Soulless: Gail Carriger (The Parasol Protectorate - Book 1)

CONTAINS SPOILERS. BE ON YOUR GUARD.

Soulless is the first novel in a series of 5 by Gail Carriger, a writer who is both hilarious and brilliant, and unquestionably has my loyalty after just this one novel.

I read it in the span of about a day and a half, just purely because I was so into it. And I was putting off my homework. As per usual. So sue me. (Don't, please, I beg you.)

Although the common mythology is that vampires and werewolves lack souls because they're "undead" if you will, Carriger has flipped this concept around, instead claiming that they have an excess of soul, which is what allows them to be supernatural in the first place. Alexia Tarabotti, our heroine, is what they refer to as a preternatural, or an otherwise normal human being who has been born without a soul. What this means is that she counteracts all supernatural-ness; coming into contact with a supe causes an immediate reversion to humanity for the werewolf/vampire/ghost in question, which is particularly interesting and, at times, sort of dangerous. This soullessness is, in fact, hereditary, and she got the trait from her Italian father, a heritage she and her family are most embarrassed about because they are, after all, British in the nineteenth century. (From my studies, I've gathered that this disdain of foreigners was a pretty solid thing for these people; whether or not it still holds is up in the air.)

Because supernaturals are "public," if you will, there had to be some manipulation of history in order to account for it all. It's actually quite genius, the way that things are perfectly accounted for and addressed. I wasn't even expecting such interesting developments. Also, there is an overseeing organization called BUR--an acronym I've unfortunately forgotten at the moment, and my novel is across the room, and I'm naked and in bed, so I'm not getting it to tell you. Suck it--headed by one Lord Maccon, the 20-years new Alpha of the Woolsey pack.

Alexia is particularly bold and educated in the sciences, etc. Her father is dead and has been for quite awhile, and her mother remarried a proper Brit and had two more daughters--and I'll be the first to tell you that Alexia's entire immediate family is a group of bloody twits.

Anyway. The plot of this novel is that roves (independent vampires not connected to a Hive--as opposed to a coven) are going missing, and new, uneducated vampires are randomly showing up. Not only that, but Alexia's being targeted and followed and such. Drama and hilarity ensue, and untoward romance sparks between Alexia--considered a spinster at age 26--and Lord Maccon, which is also bloody hilarious, I should mention.

The remainder of the plot and such is certainly worth discussion, but I'm not going to thrill you with it because it simply won't do to elaborate on the entire plot, now, will it? What would be the point in ruining it? Regardless, it's definitely worth a read.

I've begun reading the second book--because, true to my nature, I bought all 5 of them at the same time. Dangerous practice to get into, but usually worth it. At least for me. (= --aaaaand it's just as brilliant as the first. And I'm not even a full chapter into it yet. lol. So worth it.

I'll get back to you when I have more to offer. (=


Until next time,
--Emily

Tempt the Stars: Cassie Palmer #6 by Karen Chance

Tempt the Stars is the sixth installment in Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer saga. Because it has been entirely too long since I read the first five, nor do I have past reviews available for reference, let me attempt to catch you up to speed on this:

Cassandra is an orphan who was raised by particularly unfriendly vampires. Tony, the head of the house, actually orchestrated the car crash which killed her parents, and has her father's soul trapped in a paperweight which he keeps on his desk.
Fun fact: Cassie is a clairvoyant, which--for anybody who needs a freshening up on their terminology--means that she can see and interact with ghosts. But that isn't all Cassie can do, as we are soon to discover.
Cassie runs away from Tony in her late teens and exists "on the run" for a few years before she goes back to Tony's for a few more in a failed attempt at revenge. She lived with a null-witch--whose only real ability was to create a void of magic, etc., which basically allowed Cassie a safezone because all of Tony's thugs' searches and spells just zoomed right over and around the house as if it didn't exist.

Now, do keep in mind that I'm recounting this years into reading this series with a ridiculous amount of literature having been read between each book and those and this one, so I'm probably going to either fuck up hardcore or leave things out--which is approximately the same thing as the former. So I'm doing my best here.

Anyway, so Cassie ends up involved with more vampires, but the game totally changes. She hooks up with Mircea, who is actually one of the most powerful Master vampires in the North American Senate, and Tony's boss.

Moving forward, a prophesy ends up making Cassie an heir to the throne of Pythia, i.e. world's chief clairvoyant and possessor of way more power than any one person ought to have. Thus she is now a serious target because there are an intolerable number of people who either want to recruit her or kill her, and she really doesn't want to be either, nor does she dare use this new power she suddenly has but doesn't know how to use.
Besides that, remember Mircea? Yeah. So apparently he put a geis on her, which is a super powerful spell which puts off any potential would-be suitor--i.e. a metaphysical claim. And Cassie's just about had it with being ordered and jerked around. The majority of the third book actually revolves around her attempts to locate a book called the Codex Merlini, which contains the spell necessary to break the geis, but it also contains some other mega-powerful spells which would put the earth in Hardcore Danger.
Oh. Btw. There's this super infuriating yet compelling (and strangely attractive, although not in anything resembling the traditional sense) war mage by the name of Pritkin comes into the mess, and he's both guarding and training Cassie... or something like that. I mean, he is. But he also like, beats her ass into the ground "for her own good" (although it totally is) and has a habit of being an all-around obstinate ass.

For the record, Cassie does actually get elected Pythia--by the power of the title, not the people who seem to think they get to decide who gets the throne. The power picks the person it deems most worthy--although that in itself is a major shit show. She also has a show down with Apollo, the god in charge of her power who has apparently decided that she should die. She isn't the one who bites the dust, btw.
Only then Moira, one of the initiates who was passed up for the throne--and was the favored one, which really causes her absolute hatred for Cassie, the scene stealer--decides to try to go back in time before Cassie was even born to kill her mother and completely change the timeline. Which, btw, is a really bad idea for more reasons than Cassie.
Cass kills her, too, although it's no easy feat.

Oh. For the record? There's a segment where Cassie and Pritkin end up switching bodies? And it's actually kind of funny because she wakes up in his body with a raging boner. She also "manscapes" his body, hahaha. His displeasure was highly amusing.

So anyway. The last book ended at Cassie's coronation, to which she wasn't even invited because they hired a look-alike to take her place on account of all the death threats and shit that she'd been getting. Eeeexceept that Cassie had to get in because reasons, and she ends up, like, half dead and Pritkin--who, it turns out, is actually half-incubus (and the only one in history, which actually also makes him Merlin, fun fact)--has to save her by basically having sex with her, because it's the only way he knows how to do a power transfer. Except that this means that Pritkin's father shows up and takes the mage back to hell because apparently there was a deal between them.
At this point, Cassie is on the field in her birthday suit and Pritkin appears to blink out of existence, meanwhile Cassie has to kill a Spartoi--and I honestly do not remember enough to explain what the fuck that thing is except that it's absurdly powerful and she killed it naked because she was pissed.

So now we've gotten to book 6! Yayyy!
Oi. I know.

Tempt the Stars is pretty much entirely focused on Cassie's desperate attempt(s) to rescue Pritkin from his father in this particular hell. It's not a "seven circles" situation as illustrated in Dante's inferno. The real explanation is far too lengthy and complicated for this blog, plus it's more interesting to read in Chance's words, if I haven't already completely eradicated any reason for you to actually go read this series from all the stupid spoilers. (Sorry.) But there is a lot I haven't covered! In my defense. Which is weak, I know.

Cassie goes back in time to ask Laura, her childhood ghosty friend from Tony's, where her parents are, and employs the aid of the ghost she can't get rid of. She then shifts back in time to about a week and a half or two weeks previous, before Pritkin was gone, and takes him further back in time to when her parents were alive and living in Tony's guest cottage when she was an infant. That, by the way, is a complete shit show. But her mom does actually give her the information that she needs in order to retrieve Pritkin.

Long story short, Cassie gets help from one willing and one unwilling person(s) and the group make the trip to Rosier's (Pritkin's father) court, where chaos ensues, but they manage to acquire Pritkin. But they don't save him, because Cassie inadvertently ends up linking them back to Earth instead of the Shadowlands, and the demon counsel's guards follow them into the fucking hotel in which she lives. They get a meeting set up with the aforementioned counsel, who keeps Pritkin, and eventually she gets summoned for their meeting. I'm skipping over a lot of other mayhem, by the way. This is why you should read these books. They are constant mayhem and tension and infuriating bickering between characters. But they're so brilliantly written, good God.
Ahem. Anyway.

The end of this novel is so enormously infuriating that I seriously don't know that I have ever been so mad at a book in my entire life. This doesn't mean it was a bad ending. Oh no. Just infuriating. Because I'm so emotionally/psychologically invested and caught up in this series that it's hard for me not to get emotional about them--and knowing me (although you don't) that's really a big deal.  The counsel kills Pritkin. Cassie basically tries to become a martyr, although the same counsel that killed Pritkin saved her, and then gave her the tool to save Pritkin as well as the only person who could help her accomplish the task: Rosier.

Do you understand yet why I'm so bloody mad? Probably not. But it was maddening and I'm still sorta steaming, honestly.

That, friends, is the sign of a good book. That, right there, when a piece of literature has the power over a person to so affect their psychology that they are caught up for extended periods of time post-closure--although that fucking cliffhanger was not a closure.

I gave it five stars on GoodReads because it was fucking fantastic. The romantic tension is sparse in this one, but tactfully placed, and beautifully executed. The dialogue is just as perfect as it always is, and the descriptions are elegant and precise. If there were ever a series that I would recommend fantasy-lovers to read, it would be this one.

The Midnight Mayor: Or, The Inauguration of Matthew Swift -- Kate Griffin

And so it continues.

Surprise! Swift survived the first novel. It got a bit hairy back there what with all the fighting and the murderous intentions. Secret societies, organizations pitted against magic (for "religious reasons"), psychotic colleagues, etc.

This novel opens just as abruptly as the last one did.
Matthew answers a public phone (because he will always answer the phone when it rings; it's part of who he is) and isblasted back down the street. And now he's being attacked by spectres, which are particularly rare for London. All I'll tell you is that the tools for their demise include beer and a cigarette. Happy imaginings. =]

Let me give you a visual of a spectre:
You've ever been strolling around a city and you see that kid shuffling along in a hoodie with the hood up and headphones going in, bobbing along to a beat that only they can hear? Now imagine said kid without a face. Just a gaseous space holding clothes in the proper shape. Now you've got a spectre--but you can hear their beats, and not all spectres bob to the same rhythm.

It's been said that, should the Ravens ever leave the Tower of London, should the Stone ever break, should the Wall be defaced, the city of London shall be damned. The Midnight Mayor's job is to protect the city--provided the Midnight Mayor actually exists, since Swift seems terribly skeptical--but if the city requires a protector, clearly there are things it requires protection from. Correct?
I am sure you have already deduced a few things with the help of the above paragraph coupled with the title. Namely, that the Midnight Mayor has died, that the position has been transferred to Matthew Swift, and that the city is in pretty deep shit.

Suddenly, the phrase "GIVE ME BACK MY HAT" is graffitti'ed across the city, written on the London Wall, on the wall where the Ravens were killed, on the window of the business housing the broken Stone--everywhere. Significant? You bet your ass.


Griffin does such a marvelous job creating suspense and then systematically untying knots which tie more knots until finally the whole thing comes undone at the end. You can't help but be drawn in, be captivated by her vivid imagery and intense, peculiar descriptions of things. She uses such unexpected language that catches you off guard but gives you a perfectly exact picture of what it is you're looking at and it's amazing. She has swiftly (hahahaha) become one of my very favorite and most inspiring authors--and it only took two novels. (One, actually, but we'll say two.)

Goodreads got a 5 star rating from yours truly. I bet you're just super surprised, huh? That's what I thought.

Until next time,

--Emily

A Madness of Angels: Or, The Resurrection of Matthew Swift -- Kate Griffin

And so it begins.

Matthew Swift is a sorcerer in London, but it is immediately apparent that he is more than that. He has been resurrected after having been dead for approximately two years.

Before the night is out, Matthew is attacked by a "litterbug" (a summoned monster composed of, you guessed it, garbage. Which, for the record, he defeats with a dustbin. Not to ruin it. It's a marvelous scene.

Newly resurrected, Swift's sole missions are to (a) find his murderer and return the favor, and (b) find who resurrected him, find out why, and then, quite likely, kill them as well.

So the novel progresses and you learn more and more peculiar things about this Swift, but things are still left unsaid, left in the dark and unexplained, leaving an air of mystery and suspense until finally the truth is spilled--but not all of it. Only one set of truths. As the book progresses, truths are revealed in clusters until finally the book ends and the final shoe finally drops. The perpetual mystery and vague confusion coupled with the peculiarity of the narrative--due to the intrinsic peculiarity of the narrator--are large parts of what keep the novel moving at the Andantino cum Accelerando (a little faster than "a walking pace" but steadily speeding up) tempo that it does.

The prose is marvelous and intriguing; Griffin doesn't write in chapters. Sections are broken up with white space or " * * * "; larger sections are broken up as "Part One: [Title]", "The First Interlude: [Title]". It's fascinating. And I totally love it. But there's also a number of places where the writing totally breaks into stream of consciousness style, which is also terribly moving in-context. (Also because I know things you don't. hahaha.) It can catch you off-guard if you allow it to, but if you just get lost in the text as you're reading, it just works right into the story. Some of the paragraphs are these great, barely-connected run-on sentences (one or two sentences total in the paragraph) and it's magnetic. It really keeps you moving through the material because it's different in that it's a frequent change in prose style, which catches your attention even when you aren't conscious of it.

Sidenote: I'm terribly amused at the little sticker on this cover which proudly proclaims "Only $19.99!" as if that's somehow cheap for a novel. I think I paid $7.99 for mine? Maayyyybe $8.99. It's just kinda funny. That's all.

Solid 5 stars on Goodreads. Always. Every time. (Even though I'd have to buy it again if I ever wanted to read it again because I lent it to my ex-boyfriend and he's now had it--and the second--for almost two years and refuses to answer my texts/calls when I'm in town. Asshole.)

So there it is!

Until next time,

--Emily