Adequate Review of Heartless by Gail Carriger

Heartless is my first Gail Carriger book review that is not 100% percent positive.

The Book:

Heartless by Gail Carriger Cover, Gray building in the background in a gothic architecture way, A woman with a small top hat and a pink dress looks into the camera, Heartless and Gail Carriger are written in pink and purple,
Heartless cover pulled from Goodreads

Title: Heartless

Author: Gail Carriger

Series: Parasol Protectorate

Published July 1st, 2011 by Orbit

Genre: Steampunk, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 400

Synopsis: “Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband’s past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux’s latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf’s clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama’s second best closet?” –Goodreads

My Heartless Review:

I hate to say it, but this is probably my least favorite Gail Carriger novel I have read. I love her still so dearly, but Heartless felt like a filler novel, something to pass the time between the next two novels.

Also, I am trying a new book review blog format. Let me know what you think about this in the comments below. I have been needing to change up how I do reviews since they are all getting a little hard to manage.

Heartless Plot: I hate to say anything necessarily negative in a review about Carriger, but the plots are all kind of blending together. Nothing substantial really came out of the plot of Heartless. Everything blurred together until the end. The ending was good, but it wasn’t phenomenal.

Heartless Characters: As usual, Alexia is witty and talented, but she is becoming quite a bit predictable. Does that mean I don’t love her? No. I still love the character, I just wish we got a bit more from her sometimes.

I wish Lord Maccon had a bigger role in the books. Sometimes he is there and sometimes he isn’t. I wish there was more of my favorite Scotsman.

All the other background characters make me laugh and they are oh-so-charming. I love them all. Madame Lefoux plays an interesting role in this book. We don’t see much of her, again I wish we had seen more.

Book’s Setting: I don’t think we leave London at all in this book. We don’t get introduced to many new places, so I do not have much to say about this.

Review of Romance: As I said in my review of Blameless, the romance is really dying out in this series. I think this one has less than Blameless. I don’t even want to label this as romance anymore.

Carriger’s Quality of Writing: Gail Carriger always writes well. Her writing style is so unique! She makes me laugh. She finds the best names, the best puns, and the best phrases.  

What I Liked:

  • The Wit
  • The Unwavering Love between Alexia and Lord Maccon

What I Didn’t:

  • That this plot is pretty much indistinguishable from the rest
  • We never left London
  • No real questions were answered about the stuff we learned from the last book

Rating:

Plot: 2

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Characters: 4

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Setting: 3

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Quality of Writing: 5

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Ease of Reading: 5

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I hoped you like this review of Heartless by Gail Carriger. Let me know what you think of the format.

Read This If You Love/Need:

  • Steampunk
  • Werewolves/Vampires
  • Victorian age
  • Ridiculously easy-to-follow humor
  • Something easy to follow along to
  • Gail Carriger

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Friday @ Five

“Friday 5@5 is a weekly feature hosted here on NovelKnight to wrap up the week with a fun (and short) list because we know y’all want to get on with your weekends!”-Friday @ Five

This weeks theme:

Books I Read Based Solely on the Cover

So to jump right into this here are the books that I read just because of their cover:

1. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon 

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2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

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3. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

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4. Heartless by Marissa Meyers

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5. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

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WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COVERS?

Heartless

18584855Author: Marissa Meyer

Published by Feiwel & Friends

Genre: YA, Retellings, Fantasy

Pages: 453

“Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.” -Goodreads

Continue reading Heartless