Splendor

Read the review of The Luxe, the first installment in this serie, here.

A spring turns into summer, Elizabeth relishes her new role as a young wife, while her sister, Diana, searches for adventure abroad. But when a surprising clue about their father's death comes to light, the Holland girls wonder at what cost a life of splendor comes.

Carolina Broad, society's newest darling, fans a flame from her past, oblivious to how it might burn her future. Penelope Schoonmaker is finally Manhattan royalty—but when a real prince visits the city, she covets a title that comes with a crown. Her husband, Henry, bravely went to war, only to discover that his father's rule extends well beyond New York's shores and that fighting for love may prove a losing battle.

In the dramatic conclusion to the bestselling Luxe series, New York's most dazzling socialites chase dreams, cling to promises, and tempt fate. As society watches what will become of the city's oldest families and newest fortunes, one question remains: Will its stars fade away or will they shine ever brighter?

It was a great serie. This book started out to be the best of the entire serie, but the horrendous ending is just horrendous.

If you've read the previous books, and read my review of Luxe, you'll understand I don't need to go on blabbering about the characters and all the bases of the books. Splendor was the ending of all the drama between the characters, and it was honestly very good. It pulled me in instantly. It was an easy ready, elegantly written, fluid, with entertaining characters. If you've liked the Luxe, and read further on, we understand each other.

Yet, I was so disappointed by the endings that each character meet! Elizabeth and Teddy are perhaps the only ones who actually finish well!

If you do not want spoilers, avert your eyes from the following.

I simply don't understand why Diana and Henry had to finish apart. I feel like ALL they've been through, the love they fought for during all this time was for nothing! I understand the morals behind the actions; the passage from boy to man and the take-on of responsibilities, the notion that love shouldn't be all and that living your life independently and taking care of yourself is important too, but it just seemed ridiculous in Diana's and Henry's situation. It isn't the kind of reasoning that I can accept. It's just a shift of luck, that suddenly Henry has to take care of his family's business and can't go to Paris with Diana. As if the author had said, "Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?" And then, for him, to have to end up with Penelope for the rest of his life. Come on... Talk about torture.

Well, we agree, I'm sure, that Penelope deserved what she got. Over-confidence blinded her, and that IS just too bad for her. I was really sad for Carolina, though. I mean, of course she did bad things and lied a lot, but who else in her situation could have done differently? What other girl holding a not so prestigious past that suddenly has the chance to live among the wealthy people and also be treated like one of them would have gone out and spilled all her ungraceful secrets to the first person? It's perfectly understandable, and to take away her love for natural fear and shame? I didn't like it, especially when she had the chance to atone for all her mistakes.

Elizabeth and Teddy ended well, and the Snowden drama took me really by surprise. I really hadn't expected it, and so it was a good twist. I never really liked Elizabeth that much, but I'm glad she ended well after all the tragedies she went through. I would have liked Diana to end well too, though.

You can go on reading now~

Well, it was a good serie. Didn't end too well, but I learned a lot about New York in the end of the 19th century, and I liked all the little pieces of anecdotes from journals and gazettes at the beginning of each chapter.

-Beryl

Splendor by Anna Godbersen

Rating: 9,5/10

Soulless

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

I was drawn to this book because it was marked as a steampunk zombie book. Though I found no zombies in the traditional definition of them, it was indeed a steampunk book, and a good one at that. Sadly, sometimes it felt like the author hadn’t researched the Victorian era enough, and there were some things that happened that made me unsure that it could’ve happened in the actual Victorian era.

Even though the vampires and werewolves made me wary at first because of all the terrible vampire books I’ve been reading lately, this is actually a vey nice and refreshing way of viewing the supernatural. In order to turn someone into an immortal, the person must possess enough soul to survive the turn. Otherwise, death is what awaits the one who tried their hand at becoming one of the supernatural beings.

Alexia Tarabotti, on the other hand, is a preternatural, and therefore doesn’t possess any soul. This doesn’t make her a mindless, idiotic being, but rather some sort of... Actually, I’m not quite sure what this does, other than that her presence cancels out the powers of the supernatural. She is a Victorian spinster and a very lovable character. Maccon is quite the typical Alpha werewolf, gruff, huge and strong, but still unique in his own way. Two other characters I absolutely loved were Lyall, Maccon’s Beta and a respectable professor, and Lord Akedelma. The latter is a “shiny” vampire, but only in the sense that he has a very bright and gay personality. The sun does kill him. He is a rove, a vampire in no coven, yet knows all the secrets and loves to gossip. What is it with the supernatural beings in books these days always being so glittery?

Alexia’s love story with Maccon is just about the most adorable thing I’ve ever read. It isn’t all lovey-dovey, and that’s what makes it so great. Her relationship with him grows over the course of the story, evolving from a cute bickering type of thing to an intense romantic relationship.

The story itself was sadly slightly eclipsed by Alexia and Maccon’s relationship. What I grasped of the plot was that Alexia was in grave danger because of her soulless state, but not much more. This was something of a disappointment, but at least the plot wasn’t nonexistent. Even though Alexia herself cannot participate in any battles (she is a Victorian lady, after all), the author managed to make the fighting scenes just as interesting as if she were fighting too.

Sadly, as the book went on, the story went from adventurous and mysterious to a romantic comedy. This switch wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t slowly but surely turned into an erotic fantasy. Not that I mind all that much, mind you, I was just disappointed because every part of the book seemed to be a scheme to get Maccon and Alexia into an overly sexual situation. That was not quite what I’d signed up for when I started this book, that’s for sure.

All in all, a cute and funny read, but if I’d known beforehand what to expect, I probably wouldn’t have been so eager to read it. I might review Changeless when it comes out, but it won’t be on top of my reading pile. I suggest it to those of you who like light stempunk romance and who don’t mind pretty explicit sex.

-Aithen

Soulless by Gail Carriger
Rating: 8,2/10

The Luxe

A big, sumptuous tale of catty girls, dark secrets and windswept romance unfurls in this compulsively readable novel of late-19th-century New York City socialites. Godbersen weaves a tenuous web of deceit, backstabbing and pretense that follows four teens: Elizabeth Holland, a prim and proper lady of old-money society, is betrothed to one man, though furtively loves another; Henry Schoonmaker, a debauched playboy who must marry Elizabeth or be disinherited; Diana Holland, Elizabeth’s younger sister who is in love with her fiancé; and Penelope Hayes, a member of the nouveau riche who will stop at nothing to win Henry’s affections. As Elizabeth and Henry’s wedding approaches, the spectacle unfolds in a wondrously grandiose scene, making for a fun, though not entirely unexpected dénouement.

Gossipgirl meets the 1800s.

After having read A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, I was set tight on getting my hands on another Victorian-flavored book. The cover of The Luxe itself is very hard to ignore, and so I picked it up.

With a large variety of point of views, this story could have been hard to follow. Anna Godbersen succeeded in spinning the story around everyone in a comfortable and interesting way, maintaining the balance through out the staggering spins and twists.

The character crew is very interesting, my favorite being Diana with her spunk attitude. Elizabeth is our common Victorian girl, keeping a goodey-goodey profile in public, pulling out the snappy attitude with her maid and relaxing and acting in a more honest way toward her beloved Will. It's a very good protrait of girls' behavior during these times and how they had to put on different expressions at appropriate times. Elizabeth, however, didn't hold my interest as much as her sister Diana who was less girly and more straightforward, standing out from the crowd of fancy girls. Penelope, the Queenbee, is simply the character 'you love to hate', and Henry the bad boy most girls would have liked to have. It was also good to have a maid as a protagonist who later ends up on the streets for it gave a nice approach to the less 'classy' side of New York, presenting the real 'trade' of the rich city.

Anna Godbersen's writing style is exquisite and detailed, bringing to life the Victorian's era colors and fashion. I enjoyed being able to imagine everything so well, and even if her details tend to be tenuous, they are not overloading.

The Luxe, however, is not an action book. There isn't as many thrill as I usually enjoy in books, and this is why for some this book might not be your cup of tea. The story, just like Gossipgirl, centers on circulating rumors that hinders people's lives or make the pleasure of others, harboring themes such as forced marriage, the austere reality of young girls during the end of the 1800s and impossible love. The storyline might seem dull to those who don't bite into stories featuring twirling girls, puffy dresses and dramatic romance.

Each chapter of this book is started with little clippings from various journals, newspapers or book that remind you of the society's rules. I found this very educative, for it helped me understand the Victorian era even better. It's also a reminder of the society's consciousness, expectations and constant gaze upon the classes and gossip.

The books starts a bit slowly, but once you are gripped to the characters, the storyline becomes confident and strong. It might not suit to everyone because of its girly and gossip-centered plot, but will surely please many teen readers.

-Beryl

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Rating: 8,2/10