10.29.2013
Timeless
by Gail Carriger, 386 pgs, paperbackSeries: The Parasol Protectorate #5
Overall Grade: A
The final installment in Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate' series, the story timeskips forward several years so that the baby is now about a few years old. Alexia receives an "invitation" from the oldest living vampire queen to come visit her in Cairo and for Alexia to bring her daughter. The local vampire queen advises Alexia that this is not the type of invitation one can turn down, but demurs to say what the oldest queen might want. So while Alexia is in the midst of generating a satisfactory reason to travel to Egypt and preparing her family for travel, the beta from the Scotland pack returns from Egypt with important information that he fails to impart to Alexia before mysteriously dying. If that doesn't sounds like an auspicious start to one's tripplanning, I don't know what is!
I found Carriger's book to be a satisficatory ending to the series. We find out more about the God-Breaker Plague, the weaknesses of werewolves and preternaturals, some history on Alexia's father and Floote. There are a few teasing details that could easily remain as is, or allow future works. I particularly enjoyed the developments with Biffy and Prof. Lyall as those are two of my favorite characters in the series, and it was refreshing to have their narration often through out the story.
Labels: genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: historical, genre: mystery, genre: steampunk, media: book, series: Parasol Protectorate
