Parasols! Dirigibles! Manners!

So it has taken me about a month to finish the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, but I have to say it was completely worth it. I didn't feel as though each book deserved a separate blog entry, although admittedly it would have made for more entries, but, there it is. The book I have just finished is a lightning read: excellently written, TONS of fun, and as the friend who recommended the book to me put it, "written for Beth." What, oh what, is this jewel among literature, you ask?

Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate, by Gail Carriger. It follows the adventures of one Alexia Tarabotti, a Victorian lady, even though she is unfortunately half-Italian, rather swarthy, and does enjoy her treacle tart a little too much. Because of all these things she is a spinster at age 26, cursed with the unfortunate combination of a cutting intellect and an idiotic family. One night, taking tea in the library, she encounters a vampire with shockingly bad manners, and takes things into her own hands with the assistance of her trusty, custom-made, buckshot filled and silver tipped parasol. Soon she is caught up in a whirlwind of science, tea, adventure, and dirigibles.

Gail Carriger, an archaeologist in disguise as an author, has really done quite a good job with her version of Queen Victoria's London if it were to accommodate a population of supernatural beings and mad scientists. The queen herself even puts on an appearance. The best part? Books 2 and 3, Changeless and Breathless, are both due out this year! March 30th and sometime in September, respectively. I'm not putting up an image, as the author feels such action would be impolite, and if her methods towards enforcing proper etiquette are anything like Miss Tarabotti's, then I'm not going to argue. BUT! Visit her website here, and amuse yourself with a variety of Victoriana. Vive le parasol victorieux!