Miss Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster, a bluestocking, and a woman entirely without a soul—a rare condition which allows her to neutralize vampires, werewolves, and other manifestations of the supernatural. None of which makes it any easier to get ahead in London’s high society, where she is too educated, too dark-complexioned, and far too combative to settle down and make a proper wife—let alone attract the attentions of a maddening Scottish werewolf lord. When a dreadfully rude vampire attacks her mid-treacle cake and she has to stake him in the middle of a party, how can she make amends to upper crust vampire society? And how much paperwork will she have to fill out at the Bureau of Unnatural Registry?
Soulless is the first novel by author Gail Carriger, and the first in what promises to be the Parasol Protectorate series, but from the first page, it feels not like a beginning, but like an old and comfortable pair of slippers. It’s not forumulaic, and it’s more than pastiche—Carriger provides original takes on both vampires and werewolves, and inventive development of less trendy supernatural creatures such as the homunculus. Rather, Soulless feels like part of its own well-established series; it takes a few pages to get used to the sense that one should already be familiar with the names dropped left and right. Each character and place introduction has a winking quality readers of mystery lines will recognize: a summing up of the relevant information from past episodes. Only there are no past episodes.
This odd although not unpleasant means of fast exposition quickly fades once the key players are in place, and even from the beginning, there is plenty of action. Soulless opens with a drawing-room battle between a woman with an attack parasol and a vampire inappropriately trying to suck her blood. This sets the tone for the rest of the story—a mixture of swashbuckling adventure and gossipy comedy of manners. It’s tongue-in-cheek Jane Austen zombies done with love rather than for shock value. Alternately, it’s True Blood in an alternate universe with extremely clever ideas about the giving and taking of souls, and a truly British bureaucracy.
Soulless is fluff of the highest order, with the sole mission of being fun. Readers will not pick up interesting historical tidbits, nor will they learn life lessons about accepting one’s friends as they are. They will get weddings, ridiculous hats, fistfights inside careening carriages, steampunk teakettles, vampire jujitsu, and a gruff and naked Scottish werewolf laird. Different candy will appeal to different people. This reviewer found the action scenes particularly exquisite, but tended to skim through make-out sessions. Others may tend to the reverse. Similarly, for some readers, sumptuous clothing descriptions may seem to drag the story to a halt, while for others, they will be the most exciting sections of the book. (The author’s website already includes an excellent paper doll; one hopes that if the series is successful enough, there will be tie-in merchandise.)
With a book like this, the question is not one of literary value or deep philosophy, but rather: who will this delight and who might it disappoint? It’s a frilly world, action-oriented, but with a strongly female heterosexual gaze. There is a strong heroine with agency, but not so much agency that she feels inappropriate to period. Gay vampires are plot-central, capable, decent, and fabulous without being nelly, and they are not sacrificed for emotional impact. No likeable character is killed—not even unlikable characters. Death is something that happens to passersby, not plot-movers or scenery chewers.
There is a lot of gossip. There is a lot of non-explicit heterosexual sex (risqué, but not smutty), with a focus on objectification of the ruggedly male. There is a werewolf Mr. Darcy. There is a badass Queen Victoria. There are no people of color, although as a half-Italian, the main character is viewed as too dark-skinned by most of London society.
The bad guys are scientists, and some of them belong to the Royal Society. They are, however, explicitly mad scientists, as expressed by the fact that the main character, herself scientifically inclined, states when visiting their lab: “This place is all madness.” (It’s that kind of book. It wears its heart on its sleeve.) It feels less like a set-up of science versus the spiritual, and more like a simple calculation: one has to get villains somewhere, and when the supernatural have been eliminated, one is left with either papists or mad scientists (pirates being too sea-bound). Expect to see villainous Templars in later books (each of which will likely stand alone, again in the tradition of mystery series).
Reading this book will impress no one, but all of your friends will ask to borrow it. It’s a welcome addition to the lighter side of dark fantasy, and one which feels as though it’s been there all along.
To buy a copy of Soulless, click here.
If you liked this book, check out:
Temeraire, by Naomi Novik
The Sookie Stackhouse series, by Charlaine Harris
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 3, created by Joss Wheedon
Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest
Summer Lightning, by P.G. Wodehouse