Review: Timeless

by Gail Carriger

Orbit, out now

Alexia Tarabotti and her werewolf husband Lord Maccon are now living in London and sharing parental responsibilities for their metanatural “soulsucker” daughter with the vampire Lord Akeldama.

Gail Carriger’s steampunk paranormal romance concludes with the fifth book in the Parasol Protectorate series. Soulless heroine Alexia Tarabotti’s domesticity is quickly dispensed with when a werewolf Beta is murdered and in quick succession Alexia gets a summons to visit the vampire hive in Alexandria. Leaving Lyall and Biffy in charge of the murder investigations, Alexia and her family travel to Egypt—under the cover of best friend Ivy’s theatre troupe performing for the Vampire court—where she will learn about the God-Breaker Plague and her father’s role in everything.

Timeless is an exciting, funny and often farcical romp well up to the usual standard expected of Carriger’s prose. The only downside, I guess, is that it marks the end of the series—though as Carriger herself has stated, it is good to go out on a high. The revelations and the consequences of the mysteries and action in the preceding books do come pretty thick and fast, so this is not really a good read if you haven’t yet read the earlier books (please do, it is a worthwhile investment). The various plot threads are tied up pretty neatly by the end, but there are also some pretty amazing plot twists and unexpected changes by the end.

Verdict: This really is a fitting conclusion to the tale. 8/10

Brigid Cherry