Soulless

By: Gail Carriger / Narrated By: Emily Gray

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Charmed! Absolutely smitten by this Series Opener!

Author Gail Carriger had me at hungry heroine, bemoaning a ruined treacle tart, damaged whenst she’s killed a blood-sucking vampire with her hairpin.

And so it goes from there, and do get ready for a riproarin’ ride!

Let’s start with our heroine Alexia Tarabotti who does NOT look like the woman pictured on the cover art: Noooo upper crust white chick here; rather, Alexia is just a weeee bit self-conscious that she’s a trifle swarthy (Think: Dead Italian dad), a trifle buxom, and oh yes: Her nose is just this side of large. Alexia, capable tho’ she is, is also really quite human.

Except she’s noooot, not exACTly… You see, dead Italian dad passed on a trait to her: She was born without a soul, thereby making her a rarity: A female preternatural, this being someone who can neutralize the excess of soul found in Vampires, Werewolves, etc. You name it, this version of Victorian England has it, and you name it, Alexia Tarabotti can neutralize it. After she kinda sorta accidentally kills the Vampire who jumped her whilst at a social outing, Alexia finds herself on the hot seat. You’re not s’posed to neutralize and kill, and so the Vampires are a bit peeved with her.

Plus Vampires have been disappearing, and new unplanned Vampires have started appearing. Things going awry for Werewolves as well. Alexia has been counseled to stay safe and leave it to her betters to investigate, but Alexia ain’t no slouch. She’s intelligent, she’s intrepid, she’s stubborn as all get-out.

This lands her squarely in Werewolf Lord Maccon’s sights. The two just don’t see eye to eye, unless they do; but no matter what, they HAVE to bicker and dither and just generally tick each other off. This might sound as tho’ the dialogue will get tiresome right quick, but I assure you: It’s delightful. It’s Darcy and Elizabeth with lust and hairy backs thrown in.

Which brings me to an experience my first eve of listening to Soulless. You see, this tension between Lord Maccon and Alexia is fraught with sensual tension… uhm, well, just flat-out sexual tension if we’re honest. Like, from the get-go. After trail mix conked me out during my Listening (It was the carbs, I tell you; the writing and story were engaging!), I had a dream where Carriger told me that she’s read m’ reviews, KNOWS I’m a prude, and just for meeeee she was taking out aaaallll references to sex that’d make m’ toes curl.

And then I woke up…

For such a prude, I truly hoped I’d be able to handle it cuz everything else was sooo fun, I was seriously engaged throughout. So this is where I bring in Emily Gray’s AWEsome performance. Because, you see, Alexia is flummoxed by Maccon’s Werewolf-y attentions, but she’s vaaaastly interested in learning about how it all works. And Gray delivers just the right sorta “Gee, is THAT what happens when I rub like this?!” tones to the story. I did NOT blush, my toes only KINDA SORTA curled, but mostly? I chortled and laughed. Because Alexia’s curiosity, her analytical nature really blossomed with Gray’s performance. Rather than: FONDLING Scene, it became This Is Who Alexia IS, and ain’t she a gas? Further, Maccon was hilarious as befuddled Romeo, so Brava, Gray! Brava!

There’s a tiny bit o’ mystery about what was happening to these paranormal/supernatural/undead creatures, but it was kinda easy even for me to suss out what-all was going on, and we all know I’m in the Lummox category when it comes to putting 2 and 2 together. Coulda been disappointing but was not because, once again, that character development and dialogue delivery were so good. A bit of head-hopping between characters’ points of view coulda ticked me off… NOPE, was able to keep up and appreciated Carriger’s wily word-smithing and well-woven together structure. Some steampunk elements that were baaarely there, but NOPE, enchanting (Altho’ granted, it might’ve been entertaining cuz I gotta admit, steampunk is pretty new for me…).

Still, in spite of all these things, this was just a really, reeeeally fun and Uber-quick not quite 11-hours of fun characters, unfortunate situations, and other than one scene I SWEAR was cut from my own download which Big Sis SWEARS is THERE, it was easy to follow, a joy to go with the flow.

Four more audiobooks in this Parasol Protectorate series, and I’m GREATLY looking forward to them. Hoping for a sale, but?

Dude! this might be exACTly what a full credit is good for!

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