Changeless
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: Parasol Protectorate Series #2
Publisher: Orbit
How Received: bought at B&N
Summary from back of book.
Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.
But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.
She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
Oh! It's just - Gah! So - eek!
Loooooove this series. Love this book.
Alexia Tarabotti Maccon is as lovely to read about as ever; funny, logical, rude, and still one of my favorite female characters ever. (Can we stick her and Jacky Faber in a situation together, just to see what would happen?!) Lord Maccon is Lord Maccon - as there is no other way to describe him - which means he is both completely adorable and completely infuriating. (If you're interested in WHY he's so bloody infuriating, read below the cut! Stupid, insolent pup... *trails off* But I still love him.)
The plot wasn't as fantastic as the first book - I called most of the important things, which you can read below the cut (I'm so loving this below the cut thing. Yay optional!)
It reminds me, strangely, of the TV show Bones - the plot is interesting and slightly predictable, but it doesn't matter; you're not reading it for the plot, you're reading it for the character interaction. And the quotability. We certainly can't forget the quotability.
On a side note: I love Biffy and *blanks out momentarily as she writes this* Maccon's Beta. Can we see more of them in Blameless? Kthxbai.
Final Thoughts & Overall Review: It has been a LONG time since I got so into a book and so attached to the characters. 10/10, despite it's flaws.
Cover Thoughts?: Ahhhhhh, I love these babies.
[SPOILER ALERT] Spoilers, rants, and thoughts for the next book below the cut. WARNING: If you go to comment, and scroll up, what is below the cut /will/ appear. (I'm trying to find a way to fix that.) If you haven't read the book and want to, don't read below the cut!
Spoilers on: the basic plot.
New character introduced, and it's not that hard to figure out she enjoys the company of the gentler sex more than that of someone, say, Lord Maccon. I gave Alexia a break for not figuring that out sooner because, hey, it is the 1870s.
Her maid is a spy for the vampires. Well, let's see; there's lots of yelling in French, somebody ransacked your room, tried to poison you, and you think it's the aforementioned new character despite the fact that she was near you, incapacitated, and/or almost died at the same time as you several times? You're losing your touch, Alexia.
On the other hand, the point of the books isn't the plot - it's how amazingly fun the ride is to get to the end of the plot. So I don't mind.
Spoilers and rants on: Alexia & Lord Maccon
(Only for the last few chapters.) Alexia is preggers. She finds this out in the last chapter. (I said spoilers.) Normally, werewolves can't impregnate women; they're supernaturals, unable to reproduce since they were changed. Yay preternaturals who bring them back in their human form!
But does Lord Maccon think about this when he finds it out? Nooooo. He automatically assumes that Alexia is cheating on him, because, you know, werewolves haven't gotten a woman preggers in thousands of years.
WELL, NO WEREWOLF HAS EVER MARRIED A CURSE-BREAKER, YOU IDIOT.
I mean, GAH! He casts her out of the pack's house in Scotland. OUT OF THE BLOODY HOUSE! Is he so STUPID!? Gaaaaaaaaaaah. (Luckily, the first chapter of the next book is included with this one, and damn, Alexia; you know just how to handle situations, don't you?)
Thoughts on the next book(s):
If Lord Maccon doesn't bloody apologize within the first six chapters, I will be even more frustrated at him than I am now. I mean, I ADORE the wolf. But he's too damn illogical and hasty and... and... GAH. (Hmm. I suppose that's why he married Alexia, now, isn't it; she balances him out.)
We still haven't found out who poisoned Alexia, so we should learn that.
And maybe not in this book, but I want to know what gender the baby will be! Mini Maccon or Mini Alexia? This is going to be one epic kid, people. Raised with friends in every set - soulless, vampire, werewolf AND human. And I wonder - can soulless give birth to kids with too much soul, if the child is a werewolf child? Or would the child be soulless? Or just (le gasp) a normal human!?
I could rant more, but I shall restrain myself.
[/SPOILER ALERT]
If you don't want to read spoilers, use Ctrl + F and search Author. It will bring you back to the beginning of the post.