Birthday (Salieri) and a book (Soulles)

[avrelia]

Happy birthday to st_salieri! I hope you are having great time! Or you know, have had it already and will have more in the future. My English is confusing on occasions.:)

Buffy has got a mummy hand for you. To freak out your enemies.

In book-reading news: I picked up Soullessby Gail Carriger, because I keep hearing about it from everywhere. I am only two chapters in, but already have some notes (all pretty much non-spoilery).

1) a strong sense of deja-vu made me realize that the heroine, Alexia, is a brain twin of Amelia Peabody (of Elizabeth Peters' Egyptology mysteries.) The Britishness, the proud spinsterhood (that don't survive the end of the first book), the sharp mind, the assertiveness, the lack of conventional beauty... I adore Amelia Peabody and her husband Emerson, but I am not sure how many of her I need for my enjoyment. It has just occurred to me that both Amelia Peabody and Alexia are literary descendants of brilliant Marian Halcombe of Woman in White. Now, that's one lady whose adventures I'd love to follow...

2) vampires again. ::sigh::

3) the setup immediately brings to mind all the countless "soulless redemption" debates. I am pro-soul, so there is a bit of discomfort, but it is another universe and different rules, and the whole society setup with the inclusion of vampires and werewolves in the polite society is very interesting. And, yes, I can see how the rigid rules of everyday behavior would be a necessity and a boon here.

4) I love omnipresent point of view and the narrator's voice separate from the author and the characters, being reasonably old-fashioned and raised on 18-19 century novels. I applaud the return of the narrator to modern stories, even if it is done to simulate the old time feel. But.
But there is one giant difficulty: I need to love that narrator and don't want to smack it. Here so far it feels too twee, and I mostly grow annoyed. I still hope to befriend it as soon as I get used to the tone.

Comments

[swmbo.livejournal.com]

I have that book but I haven't read it yet! You'll have to let me know how it goes - the description sounded really fun but you know how that can go...

Also, I am giggling immensely over "I am pro-soul" out of context.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

The book is a light fluffy fun so far, and my quibbles are minor, but I definitely will be posting my impression when I finish it.

What, you think not all people are closely familiar with the soul debates?! >:o

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

http://avrelia.livejournal.com/186170.html

here is the end impressions. :)

[st_salieri.livejournal.com]

Yay for mummy hands! Thank you. :)

::smooch::

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

::hugs::

[molly_may]

Alexia, is a brain twin of Amelia Peabody

I IMMEDIATELY thought of Amelia when I read Soulless. I mean, she even has a parasol that she bops evildoers over the head with! Anyway, I liked the book, though I haven't actually finished it yet, even though I started it weeks ago and I'm really close to the end. I'm having this problem lately where once I put down a book, I have a really hard time picking it up again.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I hope you finish it, an we can compare notes! But, yes, it goes slower than it should.