Soulless by Gail Carriger

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Well everyone who said this was delightful 10 years ago — they were right! So excited to to have all the Carriger series to catch up on now!

This was such an entertaining book. While it took a bit for me to fall in love with the characters and the world, once it did I was hooked and loved every second. Since this is the first book in the series, there is a lot of character development and world development. I think the plot was a little thin in terms of excitement and a true mystery to be solved. However, I loved the relationships that we saw and how they changed, especially with Alexia and Lord Maccon.

I cannot wait to start the next book and see what the pair get up to next. This book was definitely full of supernatural, witty humor and amazing characters.

Negative points, in order of importance

- British Victorian era setting AND dialogue
- excessively detailed characters
- 10% in and no plot is established
- protagonist is an anachronism to her era, a thinking woman that doesn't want to get marry
- protagonist is constantly annoyed by how high society treats her for being a ~25 years old spinster
- protagonist is not pretty, but the her love interest is a sophisticated and that doesn't care for appearances

SUMMARY

Alexia is a soulless, a person with no soul. She is called a preternatural, in contrast with the other supernatural creatures that are a common occurrence in this fantasy Victorian era England.

While attending a bowl, she is attacked by a vampire, who should know better then to mess with a soulless like her. Her preternatural status gives her super powers, at least against other supernatural creatures, and so she dispatches him.

Lord Maccon is part of an organization that policies and investigates supernatural related activity. He is a werewolf himself, and when he shows up he chastises for her recklessness, because killing a vampire is still considered a murder.

He believes its not her fault becouse he knows her, and so lets her go.

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