Review: Blameless by Gail Carriger

Blameless
Author: Gail Carriger
Publication: Orbit (September 1, 2010)


Description: 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 Thoughts: This was another wonderful addition to Ms. Carriger's series. Alexi is her usual self - polite, stubborn, curious, and adventurous. Her goal here is to find out how she was able to become pregnant and to confront her husband with the facts. She and Lord Maccon spend most of the book apart but are clearly in each other's thoughts. Lord Maccon tries to drown his sorrows. Who knew that formaldehyde had an intoxicating effect on werewolves? Professor Lyall is very busy trying to keep the pack together and investigate the disappearance of Lord Akeldama. Meanwhile, Alexia, Madame LaFloux and Floote and wandering across Europe meeting unusual characters and fighting off varieties of vampires who are determined to kill her. 


Why I enjoy the most about this series is the language and the descriptions. Ms. Carriger has the most marvelous way with extremely visual and clever phrases. The tiny supporting details add so much richness to the world. The scientific worldview presented in the stories are quite unique. I am especially fond of the ornithopter as a flying machine and amused that Alexia's main concern is that her red flannel bloomers are exposed to the world. 


This book is highly recommended to lovers of romance, humor and steampunk.  


Favorite Quote:

It was difficult to see the exact nature of his expression as, in addition to the ubiquitous mustache, the clockmaker also wore a golden-brown beard of such epic proportions as might dwarf a mulberry bush. It was as though his mustache had become overly enthusiastic and, seized with the spirit of adventure, set out to conquer the southern reaches of his face in a take-no-prisoners kind of way.

Previous books in the series are Soulless and Changeless. Book 4 - Heartless - is coming in July 2011.


Challenges: Paranormal Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge