Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kaung

Fantasy Victorian England with characters that aren't white. Sign me up. lezzgo.
Shots fired at Charles Dickens
Shots fired at the white person's flavor palette
"If tobacco smelled like [books] he'd huff it every day" Mood.

Let's go off about the Industrial Revolution. I. am. here. for. it. 
"It's French. Latin's flimsiest daughter"
"there's no novelist writing about the effect of opium on Chinese families" haha. I see you, RF Kuang.
When one of the quote's is Victor Hugo. 
ALSO THERE ARE FOOTNOTES.
Literally. Chef's kiss. Perfection. I am not worthy of R.F. Kuang and her brilliance. fjkldsfjildsafjklds I can't. I just can't. The commentary. The history. The language. fjkldsasfjkld Send help. 
560 Pages

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

This whole book reminds me of a Sherlolly fic I read.....wait...
I am suspicious of everyone. EVERYONE.
Is Thomas Basil of Baker Street...A doggo named Toby.....
Thomas is so snarky, and I love him...
Alexa play "The Greatest Show"
And now I need Indian food
I am #stressed
Aaaaand my theory was correct
416 Pages

The Custard Protocol Series by Gail Carriger

Prudence (Book One)

3.5/5  |  357 pages

Imprudence (Book Two)

4/5  |  355 pages

Competence (Book Three)

4.5/5  |  309 pages

Reticence (Book Four)

5/5  |  339 pages


I love this writer.  I love this world.  If you're interested in reading any of Gail Carriger's work (and I recommend that you do), start with Soulless or Etiquette & Espionage, depending on if you want adult characters or teen characters, respectively.  I only have Carriger's novelettes and short stories left, but you better believe I'll be reading them!

 

Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5) by Gail Carriger

Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5)
by Gail Carriger

5/5

407 pages

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a dampener on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

What an excellent conclusion to this series.  I'm so sad it's over!  Thankfully, there is a series after this one which features her daughter.  Onward!

Heartless (Parasol Protectorate #4) by Gail Carriger

Heartless (Parasol Protectorate #4)
by Gail Carriger

4/5

374 pages

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 and 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?

The fun continues!  Thoroughly enjoyed. 

Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger

Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2)
by Gail Carriger

4/5

374 pages

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. 

Gail Carriger's books are some of my guilty pleasures.  I adore the over-the-top victorianness of it all.  It's supernatural, mysterious, and all sorts of proper.  :)

Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets: An Audible Original

On the surface, the Victorian age is one of propriety, industry, prudishness and piety. But scratch the surface and you'll find scandal, sadism, sex, madness, malice and murder. 

Presented by Stephen Fry, this series delves deep into a period of time we think we know, to discover an altogether darker reality. The stories we're told offer a different perspective on an era which underwent massive social change. As education, trade, technology and culture blossomed, why was there an undercurrent of the 'forbidden' festering beneath Victorian society? 

Across 12 episodes, Stephen presents a series of true accounts of the dangerous low life and debauched high life of Victorian Britain.

I LOVE me some Stephen Fry.  Oh, yes I do. :)

This audiobook 'read' more like a podcast.  The lovely Mr. Fry narrates twelve info/stories that are anchored by experts and sprinkled with actors.  I definitely enjoyed it, and I learned some new things about Victorian England.

4/5

7 hrs & 33 mins - This is not available in print form, so I'm not sure how to grant myself pages.

Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger

Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine's floating dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia's sweet sootie Soap nearby. She would much rather be using her skills to thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she's not sure whom to trust. What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is certain: a large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster--in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.

By this point, we all know I enjoy these.  I have to admit, however, that this one is my least favorite of the four.  It does wrap everything up in a nice bow, but I just didn't feel as invested in the overall mystery.  

Overall thoughts - unique, fun series and good for all ages.  :)

4/5

337 pages

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger

Sophronia continues her second year at finishing school in style—with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown, of course. Such a fashionable choice of weapon comes in handy when Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and the charming Lord Felix Mersey stowaway on a train to return their classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. 

No one suspected what—or who—they would find aboard that suspiciously empty train. Sophronia uncovers a plot that threatens to throw all of London into chaos and she must decide where her loyalties lie, once and for all.

This is book three of the Finishing School Series.  I continue to enjoy these and have already started the fourth and final book.  So far, this is my favorite of the series as the characters are far enough along in their espionage training for some life-altering things to happen to them and around them.  I'm also amused by the techniques the ladies use (like vocal affectations and demure flirting) to manipulate and melt the men around them to learn their secrets.  Some things never change. :)

4/5

320 pages

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Summary: "Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. 

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education." 

If you read my review of Soulless, you may have already realized this book is by the same author.  And while I certainly enjoyed Soulless, I wasn't driven to continue that series.  When I found out that Ms. Carriger also wrote a YA series set in the same world, I decided to give it a go.  I went in wary, however, because MANY adult writers struggle to also write YA.  Not so here!  This book was a pleasant surprise.

The characters are whole and have unique voices.  I enjoyed the overall formal-but-silly feel of the book and found the central mystery a great story arc.  The real stand out qualities of this novel lie with Sophronia, the school, and its teachers.  There is a very Harry Potter feel to the whole thing.  It is intriguing to watch young girls learn how to manipulate others and gather intelligence using only those things available to women of the Victorian Age - handkerchiefs, fans, sewing scissors, etc.

Overall, I enjoyed this very much and have already started book two. :)

4/5

336 pages 

Summary: "Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot - one with dire implications for both super-naturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card." - Amazon

Book two of the Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger.  I enjoyed this novel just as much as the first.  That being said, I'm not sure I will continue with the series right away.  The tone of these novels is so different, and I think I'm realizing that while I enjoy them, I cannot devour them one after another.  I need a break.  And I'm sure when I do get around to reading books three and four, I will be ready.

4/5

320 pages

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Summary: "Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.  Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.  With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?" - Amazon

This novel has been on my to-be-read list forever.  I enjoy alternative histories, but I'm not big on steampunk, so I was thrilled to find out that those elements were few.  This is mainly a story about Alexia and her journey through a world that considers her the ultimate outcast - a spinster! - when even werewolves, ghosts, and vampires are accepted.

When I started this book, I was a little disappointed as I was expecting a more Buffy than Jane Austen.  However, as it went on and I adjusted to the tone and vibe, I fell head over heels for Alexia Tarabotti.  She is intelligent, stubborn, inquisitive, confident, and basically all the things.  The romance elements are well done, the side characters are totally over-the-top, and the plot sensible and great fun.

This is a series, and I will pick up the second book soon, but for now I am content to have journeyed through this odd Victorian London with Alexia.

4/5

384 pages

The Pierced Heart by Lynn Shepherd

The Pierced Heart by Lynn Shepherd

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula this literary mystery weaves all of the atmospheric creepiness of the original classic with the detail and writing style of an Victorian English novel. Charles Maddox is called in to investigate a potential donor for Oxford University before they accept this unknown Austrian lord's sizable donation. Arriving at Baron Von Reisenberg's home in the Viennese woods, Maddox expects a boring task of reviewing paperwork,  financial and family records, instead the dark brings mysterious noises and nightmares. This is the darkest of the Maddox mysteries, but this chilling tale of suspense, science and possible supernatural fiends will keep you reading.

Lynn Shepherd is also the author of the award winning The Solitary House, which is reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel; A Fatal Likeness inspired by the lives of romantic writers Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron as well as my favorite so far, Murder at Mansfield Park.

238 Pages.