Heartless

The Parasol Protectorate, the Fourth

By: Gail Carriger

Narrated by: Emily Gray

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

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?

©2011 Hachette Audio (P)2011 Gail Carriger

Critic reviews

2010, Alex Award, Winner

2009, Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, Winner

2013, Julia Verlanger Award, Winner

"Carriger delivers surprises with every book, and this one is no exception. With action, intrigue, and above all, proper manners, this excellent series will have broad appeal to readers of steampunk, urban fantasy, and paranormal and historical romance."—Library Journal on Heartless

LOVED This book!

As a woman who has been pregnant twice, I absolutely loved how badass she was throughout this book. It made me smile and laugh out loud in glee more than once. I highly recommend this whole series, but this is my favorite.

If You Love Steampunk and Laughing Out Loud

OMG, maybe it’s been too long, but this one cracked me up. Alexia Tarabotti/Lade MaCann's (sp?) pregnancy is brought to vivid and hilarious life by Emily Gray (narrator). I wouldn’t categorize this as a Romance (though the publisher did), since the main couple have been married since the first book. That said, they’re still a romantic couple, and there other other romantic leanings with some of the characters. What this book really is is: Paranormal Steampunk with a good dose of mystery. I LOLed many, many times. Witty banter abounds between Alexia and various immortals (Lord Ackeldama sp? a favorite). Alexia’s pregnancy alone afforded much humor. And so many great characters, well-known and loved, with new developments. Some surprising twists and turns, including a mystery from the second book (or possibly the third) finally solved. This was an exceptional listen for me. Absolutely loved it. So glad I stuck with this series after not loving the third one as much. But I don’t think they would stand well alone.

Why isn’t Gail Carriger more popular?

I really think it’s an indictment against our times that neither Ms. Carriger nor her work aren’t more widely known or remarked upon. Also, I have yet to hear a performance by Ms. Gray which is wanting in quality - she is an ideal match for the book. Well played, publishers and talent agents; well played.

love this series

love the series & Emily Gray brings the characters to life. perfect voice for it!

Clever and delightful

Thoroughly enjoyed the story and the narrator’s performance. The sequels are as enjoyable as the first book in the series.

Very Descriptive

I liked the mystery of it and the story telling. Also the morally grey characters

Thank Goodness.....

After the last book in the series I was not looking forward to this one....I am eating my words right now. I honestly think that besides the first book, this was definately one of the best. I am proud to say that I am throughly looking foward to the release of the next book Timeless in a few months. I can't wait

The story unfolds

First off, you really need to read the first 3 books of the series before this one will make sense.

It's pretty clear that we are building up to a bigger climax in the final book. The humour is growing a little stale after 3 books (although there is a new element to joke about---Alexia's almost-completed pregnancy). Meanwhile, Alexia solves some problems and creates new ones. The Grand Mystery is unfolding and some of the questions that we thought were solved in previous books are raised again. (You REALLY have to have read the previous books for this to make sense.)

One big plus is that this book focuses a good deal of time on one of the more interesting secondary characters: Lord Akeldama (who was almost entirely absent from Book the Third). I like the fact that we don't have His Lordship's full biography, but we get some interesting hints about the vampire he is...and the man he once was. And, just generally, he is an amusing player to watch---clearly, the author had lots of fun writing his dialog and I had fun listening to it.

I'm finding the series enjoyable in a light, beach-reading kind of way: amusing, reasonably well-written...and mostly harmless.

The series finishes with a fifth book and, if you've gotten this far, you probably want to finish the series (I did, and yes, it really does end after five books).

I'm still of mixed opinions about Emily Gray's reading. She gets many of the characterizations nailed down well (Lord Akeldama being excellently delivered), but I think she does a so-so (at best) job with the Scottish and French accents, when required. This book required less of that than the previous two, but it was still a distraction when Lord Maccon was being read.

Steampunk/werewolf fun

Would you listen to Heartless again? Why?

I probably will listen to Heartless again, at least a few scenes, ecause I have all in the series and I am not listening to them back to back.

What other book might you compare Heartless to and why?

This was first Steampunk book I have read,so no comparisons come to mind.

What does Emily Gray bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The sardonic tone of the characters. Certain scenes I wouldn't have read as matter of factly as Ms. Gray, but while listening to them I appreciated her interpretation.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It is not a laugh-out-loud book, but there is humor, sarcasm. Quite appealing to my dry sense of humor.

Any additional comments?

Well done. Not too over the top. Nice touches of over the top, but well contained

Forth and Loving It

What made the experience of listening to Heartless the most enjoyable?

The reader's tremendous job made my experience of listening to Heartless most enjoyable.

What about Emily Gray’s performance did you like?

What I love about Emily Gray's performance is how I do not get lost and confuse regarding characters.