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

Fabulous Fourth Installment

After all the international ruckus of Blameless, Alexia returns to England in the fourth book in Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, but there's plenty of intrigue to be had when a poltergeist warns Alexia of a plot on the queen's life! Carriger's cast of characters is charming as always, and Emily Gray's performance is (also as always) excellent.

Love it

So entertaining and interesting. I love historical romances! This is more than that and then some!!

This was my favorite of the series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes... if you enjoyed being entertained these books are for you.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alexia is a strong woman and very funny, although Lord Akeldama is over the top amusing. The addition Emily Gray gives to his vocal personality is amazing.

Which scene was your favorite?

Meeting the Scottish realativies.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes... if I had the time I would have listened non stop.

Terrific

Narrator and story perfect for each other. There are some longer than usual pauses in narration, but they didn't bother me at all. The story was engrossing enough to keep my interest all the way thru.

Such a funny book

This series is delightfully funny and suspense filled. I've not read anything like these books before.

Mom Kat Reads

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. As with the other books in the series, the narrator did an excellent job with keeping each separate character voice unique and distinct from every other one in the story.

The issues that Alexia and her pack needed to face were well thought out & described byb he author in such a way as to maje the reader/listener remain engaged with the story and want to see how each of the issues would be resolved in the end.

i have been greatly enjoying this series and am very much looking forward to continuing on with it and seeing where the author will take us in the next book in this series.

Exciting series of books

It’s never a dull moment when the wolfs and vampires get together. Luckily they have a voice of reason to help!!
This is a wonderful set of books.

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