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Book Review of Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, Bk 1)

Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, Bk 1)
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I liked the author's take on the idea that persons with an abundance of "soul" can be turned into vampires and other supernatural creatures. Those who do not have enough soul would not survive the attempt to change. This naturally tends to limit the number of vampires in existence, especially no one knows beforehand whether or not an individual will survive the change. Given the existence of persons with an abundance of "soul", this automatically opens the door for the possibility of the opposite spectrum - the existence of persons with virtually no soul. This is the premise of the book with the main character being a "Soulless". Persons who are soulless automatically cancel out the supernatural nature of any being (vampire / werewolf) with whom they are in physical contact. This means that a soulless will turn a vampire or werewolf fully human as long as they are in physical contact. ... This leads to some fairly interesting interactions.

As for the plot, it was interesting enough to keep me reading. This book is set in a Victorian England where England, unlike most of the world, has accepted vampires and werewolves as a part of society and accorded them basic citizens rights. Werewolves are locked up on the full moon for the safety of the public. There is a romantic interest between our protagonist Alexia and the local alpha werewolf. My problem was that overall the romance was kind of silly. I prefer people who at least have an idea of their own mind and whether or not they actually like someone. This was intended to be a tongue in cheek supernatural romantic comedy and succeeds to a large extent. It's just not quite my cup of tea. However, if you like plucky parasol wielding Victorian ladies who defy the norms of society and invariably get into and out of all kinds of trouble between tea time and breakfast... It may be for you.