Publisher: Recorded Books (June 22, 2010)
Format: Audiobook
Narrated by Emily Gray
Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
Genre: Adult Fantasy/Supernatural
Series: The Parasol Protectorate #1
From Goodreads. Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Review by Kate
SOULLESS, by Gail Carriger, is fantastic, hilarious, romantic, and all together phenomenal book. I absolutely adored it and if you have not checked it out yet, please do!
Carriger throws you right into the middle of action when the book begins. We learn Alexia is a preternatural (a person without a soul, hence
Soulless) who 'turns off' supernatural abilities when she touches a supernatural creature (vampire, werewolf, ghost, etc.). She accidentally kills a vampire and she is thrust into an investigation of missing supernaturals. The world that Carriger created was fantastic. I love the time period she chose and the inclusion of the supernatural within the society.
The characters in this book were equally fantastic. Alexia reminded me of Elizabeth Bennett (
Pride and Prejudice) with her intelligence, her ability to stand up for what she believes in, her wonderful sarcasm, but definitely open to having love in her life. Carriger wrote Alexia so well, I was literally laughing out loud with her thought process about her family, Lord Maccon, and general society issues. Speaking of Lord Maccon (swoon), I knew from the get-go these two would be a match made in heaven. But both are stubborn in their ways (Lord Maccon being a werewolf) and they succeeded at misinterpreting each others feelings over and over, keeping other characters and myself in suspense at the outcome of the relationship.
I loved the development of the mystery surrounding the missing supernaturals. There were moments that I gasped aloud when I figured out what was going on. Carriger truly has a talent for creating a good mystery. Overall, this was an awesome book full of hilarity, romance, and a darn good mystery, this is not one to be missed!
A note on the audiobook. Emily Gray was a pleasure to listen to. She made Alexia come to life and I felt at times she was the character. Also, her narrations of other characters, Lord Maccon in particular, were precise and fit the characters well. Gray has a new fan!
With dozens of zombie stories hitting the YA shelves recently, and AMC’s new series THE WALKING DEAD hitting small screens on Halloween, there are plenty of ways to scare yourself with new tales of the undead. I strongly recommend SOULLESS by Christopher Golden, a nail-biting thriller that is, hands-down, the best zombie novel I've ever read. If you want to find out what happens when zombies take Manhattan, pick up Soulless now.
Read an excerpt.
Read my blog post about the book.
But wait! There's more!
Many of the contributors to editor Christopher Golden's THE NEW DEAD, from St. Martin's Press, got together to talk about zombies and the upcoming television show.
Check out the interview.
Have a safe and happy Halloween weekend, everyone!
My Teen Advisory Board group worked really hard to create this mini-movie about Christopher Golden's Soulless. We hope to promote reading, our TAB and the library district with this project. The kids read the book and then picked out their favorite pivotal scenes. I put them into a working script and then we cast roles. The kids memorized their lines--most of them playing multiple roles--created their own costumes and everything was shot at the Smoky Hill Library.
One of my BFF's and co-worker, Sheena Allee, helped me create the zombie make-up and the district's video wiz, Bob Bennhoff, was our cameraman and video editor. (We even made the poor guy bleed for real!) It was an incredibly fun and challenging group project with $0 budget. I bought all the make-up and the bottles of blood myself. LOL.
If that wasn't work enough, the kids decided to learn Michael Jackson's THRILLER dance for the closing credits. They're completely self taught! Because of the aforementioned $0 budget, we obviously could not use the actual music, but I think you'll recognize the iconic moves and Bob picked some killer music for us.
I couldn't be prouder of this group. They give me the greatest joy. Please watch the video, leave a comment on the YouTube page and feel free to share it. I want the kids recognized for their committment, creativity and talent. :)
P.S. -- Mr. Golden himself saw the video and said, "Fantastic work, everyone! :) My sons and I were grinning the whole time."
Sleepless is available in library binding and I just got my hardcover copy. It's so cool! It's available on Kindle too, but I don't have one of those gadgets yet.
I also got an awesome review from That One Girl Emily.
Review: The first thing I'm going to say is the cover for this book SUCKS. It has nothing to do with the book. At all. It looks all fluffy and chick-lit-ish right? WRONG. Okay so maybe its pajamas, which sort of has to do with the book, but other than that, totallllyyyy wrong.
This is the darkest book I have ever read. It is so creepy and imaginative, it actually made me afraid. I sincerely did not want to go to sleep after reading this.
I've never heard of lucid dreaming, or have I experienced it, but I think it would be so awesome. Just picture it! You are in the middle of a dream, and you know exactly what is happening and are aware that you are dreaming. You could do anything! The possibilities are endless. And yes, the plot was somewhat RoCom-ish at times, but I could look over the cheesiness.
I loved this book. It was so believable! And taking the concept of a murderer killing victims in their actual dreams, and making it believable, thats tough.
Well done Terri Clark. A round of applause just for you.
On a completely different note...I've been on a zombie reading spree and that's been a lot of fun. Can't wait to get my hands on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. So far my personal faves have been Soulless by Christopher Golden and Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Ashby.
And finally, me and my fam went hiking through the Garden of the Gods and then traipsed around Pikes Peak. Here's a few of my fave pics.
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0 Comments on Audiobook Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger as of 1/1/1900
Where can I get that Soulless cover? That's the best cover for the book I have seen. I'm not really into the others.
Zombie fever as arrived. I even watched Dawn of the Dead for my pre-halloween scare and blogged about it with other scares. Also finishing up great YA zombie book, ROT & RUIN and will add this to my list of reads after Nanowrimo Thanks for the review and reminder of the new TV show
Braiden: That is the new cover of Soulless, for the recently reprinted paperback version. Check your local bookstore - or you could order it online!
LM Preston: Enjoy the books!