Alexia Maccon is considered a pariah and a disgrace after her delicate condition was discovered and her hot headed husband, Conall Maccon, cast her out. She is rejected by her horrible family and is dismissed from the Shadow Council by Queen Victoria. To top it all off, the local vampire hive want her dead for some reason and announce their intentions with homicidal mechanical ladybugs. The only person who may shed some light on this issue, rogue vampire Lord Akeldama, has fled town. Alexia decides to flee to Italy in search of theTemplars who did research on preternaturals, which may shed some like on her predicament. In the meantime, Conall drowns his sorrows and stays consistently inebriated, leaving his poor Beta, Professor Lyall, in charge of the Woolsey werewolf pack. Can Lyall get Conall sober and thinking straight in time to reinstate Alexia under the pack's protection? Will the mysterious Templars prove to be worse than assassin vampires to Alexia?
Blameless is a worthy continuation of the Parasol Protectorate series. Gail Carriger has not let me down yet with her distinctive, witty narration and undeniably unique characters. I love that each book consistently has a thread of comedy going through it, keeping it a fairly light and enjoyable read. Alexia is a great protagonist with unexpected observations and a purely sensible outlook on life. Her ability to think rationally in the most dire and extreme of situations makes her both endearing and a very different female protagonist than is usually seen. The real triumph of the continuing series isn’t in Alexia (although she is important), but in the minor characters. They all have their own individual stories, attitudes, outlooks, beliefs, and personalities, whether they are likable or not. I like that each book focuses on a slightly different group of minor characters. I enjoyed learning more about Floote (and by proxy Alexia’s mysterious father) and seeing him react to people that upset his sensibilities.
Alexia’s escape to Italy provides a wider view of the world. Although England is very tolerant of supernaturals and accepts them into society, the opposite is true in Italy. I never really thought how other parts of the world would react to the existence of supernaturals and it makes sense that some places would embrace them and some would violently reject them. I also like the Victorian science that is demonstrated in the novel. If looked at from a modern perspective, it makes little sense, but in this world, the science works. This detail is one that keeps my interest and makes me eager to learn more.
Blameless didn’t disappoint me at all and it was a great follow up to the big cliffhanger in the previous novel. I can’t wait for the next novel. I am cursing myself for reading this book so soon, forcing me to wait so long for Heartless, which is to be released July 2011.
My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins
** I've also reviewed the two previous books, Soulless and Changeless. **
3 comments:
I just finished Blameless and enjoyed it -- thankfully it was better than Changeless which I so disliked! I hate Madame Lefoux which is partially why the last two books just didn't work for me. :/
I'm not going to lie, I was a little let down. I love me some Alexia (and nearly ALL of the side characters), so I don't think there will come a point that I'll say I didn't like a PP book, but I felt like this was a bridge book -- things needed to happen to get the story where it's going, but it didn't have the same spark.
However, (sorry, Audra), I LOVE Mme Lefoux, and was very glad to see she is still a part of the series.
@Misty -- It's interesting you saw it as a bridge book as Carriger had stated in interviews that this was going to only be a three book series, and she had always intended it to be three books (before she got contracted to write two more) so I wonder if she'd always intended the story to end on the note it did, or if she rewrote Blameless to stretch out the story by two more.
I suppose some people must like Mme Lefoux since she keeps coming back, but ugh. I'm a lesbian and I can't even stand her!
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