Review of Changeless by Gail Carriger

Changeless is the second book in the Alexia Tarabotti series, aka, The Parasol Protectorate series, by Gail Carriger. It is a smashing good follow up to the first, Soulless, able to hold your attention and keep the pace and continuing story going smoothly. Again, since this is a sequel, there might be some spoilers. But I will try to keep them to a minimum.

We rejoin Lord Maccon and Lady Alexia roughly three months after the event of Soulless, and the newlyweds (spoiler, sorry) seem to be adjusting rather well to their new life together. Well, as well as a werewolf earl and a soulless preternatural who toss verbal barbs as often as kisses can. The bliss of married life is broken when troops---werewolves and fellow pack members---arrive from Britain's latest tour of Africa and camp out on the front lawn of Alexia and Lord Maccon's castle. On top of this, sudden episodes of "humanness" pop up all over London, affecting the supernatural residents and turning them human. The only people who can counteract the supernatural's powers is a preternatural, aka "soulless". Instantly the vampires, werewolves, and other supernaturals of London are casting suspicious eyes to Alexia, being London's resident soulless. Now Alexia has to clear her name, figure out what is causing the supernatural to become changeless, and go run after her husband who suddenly left for Scotland. And of course, the book sets up nicely for the third installment, Blameless. As great this book was, the ending made me mad and kinda weepy. 

Gail Carriger is a true talent with mixing Victorian England's class dynamics, supernatural species, and a healthy dose of steampunk into a truly wonderful adventure-romantic-mystery. Alexia, being "soulless", offsets the typically frivolous and superficial woman's role with smarts, a sharp tongue, and an attitude to rival any man. While she has to solve a mystery of mystical proportions, Alexia finds herself babysitting her horrible sister and her flighty best friend (who still has a pension for terrible hats) on her trip to Scotland to track down her husband and find the source of the changeless phenomenon. Changeless is an equal of its predecessor to the mystery, humor, romance, and rapier wit. Many others have compared Carriger's writing to be as sharp and tongue-n-cheek as Jane Austen, and really, how much more of a complement is that? 

This series is a truly good one, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes their steampunk mixed with werewolves and vampires, their parasols action-packed, and their Victorian heroines cut from smarter cloth. With all the paranormal romances out there, some hit-n-misses when it comes to quality, Gail Carriger's Alexia Tarabotti does not disappoint. On my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss) I give this installment a solid 8.5. 

Get started in this series, you won't be disappoint. 

2 Down, 98 to Go, or 100 Books in 1 Year Challenge Update 1

An update on the 100 Books in 1 Year Challenge!

1. Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry    519pg  
    Started 1/9/13   Finished 1/10/13
2. Changeless by Gail Carriger           374pg
    Started 1/11/13  Finished 1/24/13 
3. Married, with Zombies by Jesse Petersen 195pg (ebook)
    Started 1/19/13
4. Froggy Style by J.A. Kazimer  
    On deck

Yes, I am starting some books towards the end of other books. How else am I going to finish 100 books in a year? 

And me being a uber organizational person that I am, I have created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my books, when started/finished, how many pages read, order read in, and also if the book is a paper book vs ebook. I've decided to keep track of the pages of "real" books and ebooks, since I'm not sure if the format of the font/margins/etc affect how many pages are really in an ebook. Like my #3 book is an ebook, I have it highlighted in red in my spreadsheet so I can calculate the total pages and then have a subtotal of ebook pages. Because #3 book is 195 ebook pages, but then the ebook version of Dracula is over 1000 pages... I highly doubt that book is 1000 pages long. That's Les Miserables page count territory. 

Yeah. I'm weird.

And yes, once I finish a book, I'll do a review. I'll post a review of Changeless sometime this weekend. 

Review of Dust & Decay

All right, it's been long enough. I've finally collected myself after finishing Dust & Decay, so here's the much overdue review, and the first of 2013! 

Dust & Decay, the second in Jonathan Maberry’s Rot & Ruin teen zombie series, lives up to its predecessor. If you haven’t read the first one, beware, there are some spoilers in here; I will keep them to a minimum since I hate spoiling things for others. I'm going to try and keep the spoilers down to a minimum... so, do yourself a favor and read the first one ASAP!

Picking up roughly seven months after the events of Rot & Ruin, we join Benny, his brother Tom, and friends Nix, Chong, and Lilah the Lost Girl as they begin their journey into the Ruin for hunt for the unimaginable object they saw in the sky after saving Nix from Charlie Pink-eye and taking down the abomination known as Gameland. The object was a jet, a relic from the time before First Night, but also a symbol that promises civilization beyond the Rocky Mountains. Tom has been preparing them for months to survive in the Ruin, and after a freak zombie attack inside the town, he decides now it is time for them to depart. Once they leave the safety of the town’s fences, Benny, Tom, Nix and Lilah will never come back to small Mountainside, so now the small group of friends must face some hard good-byes. Friendships are tested, convictions and dreams doubted, and blossoming love pushed aside as the small group sets out into the Ruin.

After a disastrous first day out in the Ruin, Benny and his friends face strange events, crazy bounty hunters, and even more bizarre behaviors from the zombies that soon turn their world—and perceptions of the world—on its ear. Zebras and rhinos are running rampant in the woods, zombies suddenly are faster and stronger, and the zombies are moving in large swarms that number in the thousands. And the most game-changing discovery the group comes across is… like I'd tell you that big spoiler?! These strange events are just the tip of the iceberg as the group moves steadily on to the east; old enemies emerge from the past, new twisted baddies threaten the future, while new allies give support to the present.

Maberry is deft at mixing terror and action with the equally terrifying confusion of teenage emotions and coming of age. In between fighting zombie hordes, dodging dangerous bounty hunters, and struggling with the mystery that is the zombie plague, Benny must find a balance between survival and his feelings for Nix. The closer he tries to get to her, the more she pushes back. In the wilds of the Ruin, is love a dangerous luxury that will get Benny and his friends killed? Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong struggle to figure out their place in the world, on that razor's edge of childhood and adulthood. Maberry's ability to draw you into the world of the characters (even the zombies!), make you feel for them and connect on a level that brings the reading experience to a whole new level... is uncanny. 

I cannot recommend Maberry's books enough. If you're looking for a great monster book that keeps true to the nature of the beast, Rot & Ruin is the series for you. 

On my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss)... I give Dust & Decay a strong 9. Go get it. 

1 Book Down, 99 To Go...

100 Books in 1 Year Challenge update! Yay!

My birthday was January 8th, so that marked the beginning of this challenge. January 9th I cracked open the first book: Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry, at 730pm. It is the second book in his Rot & Ruin teen zombie series. I finished it January 10th at 11pm. Now, I didn't read it straight through, I had to sleep and go to work... but yeah. 

And given that this is a book review blog, I will be posting the review of this book soon (as it will be the first review of 2013)... but I just... I need... whoa. I just need a day to decompress and collect the pieces of my blown mind. If you want a book to grab you by the emotional short hairs, then you need to pick up any of Maberry's books. Yeah. I want to write books like him when I grow up. 

So yeah. 1 book down, 99 to go... Book 2 is slated to be Changeless  by Gail Carriger... but now I'm going to go lie down... 

100 Books in 1 Year Challenge

It has been a while since I've posted here, and I apologize to my... 5 fans. But now we find ourselves on the eve of something amazing. 

A few months ago, I heard of a challenge where one must read 100 books in a year, starting on one's birthday and ending on one's next birthday. I decided I was going to take part in this challenge since I have a book review blog, and I haven't done enough reading for the simple enjoyment of reading. Since tomorrow is my birthday, I will start my challenge. 

My first book shall be.... 

Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry. 

I'll update with each book and date finished, as well as the number of pages. That why we can see how many pages I've read in a year.... oh yeah, and how close I get to 100 books.