Soulless Review

Originally written on August 28, 2010


The book I will be reviewing, if you haven't already figured out, is Soulless by Gail Carriger. Been a while since I've done a book review, and what a book to start up again! I love this book! A fantastic mix of humor, action, romance, and Victorian society... with some vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and steampunk stirred in for good measure. It did take me a chapter or three to get used to how Ms. Carriger writes, and the setting of Victorian London; but like with reading Pride and Prejudice, once I got over that hurdle, I was off and running. As in Pride and Prejudice, social standing and style are key to how easy your life is in the world of Soulless, so that tended to through me off a bit.


Soulless is a tale of Miss Alexia Tarabotti, who is without soul, a preternatural. This means she can cancel out the supernatural powers that make a werewolf a werewolf and a vampire a vampire. She is slightly removed from "good societal standing" for many reasons, which adds to the many levels of character building and plot development. Alexia is a strong-willed woman in a time when women were meant to be seen, not heard. Many times throughout the book I was almost put off by Alexia because she strove to be too strong, too independent, too scientific about things. But then a scene here or there would pop up and show the human side of Alexia that made me truly care for her. It showed some depth to her character, and the reasons behind why she had to be so strong-willed. One of the main sources of frustration and humor in the book was the romance between Lord Maccon and Alexia. I loved the tension between Alexia and Lord Maccon (werewolf Alpha), and the chemistry and unspoken attraction was brilliantly done. Two Alpha personalities slowly realizing they cared and loved each other was touching, humorous, and hair-pullingly frustrating all at the same time. I genuinely cared for Alexia and Maccon and hoped that her stubbornness and his wolfishness wouldn't split them up. The action and suspense of this tale made it a true page-turner, as did the growth of the characters throughout the action. I had to stay up until 230am to finish it. I had to know how the mystery of the wax-man turned out (I will not explain because that will ruin it!), and I simply had to know if Alexia and Maccon realized their feelings for each other and actually expressed them out loud, and what silly hat Ivy had on!

There were only a handful of downsides to this book; sadly it can't be all giddy praise. There was the seemingly over-done attention to the fashion, the decor of the high-society homes, the emphasis of the separation of classes. At times it blended seamlessly into the story and helped to carry the plot along. At others it seemed to drag the pace of the story down, and become page-filler. I suppose this was done to set the tone of the world of Soulless, since the Victorian age was a bit... materialistic and segregated. This is a historical fiction, and when one is writing in a certain time period, one must be true to the period to a certain degree. It was still a bit distracting. Another thing that irked me was how the first 1/4 of the book bashed into the reader's head far too many times the understanding that Alexia is a somewhat outcast of society for reasons A, B, and C. Yes, yes, we get the point... But as I read on and got to know the characters, especially Alexia, the brow-beating of the reader in regards to Alexia's "short-comings" had been beaten into her head for years by her family and society, that it was hard for anyone to ignore them, much less forget them. It was a subtle way to get the reader to experience the emotional pain of the heroine, to understand why Alexia is the way she is, why she acts this way, and how human and vulnerable she truly is; a fact and revelation that Alexia hasn't fully come to see. A far more complex book than what it first appears, with many fun layers to explore.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys the strong, witty heroines of Jane Austen, good mysteries with humor and action, and likes their vamps and wolves a little more on the dangerous side. I am thoroughly excited to read the second in the series, Changeless, and then Blameless. Apparently there's a fourth book coming soon... Ack! I need to get reading!

Okay... enough reviewing... I need to get to bed. It is way past my bedtime.