Alpha & Omega:Tandem Review Soulless Manga and Timeless by Gail Carriger
1) Gail herself was involved in the script writing!
2) YEN PRESS are publishing and the amazing artist REM is involved!
3) The wonderful excitement of seeing illustrated versions of characters I've only visualized in my mind before :)
Soulless is a paranormal fans dream! Their are werewolves and Vampires, Ghosts and the Soulless: Individuals whose touch can temporarily remove a paranormal creatures powers. There are also the joys of Victorian England : parasols, corsets and outrageous hats. The center of this tale is Alexia, who has been living a quiet spinster life. After being attacked by a rogue Vampire Alexia finds her self in the midst of an investigation being conducted by the boisterous werewolf Lord Maccon. Golem's !, Dandy's! fun action sequences and some eye popping wardrobe malfunctions make this a fun read.
Now for my fellow Parasol Protectorate members: Their is a lot to love about this book, but also some things that differ from what you might expect. First off the manga version of Alexia is drop dead gorgeous! I know, I know, Alexia is supposed to have Olive skin and " handsome" features but Manga tends to pretty everything up ;)
Ivy's hat's: I'll admit I was a little disappointed in Ivy's scenes I wanted to see some monstrous towering hat fashions but she is quite sedate in this issue.
Bosom of Awesomeness : Our Alexia is a little top heavy in REM"s rendering. It's a bit distracting and fun to watch Lord Maccon's reactions and sideways glances :)
Oh Those MEN!: Lord Maccon, Biffy, Lyall and Lord Akeldama are all gorgeously rendered! I loved seeing these men come to life in the manga. I will definitely be picturing these renditions in my reading of the novels. Lot's of fun and the entire book is wrapped up in one volume. I look forward to more adaptions from Yen and Rem.
Here we are at Journey's end for this wonderful series. I went through so many emotions reading this book! Torn between wanting to make the book last vs wanting to read it quickly to avoid spoilers, I dived in!
Two years have passed since the events in Heartless. We find Alexia and Lord Maccon still living a double life moving between their home and Alkedama's closet , as they deal with an energetic 2 year old. Prudence like any other toddler is curious , rambunctious and oh yes she turns into whatever creature she comes into contact with. So between trying to keep Prudence from turning furry or fanged the Maccon family find themselves receiving a strange summons from Egypt. The oldest living Vampire Queen has requested a visit in order to see Prudence and presumably her powers.
Now traveling under the cover of a theatrical performance by the Tunstells Alexia and the acting troupe find themselves on a ship bound for Egypt.
This book moves back in forth between Alexia's adventures and a murder investigation being handled in London by Biffy and professor Lyall. This novel was wonderful! I teared up as the pages swiftly moved past and laughed at young Prudence's antics. It is a testament to Gail's writing prowess that she is able to keep the reader fully engaged with Lyall and Biffy being in the forefront of the novel for many chapters. So many surprising changes for Biffy, Ivy and Professor Lyall and a little more insight into the God breaker plague and Alexia's father's past.
I'll admit Alexia took a bit of a backseat in the beginning of the book and a great deal of the time we have with her is on board a ship. Despite that Gail continues to deliver the laughter, emotional impact and fun surprises that have been the hallmark of this series.
Everything is wonderfully wrapped up with some intriguing new directions that will hopefully be explained more when we get to Prudence's adventures. Yes I would love for more adventures from Alexia but I am most pleased with this series ending on a high note. I will reread these books for years to come and look forward to whats coming next from Gail .
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