Heartless
Ratings65
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings65
Average rating3.8
Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault in the fourth book of the NYT bestselling Parasol Protectorate series. 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, Alexia barely 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 Akeldama's second best closet? HEARTLESS is the fourth book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking. The Parasol Protectorate Soulless Changeless Blameless Heartless Timeless For more from Gail Carriger, check out: The Custard Protocol Prudence ImprudenceCompetenceReticence Finishing School (YA) Etiquette & Espionage Curtsies & Conspiracies Waistcoats & Weaponry Manners & Mutiny
Reviews with the most likes.
Reading till 4 in the morning before work? Of course, yes.
Well, this installment was a bit less logical than the previous one. All that business with octomaton was not so well thought out as it seemed to me. Anyway, the good thing is that I already get used to the sarcastic writing. However, it does make it more difficult to care for the characters.
Premise
I had this and the last volume for the series lying on my bookshelf for years. I read the previous volume “Blameless” in 2016 and it is not optimal to read the story again after so many years, because I lose somehow interest and connection to the story. Unfortunately on the internet, I could not find any recaps, but on the other side, I read the mangas. That makes it as if I have read the first three books one and a half times. And I did not lose the connections to the original characters of Alexia, Conall, Lord Akeldama, and so on. I thought of writing this premise because it will highly impact my review.
Plot
I found the plot pretty uninteresting, besides a few revelations.
Characters
Regarding a couple of characters, Prof. Lyall and Ivy, we assisted a big change that looked out of character to me. I love dynamic characters: characters that change sides, that grow, that are well-developed. However, to write a well-round evolution, you need a larger amount of pages, to show the change to readers. I am not sure if these changes were hinted at in the previous books already and I don't remember them or if they were meant to be unexpected.
Conclusion
Overall, I found it a nice read. I enjoyed going back to my beloved and funny characters, but I found myself not very involved in the story and found those revelations not quite fitting.
This series is so much fun, I'm glad I got back to it. Delightful language, lots of action and tea drinking, a giant mechanical octopus, zombie porcupines mixed with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and a mystery. Also, a pregnant protagonist is not really common in steampunk/paranormal novels. It's classy and fun! I will read the next one in the series.??
Another fun Victorian(ish) tongue-in-cheek mystery. This one actually had a slower pace (the main character, Alexia, was 8 months pregnant and could only manage a determined waddle) and focused much more on character development, which I enjoyed.
If you want a break from serious books, I can recommend this series.
Series
5 primary books8 released booksParasol Protectorate is a 8-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2009 with contributions by Gail Carriger.
Series
1 released bookParasolVerse (Chronological Order) is a 17-book series first released in 2009 with contributions by Gail Carriger, Daniela Di Falco, and 4 others.
