Timeless by Gail Carriger

Subtitle--A Post In Which We Bid Adieu to Lady Maccon


Somebody pass me the Kleenex.  (Well, Puffs, preferably.)

Tootsie Roll Steampunk Cupcakes

A good and lovely series has come to a close.  Normally, I try to avoid reviewing books from a series that I've already covered, but this is the end of a series.  A series I adore.  A series I'm going to miss greatly.

And THAT deserves it's own post.

Some of you may have read on Facebook about the general gnashing of teeth that Timeless' release caused me.  It came out at the beginning of Lent, JUST when I had started my annual self-ban on buying new books.  Only this year, I had pre-ordered Timeless like any good fangirl would and hadn't realized where its release fell on the Lenten calendar.  That meant a book of some of my favorite characters, arguably* the LAST book centered around some of my favorite characters, was sitting on my nook for 40 days whilst I ignored it.

Yes, I clearly hate myself.

*Gail Carriger is starting two new series.  One of them features Prudence, Lady Maccon's daughter.  Surely my favorite characters will have, at least, peripheral roles in this new series, The Parasol Protectorate Abroad.  One can hope.  Can't one?

Even after Easter had come and gone and my Lenten self-ban ended, I didn't dive right into Timeless.  In part because allergies set in, but in part I was delaying the inevitable.  The series is ending, and I don't want it to.  I didn't want to get to the part where there were no more Alexia (Lady Maccon) adventures to look forward to.  Eventually, though, I caved and devoured the tale that had been taunting me throughout Lent.

Timeless is the fifth book of the Parasol Protectorate series.  I found it to be one of the strongest, in part because Lady and Lord Maccon do work together, to a degree, in this book.  (For a better description of the background of the series, check out my July review of the fourth book, Heartless.)  Also, there is some strong character development of some of the supporting characters, like Prudence and Biffy--the vampire attendant turned werewolf--that was quite delicious.  Biffy's romantic interests aren't for the traditional at heart, but I challenge anyone to find fault with his basic character.  In fact, Biffy discovers a great deal of his own potential in Timeless, and it was a delight to read.

The plot of Timeless sends Lord and Lady Maccon to Egypt to visit the oldest vampire queen and to investigate the God-Breaker Curse they first discovered in Changeless, the second book of the series.  Much danger greets the Maccons including a babynapping, hostile vampires, a tussle at a bazaar, and nomadic air travel by balloon.  The Maccons face most of this danger in the company of their two-year-old daughter, Prudence, Madame Lefoux, and the acting troupe to which Alexia acts as a patroness.  That leaves Professor Lyall, the pack Beta, and Biffy, the newest initiate to the Parasol Protectorate, to manage things on the London homefront.  Lyall and Biffy have their own troubles with an irate Scottish alpha and dead Scottish Beta and a trusted butler trying to uphold two long-held promises.

I can't mention too much more without a spoiler alert, so I'll simply say this; Timeless is full of action.  The immediate mystery must be resolved, and steps are put into place that will allow for a (possibly) peaceful retirement for the Maccons.  If a series must end, author Gail Carriger allowed it to end with grace and a neat segue into Prudence's own stories.  So go read your own copy of Timeless, and I'll pass you the Puffs as you say your own adieus.