Soulless by Gail Carriger

Rating: ★★★★  | 10 hrs 48 mins | Hachette Audio | Paranormal | 10/1/2009 

So, lol this book has been on my TBR shelf forever! It was in one of my early In My Mailbox’s nearly 8 years ago and I finally got around to reading it this year for book club.

Soulless is set in a steampunk Victorian London where supernaturals--werewolves, vampires and ghosts--live alongside humans. 26-year-old half-Italian spinster Alexia Tarrabotti isn’t a supernatural but she isn’t quite human either. She’s a preternatural--a rare person born with no soul and the ability to turn supernaturals human with just a touch. When supernaturals starting going missing Alexia decides to some investigation, much to the chagrin of Lord Maccon--the surly local werewolf Alpha and de facto head of the Bureau of Unnatural Registry (B.U.R).

This book starts off with a bang as Alexia kills a rogue vampire with her parasol at a dinner party. I remember when I first read this book I was overwhelmed by how quickly it jumps in with no world-building. At the time I hadn’t read much paranormal outside of the Twilight and Mortal Instruments series and struggled to get into it. But as I re-read this on audio I actually liked that we just jump in mid-action scene. I found Soulless to be an escapist, fast-paced, frolicking, Pushing Dasies-esque paranormal ride that I was just along for it. I was surprised by how quickly I read this.

Now some of the content doesn’t age super well. The Camp Gay vampire, Lord Akeldama, leaned a little too much on stereotype and he felt expendable to Alexia. Speaking of Alexia, I understand she is supposed to be an outcast, but she was rude to the few people who were her friends for no reason. It felt like a lot of the time she was using people except for Lord Maccon, who becomes the love interest.

This book just came out in audio 2 years ago and narrator Emily Gray does a great job setting the tone for this genre-blending paranormal modern l classic!