Prudence

By: Gail Carriger

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Introducing the Custard Protocol series, in which Alexia Maccon's daughter, Prudence, travels to India on behalf of queen, country--and the perfect pot of tea.

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama ("Rue" to her friends) is bequeathed an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female under similar circumstances would do: she christens it the Spotted Custard and floats off to India.

Soon she stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis (and an embarrassing lack of bloomers), Rue must rely on her good breeding--and her metanatural abilities--to get to the bottom of it all.

©2015 Gail Carriger (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

" Soulless has all the delicate charm of a Victorian parasol, and all the wicked force of a Victorian parasol secretly weighted with brass shot and expertly wielded. Ravishing." (Lev Grossman)

"The world of Timeless is a unique recipe of steampunk and fantasy spiced with light sprinkling of romance. Its setting is rich for characters to romp about in, but the unbridled playfulness of the language and dialogue shines brightest." ( The Miami Herald)

Pronunciations and character voices are Different!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Prudence?

Most memorable so far is the shock of different pronunciation of names of favorite characters. Just because it's technically a new series does not mean that characters from the Parasol Protecterate all of a sudden have new backgrounds. Biffy was Spanish and now sounds like he's from Romania.

Did Moira Quirk do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The switch in narration from Ms. Gray to Ms. Quirk caused me a shock this morning when I started listening. Name pronunciation for Biffy and Dama is different. After all previous books had a consistent pronunciation, why did the director and narrator have to switch? Also, Biffy is made to sound like a bad Dracula. Dama's new voice is reminiscent of Mel Brooks (the Priest) in Princess Bride, sounding like there are cotton balls in his mouth.

Delightful book but an audible misstep

Any additional comments?

I love Moira Quirk's narration of the Finishing School series. I don't think she's a bad narrator at all. But when I listened to Prudence, it was like listening to the Finishing School characters reading the parts of the Parasol Protectorate/Custard Protocol.

Also, Biffy's last name is not pronounced correctly (how do you get Biffy from Rabiffano unless there's a Biff in there?) and he has a slight Spanish accent. It's made quite clear in Heartless that Biffy's Spanish name & heritage come as a shock to Alexia, meaning that he doesn't have an accent.

This is the first time I've ever considered returning one of Gail Carriger's books. I love the audiobooks for the Parasol Protectorate and it breaks my heart that I won't be able to listen to Rue's adventures.

Like more Finishing School and not in a good way

What could Gail Carriger have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Stop me if this sounds familiar: headstrong girl has adventure on a floating ship. Companions include: 'girly' best friend with a bookish brother; aristocratic man who flirts with said girl but whom she rejects; 'manish' girl who prefers to work with boilers; and all signs point to her having a 'connection' with a servant. This doesn't feel like a new story with a new character. It feels like Sophronia and the Finishing School 2.0.

Since this is in the same world as the Alexia Parasol books (~20 years later) and the Finishing School books (~40+ years later) I'm really surprised the mechanicals are no where in the series yet. There were butlers and automatons and mechanimals in the other books but not in this series.

And someone needs to explain the rules of chaperoning to me because how do two young single women take off for two months on a ship with single men and this isn't considered a scandal? Alone in a room in a house together: no! Alone on a ship together: why not!

What didn’t you like about Moira Quirk’s performance?

The voices she uses are recycled from the Finishing School series. Rue = Monique; Prim = Sophronia; Percy = Pil; 'Dama' = Dimiti(!); every servant = Soap; and poor Alexia sounds like a battle axe! Hearing the powerful and fashionable Lord Akaldama lisp like Dimiti made me sad.

Any additional comments?

I was disappointed with the ending of the last Finishing School book (seriously, Felix deserved better) and this series seems to be just a recycling of exactly the same characters with different names.

Terrible character narration.

What did you like best about Prudence? What did you like least?

I love Gail Carriger Steampunk style. Like the character development. Awful narration transition from the key characters in Parasol series. Dama acquired a "fang lisp" when it was mentioned as a detriment in Parasol. Biffy changed ethnicity, etc etc

What other book might you compare Prudence to and why?

The book itself ventures into the future of the Parasol Protectorate series.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Moira Quirk?

Emily Gray. Moira Quirk do your homework like an actor would in depicting characters already developed in other series. Too much disparity. Distracting and annoying.

Was Prudence worth the listening time?

Would have preferred a book to an audiobook had I know how the characters would be presented.

Any additional comments?

Disappointed. Not in the story line or character development. strictly narration.

Narrators should do research!!

First, let me say that I love Gail Carriger and the Soulless series. I also understand a bit about getting a new narrator for the next generation series - Prudence. However, and this is a big bone of contention with me: Narrator!! Please!!! Do some research!!!! Different accents and pronunciations of key characters as far off as was done here, really threw me off and didn't allow me to enjoy the book as much as I might have. (A note must be added here that the original narrator to the Soulless series changed the pronunciation of a major character's name on the second book, which also threw me off. It's called continuity, folks! Learn it!)

Humor and a smidgen of romance keeps the quirky story line going. For you critics, of course the story line is absurd. What else did you expect from a comedic, steam-punk, werewolf, vampire, other, story obsessed with tea? That's what makes it fabulous! This is not for the great thinkers or thrill seekers. This is a cute, intelligently written, fun, paranormal adventure with a little romance thrown in. If that's the kind of story you like, hurry and get the Soulless series first so you know the background. If you can't get around the lack of continuity of the narrators, I urge you to get the books on Kindle or paper versions. It's worth it.

BAD NARRATOR! Go to time out!

Narrator for this book different than the one who did ALL of the rest of the audio books and pronounces things differently and has incorrect inflections.

BIFFY IS NOT A SPANIARD, AND DOES NOT HAVE AN OILY ACCENT. He is and always was & will be a foppish, British, Dandy.
She pronounces things like "Dewan" differently.
She calls it "bur" (rhyming with purr), instead of the initials B. U. R.

I wish she would have done some research in to the authors' and prior narrator's previous works, so there would be SOME consistency between the authors works. I get she wants to make it her own, but it's not. It may be a new book in a new series, but there still is a level of continuity that is expected by readers, and needs to be respected by the narrator.

strangely boring

What was most disappointing about Gail Carriger’s story?

Completely enjoyed the Finishing School series and the Parasol Protectorate series for light entertainment. Prudence was a favorite character so I thought this would be great. Inventive in spots but the whole thing just didn't work -- had to struggle to get through. Picked up in interest about 3/4 of the way through the book.

What about Moira Quirk’s performance did you like?

great individual voices, lovely to listen to

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

inventive bits

New Narrator??!

I was so looking forward to this book and the new narrator ruined it for me. I can't understand why one would change narrators in a follow-up series with nearly all of the same characters as the previous one. The narrator for the previous series was outstanding, and it is beyond distracting and disappointing to try to listen to old beloved characters who suddenly have completely different accents and name pronunciations. I wasn't able to finish it. I suppose if you have not listened to The Parasol Protectorate series, this will not be an issue. If you have, this will be a difficult, if not impossible listen.

Going to take awhile to get used to narrator

It's going to take awhile, if ever to get used to narrator. Whilst Ms Quirk did an excellent job with the Finishing School series, this series I feel would have been better served using Ms Gray from the original series, as this is basically continuing on from Parasol where Finishing School was a an earlier side step with some of the original character in earlier lives and in most cases smaller roles

It's just that characters we know and love have a different vioce interpretation . . . it's not bad narration just not what we are used to

Great start to a new series.

Any additional comments?

This is a new steampunk series from Gail Carriger. This series starts essentially 20 years after the Parasol Protectorate series ends and follows the adventures of Alexia's/Conall's/Lord Akeldama's, Ivy's/Tunstall's, and Madame Lefoux's offspring. This opening installment takes place largely in India. While you do not need to read the Parasol Protectorate series to enjoy this book, you will enjoy this book more if you have read that series first. If you aren't familiar with her work, I pity your bland life. Pick up one of her books to enrich your world. Carriger hasn't let a listener down yet!