2 Bloggers 1 Series - Changeless

So this month Stormi and I are continuing on with our buddy read of the Parasol Protectorate series.  I'm so glad we decided to switch series and I'm really enjoying this one even if this installment did madden somewhat.  So read on for my thoughts and then make sure you visit Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!

TITLE: Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2)

AUTHOR: Gail Carriger

PUBLISHER: Orbit

PUBLISHING DATE: April 1 2010

FROM GOODREADS: 

Alexia Maccon, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears; leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria. 

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. So even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it. 

CHANGELESS is the second book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

MY THOUGHTS: I feel like Changeless is a solid followup to Soulless in which the reader really gets to know a lot of the characters better and form greater connections.  When the book begins, a regiment of supernatural soldiers have returned from abroad and are camping on Lord Maccon and Lady Alexia's front yard.  While Maccon clearly expected them, his lack of communication with Alexia means she was caught totally off guard.  Unfortunately for her, this failure to communicate tends to become a theme in the novel and because of it, quite a bit of mayhem arises.

Along with the regiment's return, a new phenomenon has seemed to follow them.  The supernaturals are no longer able to change.  As quick as the condition occurs, it leaves but it seems to be following Maccon to Scotland, where Maccon's former pack resides.  Alexia, wanting to warn her husband and also in part due to her job as muhjah to Queen Victoria, soon follows with a mismatched crew of her own including her annoying half-sister Felicity and her best friend, Ivy.

I really enjoyed the mystery element of this book which is not surprising.  I was curious to find out why the supernaturals could not change and see what was going to be done about it.  I also really liked learning a bit more about Maccon's history.  As always,  the relationship between he and Alexia is clearly the best thing this series has going for it because their wit and banter with each other is always interesting and quite entertaining.  We also get to meet a new character in Madame Lefoux and I kind of hope she appears in future installments. We could have had a bit more of Lord Akeldama, but when he is present, he is his ever-flamboyant self. He and Maccon's beta Tunstell actually play a pertinent role in the novel despite their lack of page time.

This review would be lacking if I failed to mention Ivy and Felicity.  Their addition to the voyage to Scotland provided added drama and tension and I remember commenting to Stormi once that I wished Ivy had been pulled over the side of the flying dirigible.  She and her hats were THAT annoying.  And while she was at it, she might as well have taken Felicity with her. 

This book has it all.  Great characters, fun action and quick-witted banter.  It also has a sort of cliff-hanger ending which made me wish I could push Maccon off a flying dirigible.  The last few pages have me really worried about the direction the third book might take but I'm anxious to pick it up nonetheless.

RATING: 4 PAWS