Heartless Book Review

Heartless by Gail Carriger

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Blurb:

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines, Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

Review by Brittany:

This is the fourth book in the Parasol Protectorate, a series that I am still enjoying.

In this book, Alexia and Conall move forward with their plan to "live" with Lord Akeldama, trying to appease the vampires by removing the threat that Alexia's child may cause. Because I love Lord Akeldama as a character, I'm fine with this turn of events and am interested in seeing more of him. I also liked how this book touched on his strained relationship with Biffy. There's something about those two that I just adore, and I enjoyed reading more about them.

This book also touches on Madame Lefoux's feelings as a mother to Quesnel and in dealing with the aftermath of Angelique's death. Her latest mechanical invention is a physical manifestation of all of the feelings she has and the revenge she wants to take on those she feels took something from her in Angelique's death. This invention is also pretty cool, and I loved reading about all of the elements that Madame Lefoux had incorporated. As the story plays out, Madame Lefoux's future totally changes from what she's used to.

At the end of the book, Alexia finally gives birth to Prudence, her "infant inconvenience". I'm interested to see how Prudence changes things for Alexia and Conall and how this might affect her relationship with Lord Akeldama.

Overall, I'm still loving this series. This author has a way of writing these stories that keeps me hooked. I'm excited to read the last book, but I'm not sure I'm ready to be done!