125) Blameless by Gail Carriger

The Blurb -

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

My Review -

Where do I start? Do I even need to start anywhere? Because in general all this review is going to say is 'Bloody Brilliant'. Not only does Blameless continue the already amazing story of Alexia Tarabotti but it manages to make the previous books look poor and dull. Things were good in Soulless and exceedingly delightful in Changeless but this third book in The Parasol Protectorate really does take things that little bit further and left me craving not only the next book but also a good cup of tea and some pesto.

The characters shine in this new addition and the storyline progresses in a way that I honestly had no idea what was going to happen next. As a reader, you comes to a point, where not much surprises you in a plot because you have already realised what is going to happen and what possible scenarios the author is going to go with next. However Gail Carriger really does manage to surprise and doesn't give away any clue as to what will happen in her witty British paranormal mystery.

What appealed to me about this series is it's Britishness. I am myself a proud UK Passport holder and even though I am a little far away from the land I was born and raised, I still love a good British based book. However the Paranormal genre seems to be highly dominated by the States and any books that usually attempt at being British usually fail miserably in my eyes. Here we have a series that captures Britain completely and even incorporates the black humour and mannerisms that makes Britain stand out. Well done to the author for managing to make this realistic and doing it in style.

I can't say much for the Victorian side of the book but I can say that it is a lovely angle. I don't believe I have been introduced to 'Steampunk' before this series but it is a genre I now what to take a better look at. As for the Paranormal side of things, well I know a bit about that. Vampires, werewolves and some other stuff (don't want to give anything away) are shown in a new light and blend in nicely.

As us Brits would say, smashing book! If you haven't tried this witty Steampunk paranormal delight then you are missing out on a very enjoyable read. I am not one for historicals but I am addicted to this series. Have the BBC been made aware of this series yet? A TV adaptation would be a wonderful thing to see and could be, imho, as big as Dr Who.

Now I am still shock that we have to wait till July for the next book. However I have seen that Soulless is available on audio and I am going to find it somehow. I also hope the other books will come out on audio before Heartless does. To end, this series is not only a must buy for me but it is one I am sure I am going to visit again and again. Try and enjoy! I wasn't sure at first but now I am very glad I did!

PS - One tiny problem I had with Blameless...Ladybug vs. Ladybird. Any Brits will know what I mean :)

My author guest this week is Gail Carriger. Read the Interview here!