Christopher

I had initially made the acquaintance of Miss Carriger's world in print. To start with, it is a well defined world, clearly defined. Personally, I prefer it when an author makes a well-defined set of rules and explores within them, as opposed to continually expanding the rules as a series expands. The first book does a great job of bringing you into the world and showing you it's rules (although later books certain look at aspects we'd not yet considered). The writing is dreadfully entertaining - the mix of the Victorian setting, the presence of vampires and werewolves, and a particularly strong-willed and...Italian...protagonist makes for quite an appealing, covertly witty read (not to mention corrupting one's speech patterns frightfully). While I don't believe I've encountered Ms. Gray before, she is an excellent fit for this series. She gives a voice to each of the characters, and her delivery perfectly fits the tone of the book. I had already purchased the written versions, but purchased the audiobooks of the complete series once I listened to the first chapter of Soulless.