Alexia wasn't the first Tarabotti to travel to Egypt

The growing popularity of the ebook has created a renaissance in the short story market. once relegated to transient magazines and intimidating best-of anthologies, now anyone can create a Kindle Single and release their tale as an inexpensive tidbit for the general population.

Another bonus of the new publishing industry is the freedom it gives authors to revisit past worlds. While an author may consider a series complete, she might still have a few scenes that never made it into a book, or a bit of backstory that could be told, but these bits and bobs aren't enough to warrant a novel. Instead of being lost to a few pages in an anthology, or never seeing the light of day at all, authors now have the ability to put these treats online for their fans to enjoy. 

And such is the case with Gail Carriger's The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar.

Note: The Curious Case... is part of the Parasol Protectorate series. As it's a prequel, it shouldn't have any spoilers for the series itself, but it might not make much sense without the rest of the series. Check out the review for Soulless here. Otherwise, read on!

Why let a little something like death slow you down?

Gwen Dylan isn't your normal gal. She works as a grave-digger at an all-natural cemetery, for one, which automatically brands her as 'one of the guys.' She's recently cut ties with her past, so she only has a few people that she can truly call her friends.

Oh, and she's a zombie.

In iZombie Volume 1: Dead to the World, Gwen isn't exactly your standard shambling undead. As long as she maintains a steady diet of a brain a month, she keeps her focus and her memory. And so, being the moral sort, she's found herself employment that lets her be around plenty of brains that no one is using anymore.

Honestly, her life is actually pretty normal for being a living dead girl. She lives in a crypt in the cemetery she works at, and has a slightly 'airheaded' ghost for a roommate. Her other friend, Scotty, is a 'thrope' of the terrier variety.

But she still has a couple problems. When she eats a brain, which is by far the most disgusting thing she's ever had to choke down, she is flooded with the fragmented memories of that person's life. Sometimes it includes a bit of unfinished business that the decedent has left behind. Often it includes his final moments, and whether he died under...mysterious circumstances.

It turns out, Gwen isn't the only undead in town either. A pack of vampires has taken up residence at a local paintball course, and while their leader is bright enough not to leave a trail of bodies behind, not all of them are.

And there might be another, less ethical zombie in town as well.

Chris Robertson does a good job setting up a world full of creatures of the night, while still giving us some rules to go by. The characters each have their own personality quirks already, with plenty of room to go. Gwen even has a love interest, of a sort.

It's amazing how full a life a gal can have, even when she's dead.

Highs: Gwen's friends are hilarious, and their antics are sometimes even more fun than the main story.

Lows: The artwork isn't quite what I expect from a Vertigo title, and there's a lot of backstory still missing.

Verdict: iZombie Volume 1: Dead to the World is a fun, quick read with lots of potential for future volumes.

Further Reading: iZombie Volume 2: uVampire, V Wars, World War Z, Soulless: The Manga, The Unwritten

A sushi-loving werewolf must help two merfolk siblings recovered their embezzled money.

Gail Carriger takes a break from her Steampunk series with a slightly different take on the werewolf curse in 'Marine Biology.'

Alec never really expected to make it to 24. Born into a pack of werewolves, he was always considered a bit too...weak to make the change. In a family that looks like it just walked out of a biker bar, he swam instead of playing a more full-contact sport in high school, and is more likely to be spotted in a lab coat than a leather one. But family is family, and pack is pack, so when there's a get-together he shows up.

Even if he's more likely to bring a salad than a slab of beef.

This time, though, he's actually being given responsibility within the pack. There's been some funny business with the merpeople's finances, and a large chunk of money has gone missing. There's reason to believe that the selkies are in on it, and that's brought a brother-sister pair of mers to town. 

Giselle and Marvin used to be from around here, so they're the ones that were sent from the West Coast to figure out where the money's gone. Since they're not local anymore it's the pack's responsibility to keep them safe while they're investigating, and that's where Alec gets involved.

Nevermind that Marvin used to show up at Alec's swim practices to watch.

'Marine Biology' has an interesting premise and doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a ghost who lives at Butch's house and seems to take great pleasure in teasing the pack when it meets. Alec gets by in the aggressive pack politics by keeping his head down, but still gets made fun of for his sushi platters and job as a researcher. Even the merfolks seen a bit surprised with how badly he fits into this family. Nevertheless, this story has all the humor and clever dialog that readers of Carriger have come to expect, and is a welcome diversion.

Highs: Of course the Irish selkies would be the mafia of the water-weres.

Lows: I kept expecting the werewolf Biff to somehow tie into the character in the Parasol Protectorate with the same name.

Verdict: A quick, easy read that doesn't make itself out to be more than it is.

Further Reading: 'My Sister's Song', Soulless, Attachments

A Merry Christmas Horror Shopping List

The Horror Shopping List 2013

  

As people awaken from their turkey-induced comas and head to the malls, one thing is clear: the Christmas shopping rush is upon us. While the post-holiday winter months keep the readers on your shopping list at home, a good scare can really help pass those cold, dark nights. Here's a list of some of the best spine-tingling stories waiting to be left under the tree.

 

World War Z

 

With the release of the blockbuster summer movie, many more people have hopped on the zombie bandwagon. But what those moviegoers might not realize is that the story of Gerry Lane is hardly the focus of the novel.

Recommended for: fans of zombie movies and shows who haven't read much of the genre.

Under a Graveyard Sky

 

 

Zombie books can end up turning silly, with people completely unprepared for disaster striking on on their own with just a shotgun over their shoulder, with no real thought as to where more shells might come from, or what to do when winter hits. John Ringo, more well-known for fantasy and military SF, does a fantastic job at creating a story in which the characters are actually smart enough to keep themselves alive.

Recommended for: people who have read a lot of zombie novels, fans of the TV show 'Doomsday Preppers.'

V Wars

 

 

The zombies have been in the forefront of horror for the past few years, but there are plenty of scares left in the vampire world. The stories in this shared-world collection weave  bloodsucker lore from around the world into into an intriguing tale with plenty to be afraid of.

 

Recommended for: people who like their vampires scary instead of sparkly.

Parasite

 

Since the passing of Michael Crichton, there has been a lack of good medical horror novels. Mira Grant brings that tradition back with her near-future tale of medical science gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Recommended for: People who don't want fantasy mucking up their scares.

Machine Man

 

Another tale of medical science gone wrong, this time it really is the patient's fault. With equal parts dark humor and action, most people reading this book will have someone that the protagonist reminds them of in their life.

 

Recommended for: the techie or Big Bang Theory fan on your list.

 

 

Robopocalypse

 

 

More near-future horror of the apocalypse type, this time it's our own tech toys that turn on us. As self-driving cars and wearable technology becomes more of a reality, stories like this become more and more frightening.

Recommended for: your favorite technophobe.

Another

 

 

An unsettling Japanese schoolgirl, a cursed classroom and an outsider who has no idea what he's wandered into. Japan is known for its excellent horror movies, and this one delivers creepiness in spades.

Recommended for: the anime or manga fan on your list, those bored with traditional scares.

So there you are. Enough shivers to keep anyone busy during the post-holiday slump. As always, make sure to tuck that gift receipt into the front cover, just in case your recipient has had that scare already.

Manga Monday: Alexia is hardly one to take disgrace quietly

Alexia is certainly not one to let things go without a fight, and even goes so far as to fight the Templars of Italy in Soulless The Manga Volume 3: Blameless.

Note: Soulless The Manga Volume 3: Blamelessis part of an ongoing series, and follows the story of the third Parasol Protectorate novel, Blameless. The review for Soulless The Manga Volume 1: Soulless is here, and the review of the novel Blameless is here. Otherwise, read on!

A dark prophecy may be coming true after all

Werewolves are male. Her twin brother is male. Her father, the Alpha of the northern section of North America is male. Her best friends in the pack are male. Werewolves have always been men, gaining their powers during puberty, for as far back as the Pack histories go.

Jessica McClain, in Amanda Carlson's Full Blooded, never really believed that she'd become a werewolf. Even with all the Cain Myth doomsday prophecy business surrounding her birth, everyone knows that the werewolf genes are on an extra Y-chromosome that is passed from father to son. Being female, with no Y-chromosome to draw from, it should simply be impossible for her to change. So as she got older, and her brother changed without her, Jessica eventually created a life for herself as a P.D., with coworkers and friends; rivals and nosy neighbors.

But one night, at age 26 and all alone in her apartment, she began to change. And as the wolf inside her took over for the first time, she managed to royally trash her apartment, take off into the countryside, and nearly get her leg shot off by a farmer. All hard to explain to her boss, her former coworkers on the police force, and her poor landlord.


Her personal issues have to take a back seat, though, to what her existence means to the Pack. Her father has already had some trouble with dissent, though he's tried to patch it up as best he can. There's also been rumor of some challenge from the South, and some of his pack members may have defected or gone rogue.

As Jessica tries to keep her personal, professional and family lives from crumbling around her, an offer of help comes from the oddest of places. Is it a trap, or perhaps her only chance at coming out of this alive?

Amanda Carlson does an admirable job at keeping straight all the story threads that she's started the story with. The characters are all very human (even when they're not), and the reader really wants Jessica and her friends and family to come out on top. With a bit of romance and a breakneck pace, Full Blooded is a great addition to the supernatural fantasy genre.


Highs: I love seeing kick-butt heroines in their mid-twenties, rather than simpering teenagers.


Lows: Rather than having the supernatural universe laid out clearly in the beginning, the reader is occasionally broadsided with new information.


Verdict: A supernatural fantasy in which romance, while present, isn't the main focus of the story, Full Blooded is an exciting page-turner.


Further Reading: Hot Blooded, God Save the Queen, Santa Olivia

Now, the vampires get their chance at apocalypse

Zombie apocalypse books have been all the rage of late. The Walking Dead, World War Z, Under a Graveyard Sky and a whole host of other novels have shown us what to do when the undead hoardes appear: kill it with fire. But what are we to do when the hoardes aren't undead? What do we do when the newest predator is just as smart, and just as alive, as us?

V Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry, gives us just that situation. While working far, far North, two separate groups of people are exposed to the I1V1 virus from the melting polar caps. And thanks to globalization, and the wonderful virus breeding grounds that are airplanes, the virus quickly spreads around the world.

Ostensibly America's Patient Zero, Michael Fayne just got back from a wonderfully icy movie shoot in the wonderfully icy locale of Point Barrow, Alaska. Only a stone's throw from the North Pole, Fayne isn't surprised in the least when he gets sick upon arrival back to New York City. But the bills won't pay themselves, and neither will the paycheck from his SyFy Original Movie, so he hauls himself in to his part-time barista job. A series of blackouts culminates in a date gone terribly wrong, and he finds himself in NYPD's 6th Precinct, being interviewed by a very strange man.

Mooney Lopez knew that monsters roam on two legs long before the V-Event. An orphan on an Indian reservation in the American Southwest, no family came forward to take her in, so she lives with a foster mother she calls Mother Gaso. Raped at 17, Mother Gaso sends her on a trip to NYC to get away and find herself, but she comes back with more than she bargained for.

Ruksana Vulpes of Bucharest was one of the scientists studying glaciers in the Antarctic. With a lifelong love of mountain climbing, she and her partners have no problem rappelling down a glacier that has just calved, getting samples of ice that hasn't seen the light of day in millennia. As she and another member of her team are sampling, a moment of carelessness leads to an eruption of thawed sediment landing on the both of them.

Hugues 'Big Charlie' Charles is the District Attorney of the Bronx. Credited with dramatically decreasing the crime rate in his part of the city, he seems like a shoe-in for the upcoming Primaries. But it's not in Big Charlie's personality to hide anything from his constituents: in the run-up to voting day, he announces that he's been infected with the I1V1 virus.

These are just a few of the stories in V Wars. With the overarching world of a virus activating the 'junk' DNA in its victims, and each region of the world having its own vampire lore, the authors have a wealth of tales to pull from. From Chinese hopping vampires, to Native American rattlesnake-based vampires, to Eastern European vampire-hunting beings, the huge variety of creatures available to pull from makes this anthology truly fascinating.

Highs: The moral quandary of what to do with literally thousands of human beings who may or may not be able to control their need for the flesh, blood or life force of other humans is a moral and legal nightmare that I never want to be a part of

Lows: While the main storyline, written by Maberry himself, is date-stamped, it's hard to figure out exactly when some of the other stories take place

Verdict: A refreshing change of pace from the traditional ZA story

Further Reading: World War Z, Under a Graveyard Sky, Feed

Manga Monday: It makes sense that Alexia would end up hanging off the side of an airship

We meet Lord Maccon's former pack, and they have a most peculiar problem on their hands in Gail Carriger and Yen Press' Soulless The Manga Volume 2: Changeless.

Note: Soulless The Manga Volume 2: Changeless is, of course, the sequel to Soulless The Manga Volume 1,  and follows the story of The Parasol Protectorate Volume 2, Changeless. The review for Soulless The Manga Volume 1 is here, and the review of the novel Changeless is here. Otherwise, read on!

This isn't your grandmother's finishing school

Gail Carriger returns to the Parasol Protectorate universe with a young adult prequel, Finishing School Book the First: Etiquette & Espionage.

Note: This book is a prequel to the Parasol Protectorate series. As such, while there are no direct plot spoilers, there are some allusions to the earlier series. Check out the first Parasol Protectorate book, Soulless, here. Otherwise, read on. 

Where nobility is concerned, conspiracies run deep

Most vampire and werewolf mythologies assume that these creatures have been in existence for millenia. In fact, the origins of these creatures is generally not addressed at all; it is simply taken for granted that they exist and the narrative moves on.

In God Save the Queen by Kate Locke, this vampire, werewolf and goblin issue is a relatively recent development. Having dealt with the Black Plague time and again over the centuries, the immune systems of humans, especially nobility, have adapted in strange ways. As explained in the 'Understanding the Aristocracy' appendix, the two variants of this adaptive ''Prometheus Gene' can cause either vampirism or werewolf traits when two copies of the same variant is possessed.Having one set of either gene gives the person some of the physical benefits, such as increased strength and stamina. And possessing one of each gene creates a monster that is discarded by civilization. Thankfully, due to extensive gene typing, these accidents are quite rare.

Alexandra Vandry is a Halfsie. She's the daughter of a member of the Aristocracy and a courtesan selected for her ability to produce viable Halfsie offspring. Although she is not a member of the Aristocracy herself, she and children like her are raised with some of the benefits of the upper class. Xandry and her half-siblings were sent to school, and eacht ook a job as part of the security for the Crown and other nobles. 

God Saves the Queen begins with a death. Xandry's sister Dede, declared mad after the death of her baby, has been found dead by the officials of the asylum. And although the rest of the family is all too ready to mourn the death of their sister, Xandry refuses to believe that Dede would have killed herself.

As she investigates the whereabouts of Dede in the days leading up to her commitment, the threads holding together Xandry's life begin to unravel. Those she has leaned on her entire life are cast into doubt, and the Goblins that are feared by every right-thinking citizen come to her aid. Xandry will need to decide who she trusts: her family, friends and teachers, or a band of outsiders and traitors to the Crown.

Locke makes a valiant effort to bring this new mythology into the 21st century. It makes perfect sense that a nation ruled by centuries-old beings would be quite traditional in its fashions and societal norms. It also makes sense that technologies such as DNA sequencing and immunology would be more relevant in this alternate timeline and would be more advanced than we have now. The only flaw in this is that it's hard to tell exactly which segments of modern technology are actually present and what names they are given. This is a common flaw in many alternate timeline series, and while frustrating is accepted as par for the course.

In short, God Save the Queen is a fanciful new take on the vampire/werewolf mythos and a charming addition to the 'bustlepunk' subgenre of steampunk. One also assumes that the world in which the story takes place will only be more fully defined in subsequent books. This is an entertaining story that leaves the reader eagerly anticipating the next volume.

Highs: The betrayals, reversals and revelations come fast and furious at times, but are always believable and founded in some sort of pre-established fact.

Lows: The odd combination of current-day technology with the Victorian overlay can be confusing at times, as can the rather convoluted bloodlines.

Verdict: Hardly the epitome of alternative history or supernatural fiction, nonetheless, this is an enjoyable, engaging fiction.

Further Reading: The Queen is Dead, Soulless

Manga Monday: Miss Tarabotti has never looked so very...anime

The first book of the Parasol Protectorate has been turned into a manga by the good people at Yen Press, beginning with Soulless Volume 1.

This starts and ends just where the first  book does. We meet Miss Tarabotti after quite the incident at an evening party. She rather inadvertently kills a rogue vampire that tries to make a snack out of her, bringing her once again to the attention of B.U.R. and their chief investigator Sir Conall Maccon, Alpha of the Woolsey pack. As other young rogues are identified, and some of the usuals in town go missing, it's up to Alexia to figure out what's going on before more people find out about her...disability.

Of course the major players are all here. We meet Lord Maccon's Beta Professor Lyall, the ever-flamboyant Lord Akeldama, and even Miss Hisselpenny shows up for a brief scene. Mr. MacDougall and the Hypocras Club factor in prominently, and even Floote and Biffy get a panel or two.

The problem with the adaptation is that it's simply too short to do the original any sort of justice. The novel has the page count for Alexia to be more reticent about Lord Maccon's advances, as befits an assumed old maid of the era. The mystery of the Hypocras Club is cut short here as well; I'm not sure it's mentioned after the first scene at the breakfast table here. And most tragic of all, Miss Hisselpenny is only seen once, during a brief walk with Alexia.

I understand that Yen Press might want to mimic the original books with volumes that contain a complete story. The problem with this is that the charm of The Parasol Protectorate series is in the details. Miss Hisselpenny's penchant for rather distressing hats. Alexia's fondness for a good tea service. Lord Akeldama's outrageousness, yet fondness for the people closest to him. When the story is so pared down, all of this is lost.

Nevertheless, it's wonderful to see the gang together again, and the artwork is beautifully done. While Alexia may not have been showing as much of her assets as this artist tends to draw, the detail on the dress of both the women and the men is top-notch. Kudos to Yen Press for releasing this story to a whole new group of readers who may never have been exposed to it otherwise.

Highs: Seeing Lord Akeldama in all his pretty-boy splendor as a manga character is for me the highlight of the volume.

Lows: While Alexia loosens up quite a bit in later volumes, it's odd to see her be so sexually forward so early on.

Verdict: Perfect for someone who is already a fan of the series, but perhaps not the best introduction.

Further Reading: The Earl and the Fairy, Boneshaker

Royal intrigue, lost books and magic all come to a head

Diana's magic can no longer be ignored in Deborah Harkness' second novel in the 'All Souls' trilogy, Shadow of Night.

Note:  Shadow of Night is the sequel to A Discovery of Witches.  Check out the review for A Discovery or Witches here, or read on!

When the military takes over, there's only so much a person can take

In the near future, a virus strikes North America.  Large swatches of the population die, and hospitals are overrun with patients.  Border states' hospitals are hit especially hard, with people from all  over Mexico and points south fleeing to the US for heathcare.  Eventually, the country becomes completely isolationist and closes the southern border, building a wall and stationing military outposts in some of the former border towns.  Many of these towns have been abandoned, any people remaining within them no longer considered United States citizens.

Welcome to Santa Olivia, the titular town in the novel by Jacqueline Carey.  The own has been under military rule for a generation.  The children growing up there now have no memory of a city not patrolled by military men with their egos and their cruelties.  They don't remember all the buildings of their town being full, with a working power grid and hot running water.  They have never lived in a city with full grocery stores, proper schools and churches, and the ability to come and go from town as they please.

There was one outside visitor, though.  A man who, at first, didn't say much.  Just showed up at the diner and had a few plates of chorizo and eggs.  But Carmen knew there was something different about him.  Something about the way his uniform didn't fit quite right, the way he moved, the way his eyes darted around the diner.  Not scared exactly, but aware.  Very aware.

He didn't stay long.  Longer than he meant to, though.  The military was looking for him too hard to stay.  But he stayed long enough to tell Carmen about his origins.  About his plans to meet up with other people like himself in Mexico.  About how to care for the baby he left behind.

That baby grew up to be Loup Garron.  She took after her father quite a bit.  Faster than other kids her age.  Stronger, too.  Completely fearless.  So fearless that, as a child, her half-brother Tommy had to teach her how to think about consequences, so she wouldn't do things that most sensible children would be afraid to.  Standing upright on the peak of a slanted roof, and leaning over to see, for one.  

There's one way out of this place, though.  The General may be corrupt as hell, and let the street gangs run the civilian part of town.  He many let his soldiers do whatever they like in town, and always side with them if a civilian has the audacity to complain.  

But he loves boxing.  If a civilian takes a prizefight and loses to one of his soldiers, he still walks away with a purse large enough to give his family a certain measure of comfort that his day job wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.  The true prize, if a civilian were able to pull off a victory, would be two tickets out of Santa Olivia, back North to the real world.

As things get worse and worse for the people of Santa Olivia, they start to look for a hero.  The priest in the Catholic Church ins't a real priest, but he runs a free lunch each day for the citizens who have fallen on hard times, and he runs the orphanage where Loup eventually ends up.  The gangs are too busy with their night clubs and black market to challenge the status quo.  It'll take someone with nothing left to lose.  With the innate skills to beat a trained soldier in the boxing ring.  Someone born on Santa Olivia's name-day, and can pass for the Saint herself in a blue dress and white kerchief, holding a basket of plenty.

Someone like Loup.

Jacqueline Carey is more famous for her epic fantasy novel Kushiel's Dart and the series that it spawned.  This foray into a sort of post-apocalyptic urban fantasy is quite well done, though.  The characters are fleshed out, from the leader of the boxing club to the smallest of the orphans at the church.  The characters behave properly in their situations, and even the military behaves with a certain kind of military logic.  Even the townspeople, who learn to live with the military, the shortages, and the strange specter of war looming over them.  It's a nice turn on the 'chosen one' type of story, with enough logic behind it that it doesn't feel like the characters just fell into place. 

Highs:  For once, the other-ness that most teens go through is real, not just imagined.

Lows:  I wish a bit more of the world at large was revealed here.

Verdict:  Not your typical Carey fare, but a fascinating novel with a revenge edge.

Further Reading:  Saints Astray, The Painted Boy

In an society such as Egypt, it would follow that the vampires would be a new kind of 'ancient'

Two years have passed, and our "infant inconvenience" has started to toddle in the fifth and final 'Parasol Protectorate' book, Timeless.

Note:  Timeless, is the fifth book in the 'Parasol Protectorate' series.  The review of the first book, Soulless, is here; and the review for the fourth book, Heartless, is here.  Otherwise, read on! 

Why would Lady Maccon let an impending infant slow her down?

Alexia is back in full force, with her retinue of vampires, werewolves and treacle tarts in Parasol Protectorate 4, Heartless.

Note:  Heartless, is the fourth book in the Parasol Protectorate series.  The review of the first book, Soulless, is here; and the review for the third book, Blameless, is here.  Otherwise, read on!

You can't run away from your family, especially when there's magic involved

All Diana Bishop really wanted was a normal life as an academic. Gaining tenure at a prestigious East Coast school and getting to go back to Oxford to study their alchemical texts was a dream come true, born of years of dedication and hard work.

Unfortunately, having been born the last female heir to the Bishop line of witches causes its own problems. And when a truly ancient vampire appears right at Mabon (the autumnal equinox festival), problems are going to arise.

This is where we meet Diana and Matthew in A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Diana has been refusing to use her innate magical gifts, to the point that she keeps a mental list of the handful of times she resorts to it a year. When she gets caught in a moment of weakness using magic to get a book down at the library, she feels the eyes of a vampire on her.

That vampire would be Matthew. An amazingly old vampire, with a rather motley crew of family members behind him, his every action has layer upon layer of motive beneath the surface.

Unfortunately, these two magical beings find themselves drawn to each other, both out of a reluctant love, and for protection. For when the governing body of the supernatural world finds out about their relationship, they will do whatever it takes to separate them.

It also doesn't help that Diana appears to be a magical key of sorts needed to unseal a long lost codex explaining the origin of magical beings. Or that each group of beings thinks that the codex will give them the power of life and death over the other two.

As a paranormal romance, some will find it wanting. Matthew gets very overprotective – and sometimes possessive – of Diana. It makes perfect sense that a man raised centuries before the idea of woman’s liberation would act in this way, but some will not be able to see the actions for what they are. Others will be offended that Diana ends up relying on Matthew so much instead of finding her own way out of every situation. Some may even find the will-they-won't-they throughout the book maddening. I won't necessarily disagree with any of these points of view, but I don't think that they detract from the story at all. In fact, I would think that dating a person from a culture so different from one's own would by definition cause many of these problems. Can you really blame a person born so long ago for being a bit old-fashioned?

In all, Deborah Harkness has re-imagined the vampire-witch-demon triumvirate in a fascinating way. The history and settings feel meticulously researched, and if the science aspect is a little cloudy, at least she tried to rationalize some of the magic. And it does make a certain sort of sense that the intelligent, long-lived beings among us would have a fascination with the evolution of science over the centuries.

Overall, though, it was much more the 'paranormal romance' than the 'horror' section placement that a certain chain bookstore gave it. A Discovery of Witches ought to please those who prefer their vampires to be of the intelligent, but not sparkly, variety.

Highs: Matthew's 'family' back home is absolutely spellbinding to watch interact with each other.

Lows: It's a flaw of most romance books, but being in love really shouldn't give a person leave to be as self-centered as many heroines end up.

Verdict: The last chapter leaves me eagerly anticipating the next book in this series, due out next year.

Further Reading: Soulless, The Society of S

It's really not a good idea to make a werewolf nobleman mad...

Note:  Blameless is the third book in the Parasol Protectorate series.  If you haven’t read it already, check out my review of Soulless here and Changeless here. Otherwise, read on!

Where the supernatural get a bit less super...

Note:  Changeless is the sequel to Soulless.  If you haven’t read it already, check out my review of Soulless here. Otherwise, read on!

Ever wonder why Victorian England was pale and wore high collars?

Steampunk has gotten popular.  Very popular.  You can’t throw a rock at a genre convention without hitting someone with goggles on.  But the best authors add in a bit of steampunk as background, without drawing too much attention to it.  Same goes for vampires, werewolves...there’s a lot of fiction shticks that get old fast.  But some authors manage.  Gail Carriger seems to have that down pat with her debut novel Soulless.

Main character Alexia Tarabotti just doesn’t seem to fit in with her family.  First off, she’s the offspring of her mother’s first marriage, to an Italian.  So she’s just a little too dark, a little too curvy, and a little to well-endowed in the nasal area to fit in to Victorian norms.  Because of this, her mother decided not to bother throwing her a coming-out and a season in London, and she’s been declared a spinster since the ripe old age of 13.  

Oh, and she doesn’t have a soul.

In this universe, vampires, werewolves and ghosts are successfully made because they have an abundance of soul.  For this reason, they tend to be artists, and poets, and (gasp!) actors.  To balance this out, of course, there must be some unfortunates who are born without any soul at all.  Miss Tarabotti would be one of these people.  In less enlightened times (also referred to as the Dark Ages), these soulless people, usually men, were used as vampire and werewolf hunters.  Their soulless state negates vampirism or lycanthropy.  In vampires, this takes away their supernatural strength, fangs, and sensitivity to sunlight.  In werewolves, this negates their strength and their change to wolf form at the full moon.  But then the Renaissance happened, supernaturals were given citizenship and rights, and people are no longer able to just kill them on sight.  

(As an interesting aside, which I wish would be followed up on, the people who left England for America left because they believed that vampires and werewolves should still be hunted down and killed.)

The Victorian setting is explored very nicely, but in passing, as it should.  Generally, a character that belongs in a setting would not be expounding on details that would be strange to the reader, but normal to her.  We do get bits of it, though, as she complains about society’s obsession with vampire-pale skin, Roman purge buckets (because, of course, vampires don’t need to eat, but can for the flavor), and the two houses of Parliament (Day Court and Night Court, of course.)

There are also little bits to please the Steampunk audience.  Lord Maccon’s assistant, well, Beta, since he’s a werewolf, has a pair of magnifying ‘glassicals’ that beg to be cosplayed.  There’s also an abundance of dirigibles to be seen.  It’s not dwelled on, though, which is how it should be.

And, like any vampire novel, there’s an aspect of romance in it.  But, being Victorian, it’s completely without smut.  Amazing!  And quite fun.  Not every book needs pages and pages of bedroom scenes.

Admittedly, the book doesn’t start out too great.  When being attacked by a vampire, Alexia seems to be more concerned with the treacle tart that she doesn’t get to eat and her crumpled skirts than her near brush with death.  Also, Miss Hisselpenny, Alexia’s best friend, drives both Alexia and the reader mad obsessing about her hats and pretending to faint.  As the story progresses, though, the reader starts to see the humor in it, though, and it really does begin to be charming.  I suppose that Victorian spinsters probably don’t have terribly much else to concern themselves with than fashion and parties.  Lord Akeldama, though, is amusing from the start.

So it’s vampires without smut, steampunk without being distracting, and funny without being ludicrous.  And that’s a great combination.

Highs;  Appropriate mixture of period items and technology, quirky side-characters

Lows:  Author takes a while to find her voice

Verdict:  A fun fluff piece that has a lot of promise for the rest of the series

Further Reading:  Changeless, Boneshaker