Blameless (Parasol Protectorate, #3) by Gail Carriger Published by Orbit on September 1, 2010
Pages: 355
Goodreads
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.
BLAMELESS is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
4.5 Nuts
LORD MACCON, YOU FRUSTRATING BERK OF A MAN, YOU APOLOGIZE TO YOUR WIFE THIS INSTANT!
That’s pretty much the main thought that sat in my brain as I listened to the insufferable werewolf alpha pine away after his own idiocy caused the problem. Blasted men and their blasted pride.
BLAMELESS “splits the party” as it were. Alexia in France and later Italy, and Conoll in England. Banging on about nothing and making an ass of himself, Conoll turns to formaldehyde of all things to drink away his whoas. In what world are preserved animals a good crunchy snack? Gross, Conoll, gross. Poor Professor Lyall is a saint.
Alexia’s adventures are all tinged with sadness. Though she claims not to love him and that she will not forgive him, it’s clear Conoll’s words injured her deeply. Mostly, she’s lying to herself and her anger comes from sadness. I think this is why her chapters often made me sad and heartbroken myself. You feel Alexia’s pain acutely, even with the dry quips and wit that Gail is known for.
By the time the book turns for the better for our lovers, Alexia has gotten herself in deep in Italy. Templars, you would know if you have read THE CURIOUS CASE… short story, are not kind to anything associated with the supernatural. Who are the real monsters, I began to wonder.
The biggest twists in this book are near the very end and they all come in together one after another. Most of them I didn’t expect but one I was spoiled for. Even with the spoiler the impact did not change. I was both happy and devastated at once. The poor vampires. The poor werewolves. The machinations of others have really dug everyone a pretty deep hole.
On a side note, it seems VERY clear that you do not want to get on the bad side of the Queen of England. Kind of scary for a diminutive lady. I’m instantly reminded of the Queen Victoria of the Doctor Who episode “Tooth and Claw”. Do not fuck with.
Would you be a drone or a claviger? Share your choice in the comments.
From my shelf to yours,
Erin
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