, "Btttpttbtpt."  Page 108 

"There was a wastrel in black Alexia  first thought might be a statesman, until he whipped out a notebook, which made her thing he was that lowest of the low: a travel journalist." Page 130

I would say that Timeless is as good if not even a bit better than Soulless and Heartless, the only thing I find annoying is how expensive the kindle books are for this series.

Bisous

In other book news, I gave up on Timebomb by Gerald Seymour. This is a rare occurrence since I always try to finish every book I start on. Timebomb was just so extremely bad that I just couldn't carry on.

Book Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

I have written a review about Gail Carriger book before, it was called Soulless (see here). I really enjoyed that book and it was no different with this one!

On the back cover it says:

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barley has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.
Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldam's second best closet?

As I mentioned in my review for Soulless, Gail Carriger has written several other books with the same characters. They are Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless and Timeless. There are as well two volumes of manga that are based on these books. 

I had the same problem with this book as I had with the first one, there are endless amount of characters that have first and last names and the names are used at random! However, that is the only thing that I didn't like about the book! 

The story line is fantastic! The character are amazing! I even laughed out loud frequently when I was reading the book! Just marvelous! 

"Struck with a sudden inspiration, Lady Maccon yelled to her lupine spouse, "My love, lead them off. Go for the lime pit." She remembered Conall complaining to her about running into the pit by accident only a few nights previous, singeing all the hair of his forefeet." Page 23

"Even prior to her marriage, Miss Ivy Hisselpenny's social position had prevented her from attending events of high standing, while Miss Alexia Tarabotti had suffered under the yoke of such events. As far as Ivy was concerned, this yielded up a poor quality and quantity of gossip." Page 89

In these two quotes Alexia, the main character, is mentioned as Lady Maccon and as Miss Alexia Tarabotti! It is quite annoying if you haven't read the previous books and don't really know that Lady Maccon maiden name was Miss Tarabotti.

"She was confined to her bed with a splint and barley water and told that on no account was she to move for an entire week. Worse, she was also told that she was to lay off tea for the next twenty-four hours, as imbibing any hot liquid was bound to increase the swelling. Alexia called the doctor a quack and threw her bad cap at him. He retreated, but she knew perfectly well that Cornall and the rest at Woolsey would see that his instructions were obeyed to the letter" Page 167

All in all this book is great, it has a good story, it is well written and it is funny! I would definitely recommend it and I am thinking about reading her other books in this series!

Bisous!

P.S. Check out how I am doing with my A-Z list here.

Book Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

I finally finished Soulless by Gail Carriger, I say finally because I've been talking about it for a while now! I bought it when I was in Helsinki  and just never finished reading it! The golden opportunity came when I was stuck in London over a night for a layover. There in the underground I finally finished it! FINALLY! 


The strange thing is, that this book is quite good. It's interesting and funny and the story line is not that bad! For me that rarely happens these days! The main protagonist of the story is Alexia Tarabotti. Alexia is preternatural, being preternatural means that she doesn't have any soul (in the books), whenever she touches someone that is supernatural they  some of the other characters in the book are Lord Conall Maccon a werewolf and the alpha of the BUR (Bureau of Unnatural Registry). Lord Akeldama a gay vampire that knows all the things that are happening. 


There are a lot of characters in this book and I got sometimes confused by the massive amount of names. Another thing I didn't like was the ending, well the way the ending was written, all mashed down into couple of pages.


The story itself was quite intriguing, there was some steampunkness but not too much, there was decent amount of romance but it wasn't too mushy. Most of the characters were likeable and the story had a good flow! 


And now for my favourite part of writing about the books: quotes!

   Page 65: Miss Tarabotti stood, marched over, and grabbed Lord Maccon's wrist. His teeth retracted instantly. The earl's yellow eyes went back to amber-brown. It was the color they must have been years ago before he yielded to the bite that made him supernatural.

     Page 112: The kiss itself was quite gentle: slow and soft. Alexia found it surprising given the violence of his embrace. She also found it faintly unsatisfying. She gave a little  murmur of frustration and leaned in toward him. Then the kiss changed. It became harder, rougher, parting her lips with purpose. There was even, shockingly, tongue involved in the proceed. 

    Page 191:  One of the other men broke away from the fighting group and sprinted after her attacker. Alexia doubted he would arrive in time. The waxed faced man moved with utter efficiency and economy of motion, less a man running than a water snake slithering. 

   Page 232: Lord Akeldama and Alexia both stood. Alexia grabbed her brass parasol, gripping it firmly in both hands. Lord Akeldama reached for the gold pipe art piece from the mantel. He pressed hard at a hidden button in the midpoint, and a curved, hooklike blade sprang out each end of the pipe and clicked into place. One was sharpened ironwood, the other solid silver. Not art, as it turned out.

Gail Carriger has written three other books with the same character, the forth one is supposed to be published in March 2012. I'm planning on ordering at least Changeless for my kindle this summer.  

   
                                                                                                                                 

Right now I'm reading The Name of the Wind - Kingkiller Chronicles, Day one  by Patrick Rothfuss. I've read 11% of it and like it so far. Check out my other Book of the Month posts.

Lots of Love

I've got a confession to make....

.... I finally silenced my inner devil and bought myself a Kindle. It's divine! I couldn't be more happier!

Right now I'm making myself a cover for it!  Mr. Handsome and I are trying to pick a name for it.
His idea is Poindexter, mine is Luvena. Luvena means little beloved one while Pointdexer is many things. 


I bought my first book on it Her Perfect Revenge by Anna Mara. I've read 17% of it (love that nifty little feature on the Kindle). It's amature writing but quite entertaining.  I'll write a review about it as soon as I finish it.



I'm still reading Soulless by Gail Carriger and when I do pick it up to read it I like it but as soon as I put it down my brain just forgets about it! As soon as that one will be finished I'll write about it too!










Lot's of reading to do! Not only fiction reading but more of statistic and age related diseases.