BlamelessBlameless

by Gail Carriger
Series: The Parasol Protectorate, #3

Mass Market Paperback, 355 pg.
Orbit, 2010
Read: November 12 – 14, 2015

… a pitcher of some dark liquid that smelled like heaven. Floote poured a portion for her into his cup

Alexia took a tentative sip and was quite overwhelmed by an acute sense of betrayal. It was absolutely
vole tasting, a mixture of quinine and burnt dandelion leaves.

“That, I am to assume, is the infamous coffee?”

Madame Lefoux nodded, pouring herself a splash and then adding a good deal of honey and milk. Alexia could not believe a whole hive of honey capable of rescuing the foul drink. Imagine preferring that to tea!

It’s just a couple of weeks since the surprising twist at the end of Changeless, and Alexia is just beginning to see just how bad the fallout is going to be for her. Almost friendless, encouraged (strongly) to leave her family home, jobless, husbandless — she’s reeling. Then the vampires start to try to kill her. Which is a little more than anyone should be asked to take. So Alexia, Madame Lefoux and Floote take off for Italy to see if the Templars can shed some light on Alexia’s current predicament.

Big mistake. But you can discover that on your own.

Here in book 3, there’s not much to say — I seriously just love the way that Carriger writes, it’s just delicious. I enjoy the characters, the world, the conflict — and this is really just more of the same delightful prose that Carriger’s already given us. Beyond that? A few semi-baked thoughts is all you get out of me here:

  • I enjoyed the narration, the dialogue, and so on. Ivy writing a letter just might be better than Ivy talking — her malapropisms are too much fun. It was nice to see a responsible streak in her, nevertheless.
  • Floote’s hiding more than we previously thought, I hope something makes him crack.
  • The effects of garlic on vampires, and basil on werewolves in this world gave me a good chuckle.
  • At the end of the day, Professor Lyall shines brightest here — it’s been clear all along that he’s powerful, capable, and resourceful — but he really gets to strut his stuff here, while Lord Maccon is licking his wounds and drowning his sorrows. That was fun to see.
  • In between the assassination attempts, the bullets, the supernatural goings-on, and everything else, there were a couple of really sweet moments. Making everything just a little more human.

If you enjoyed the first two volumes of this series, I bet you’ll enjoy this one. If you haven’t enjoyed those — why are you reading this? This particular Book 3 is not a jumping on point — go back to Soulless and start from there. You’ll be glad you did.

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3 Stars