It’s dreadfully awkward being soulless in Victorian High Society. Add to that being the spinster daughter of a dead Italian, and life just isn’t working out for Alexia Tarabotti, and that’s before she’s attacked by a vampire at a social gathering.
Bad enough that breaks all societal etiquette, but it also comes along with the downside that now Alexia has to deal with Lord Conall Maccon, the loud, obnoxious, Scottish werewolf sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. It seems that known vampires are disappearing nightly, and new vampires are popping up everywhere, and somehow everyone believe Alexa is at the center of it all. Can she solve the mystery? Does her soulless state help or hinder? Will she appreciate the charms of shout-y Scottish werewolves or will she bash them in the head with her parasol? And most important of all; does anyone have any tea or treacle tarts for her?
I feel like the old saying “if I had a nickel for every parasol-wielding heroine that is healthy of limb, generous of bosom and her strapping aggravating beau I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it’s happened twice.” First Amelia Peabody, now Alexia Tarabotti. The upside of Amelia is that we don’t have to read too much about her relations, unlike Alexia’s. Her mother and her half-sisters are only too prominent; the largest shame is that they live to the end of the book.
Alexia meanwhile is your typical Victorian-based heroine in a Steampunk novel: no-nonsense, witty, only too eager to dive into danger, obsessed with societal mores and yet quite willing to break them when she sees fit. Her Soulless state means that she has the ability to draw the paranormal out of vampires and werewolves, making them human again for as long as she has skin-to-skin contact with them. This, of course, is a great inconvenience to Alexia, as she would rather just solve her problems with judicious use of her parasol. I adore her most ardently.
Conall is, to be honest, a stereotypical Scot; he’s brash, he’s hot-headed, he throws the word “ken” around with wild abandonment. Though I suppose a lot of it can also be explained away by him being a werewolf. Gail Carriger does continue the age-old habit of werewolves being just this side of a hillbilly family (in her universe, they’re more like a hunting lodge/rugby team), while vampires are the sophisticated bon vivants (they live in “hives”, with a “queen”.) Conall comes across like a gorgeous, better dressed Stoick the Vast. He and Alexia have great flirtatious banter, and he works as a male romantic lead, but Alexia could work equally well solo. I will give points for the fact that he is completely unable to figure out how to deal with her; Conall Maccon comes across as a man who needs his world upended from the normal Victorian mores and Werewolf traditions more often.
Conall towards Alexa most of the book.
As his Beta, Conall has Randolph Lyall, who in a way can best be described as “Remus Lupin from Prisoner of Azkaban does Victorian.” Just PoA, the character changes in later books kind of take the similarity away. Lyall is a good character; he’s not a great one.
As for the vampires? Lord Akeldama, rogue vampire, fashion plate and Alexia’s dear friend, is everything in these books. He speaks in italics. He has a “hive” of beautiful, extremely well dressed men that live with him and go to all the right salons, and are just fabulous gatherers of intel. His main drone, Biffy (Sandalio de Rabiffano), is adorable and I had heart eyes for all of his and Akeldama’s interactions.
The plot itself is fun as all get out, with plenty of action, romance, and witty one-liners to keep any fan of the Paranormal Steampunk Romance genre happy. I am sorry that Gail decided to make this a oneshot; but who knows where the series would have gone if she had written four sequels, a seven book prequel series, and a four book sequel series? I shudder to think what might have happened to any of the characters, what bad decisions they might have made, what major changes might have happened in their lives. No, it’s better that she just ended it all after this book.
