Book Review: Blameless by Gail Carriger

Hi readers, 

Today, I'm reviewing the third Alexia Tarabotti/The Parasol Protectorate book. If you've not read the first two in this series review, it might be useful to you to do so. The opening of this book sees Alexia moved back in with her mum, step-dad and step-sisters, who don't know about her secret and the true reason her husband, Lord Maccon, has kicked her out after their return from Scotland. However, a newspaper announces it and Alexia is dismissed from her former home. She has also lost her job with the Queen too. 

Alexia goes to stay with her vampire friend Lord Akeldama, but finds he has gone missing. Having no choices left she decides to gather her butler, Madam Lefoux who is becoming a close friend and Tunstell who is a former connection to the werewolf pack but has left since his marriage to Ivy, Alexia's best friend. They decided to leave for Italy in the hope to uncover more about Alexia's unexpected pregnancy and to try and prove that Lord Maccon is the father. 

The other plot in this novel is that the vampires are trying to kill Alexia due to the fear of what her baby is. This carries on from the second book and as I'm now finding out it is also continued in the four book. I do like the second plots that appear in this series of books because it gives the story more depth without over complicated things and the second plot lines fit in well with the first.  

The rest of the primary plot sees Alexia and company finding out more about the pregnancy and ending up meeting the Templars, who had been brought up in the other books but not seen till now. this very religious group who stand strongly against the supernatural turn out to have the information Alexia and she discovers that her unborn child is a skin/soul stealer and possible has the power to take different supernatural forms. They are so rare that her baby is the second one and the vampires fear the child due to the power it'll have. 

At the end, there's a great escape moment and Alexia meets up with everyone including Lord Maccon who has finally come to his sense about the unborn baby being his. I liked the happy ending and felt this showed a good relationship between Alexia and her husband. The main plot and second plot were also good and though I did like the second book better, I read through this one quick because I wanted to find out about the baby. 

The new characters in this book are; Madam Lefoux's friend who she went to school with and is a clock maker.  A German scientist who is a member of the Brass Octopus group, but turns out not to follow their codes and his fascination with the pregnancy gets to him and the Italy Templars, who take Alexei captive because they are also worried about the powers her child might have, but her interested in her own too. I was happy with this new characters again, because they all brought a fresh insight into the knowledge of being soulless and the pregnancy. The fact that they were out for their own goals and the last two were the villains was a good switch up. 

The pace and dialogue were fine again and everything felt well written and gripping. It will be interested to find out what's going to happen in the fourth book now! 

Overall, I'm still enjoying the series and the characters. 

    

Image from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blameless-Book-3-Parasol-Protectorate/dp/1841499730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464184211&sr=8-1&keywords=blameless

The Thief Lord Review

Hi readers, 

The Thief Lord (Not to be confused with The Book Thief) is a 2000 children's novel by German writer Cornelia Funke, the author of the Ink Heart trilogy in 2004, which she is more famously known for. If you haven't read any of her books and/or you've not read this one, no matter what your age, I would highly recommend you add it to you reading list. 

Being aimed at children doesn't mean the narrative or plot of a novel needs to be dull. Funke really proves that writing within the children's novel rules, it's possible to create a fantasy style plot and a gripping narrative. Yes, the book is toned down, but the adventure and peril is very visible. The characters, who are mostly children, are developed and still appear complex. Also, Funke has cleverly incorporated basic Italy words in the narrative and dialogue.    

The Thief Lord is set in Venice, Italy, which is wonderfully described and seen from the children's view as being magical. The main plot follows brothers Proper and and Bo, who have run away to escape their aunt and uncle adopting them. They are taken in by a group of runaway children, lead by The Thief Lord, who is also known as Scipio. They are all sent on a mission to steal a wooden wing and in the process they learn about a magic merry-go-round, that has the power to turn children into adults and adults into children.

The subplot involves the adults on the trail of the children. The novel opens with the detective, Victor, who loves disguises and has a collection of beards. He is asked to search for the brothers by their relatives, however, he soon gets tangled up in the mission and ends up helping the children. The aunt and uncle don't have much to do with the plot and at first it seems that they want the brothers for a sinister reason, but this turns out not to be true. Perhaps, their story would have been more interesting if that was the case. Lastly, there is Ida, the owner of the wooden wing. She gives the children the information they need and helps them. There are four other adults who appear and they are mostly used to help more the plot along, but they come across as full characters

I really enjoyed this book, especially the contrast between the real world and the magic one that the children see. The characters were very easy to get along with and they had enough background to make them realistic. I would also like to find out if the merry-go-round (below) has historical/other story connections, because it would be interesting to see if the idea was original to Funke. My only small issue is with the ending. I felt it switched paces between being too fast and too slow. Yes, it does tie everything off, but I didn't think it needed to drag on as long as it did. 

Overall though, I really would recommend this book to anyone, especially children as they would really enjoy it.  

Images from:

http://childrensbooksguide.com/100-best-childrens-chapter-books-of-all-time

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/4174665