Gail Carriger’s Soulless

I am a self-professed book snob. I am drawn to the most literary of titles. I shy away from the thrift paperback editions in favor of critical editions. I research which translation is considered to be the best before I purchase a book. And, admittedly, I had never bought a book from the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of a bookstore until now. Why the change of heart? A little YouTube video that shows a six-hour-long book design process condensed into two minutes. It is incredible! And you can see it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoDCiTsS7dU.

Having had to use the InDesign program before, I was floored by the masterful way this design was created. Though the design program in the YouTube video is not InDesign, I imagine the same principles apply, and it would have taken me six hours to do the text boxes alone. The video shows the cover of Blameless, and having been so entranced by the cover, I set out to purchase and read the book. Before long I discovered that Blameless is the third book in Ms. Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series and its release date appears to be September 2010. This meant I had time to acquire and read the first two books in the series. Though Changeless was in stock everywhere, Soulless was not. The stubborn in-person book buyer in me refused to give up and order it online, and after scouring Phoenix bookstores I triumphed.

Perhaps it is my delight with etiquette, my love of Victorian literature, the allure of anything British, or just the sheer originality of a spinster supernatural dealing with vampires and werewolves while exhibiting the best of manners, but I truly enjoyed this book. The cleverness far outweighed the tongue-in-cheek cheesiness, and I am quite excited to read Changeless in the coming weeks.

You can find out more about Ms. Carriger, her series, and all her proper ways by following her on Twitter at @gailcarriger or by perusing her website at www.gailcarriger.com.

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Carriger, Gail. Soulless. New York: Orbit, 2009.