Prudence is the first installment in a new steampunk series by Gail Carriger.
Many of you will read no further than that sentence. As fans of the lovely and amazing Gail, you are already racing out the door en route to your local bookshop, should you be lucky enough to still have one, or fleeing this page for the pleasures of Amazon or Kobo or whatever you use for your digital book needs. Godspeed, dear fellow fans, Godspeed.
Gail Carriger made her mark with the delightful Parasol Protectorate series. This was followed by a prequel series, The Finishing School Series. Prudence is the first in the new Custard Protocol series, which takes place many years after the conclusion of the Parasol Protectorate. It involves the daughters of Parasol Protectorate heroines Alexia and Ivy. Now in their teens, Prudence and Primrose are best friends. Prudence’s vampire adoptive father sends the girls to collect some tea for him from India. This errand involves a flirtatious male friend (Quensel, who Parasol fans will be pleased to see remains incorrigible), a dirigible painted to resemble a ladybug and christened “The Spotted Custard”, a were-lioness and were-monkeys, many dresses and one strategic scarf, and international intrigue.
Carriger sets her books in a version of Victorian England in which vampires and werewolves not only exist, but are accepted (with some tension) as part of society. Prudence’s mother, Alexia, can turn an immortal human simply by touching them. Prudence has two fathers, one biological and one adoptive – she is very close to both of them (long story). One father is a werewolf and one is a vampire. Prudence has the ability not only to turn a supernatural creature human with a touch, but also to temporarily take on their powers. The world in these books is purely delightful, full of gorgeous dresses, atrocious hats, weaponized parasols, politics both supernatural and otherwise, and steampunky gadgets. There’s also a considerable amount of romance. The books are lavish, funny, clever, and wildly addictive.
The best and worst thing I could say about this series is that it’s very much like Carriger’s other series (The Parasol Protectorate and spin-off The Finishing School Series). It’s the worst thing in that there’s not a lot new in here except that it seems to be a series that gets us out of alternate universe England and into the rest of Empire. It’s the best thing because honestly Carriger’s world and style are just pure yummy candy. If you give me a five pound bag of M&M’s, it’s not like I’m going to get to the bottom and say, “Gosh darn it, this is still M&M’s!”
As a minor quibble, I’d love to have some sort of chart of character. With three inter-related series that have both new and old characters in each book, I’m constantly saying to myself, “Wait, that name sounds familiar – what was the deal with the person?” We need a Gail Carriger Wiki.
The characters in this book are delightful. Prudence and Primrose are a fantastic team. I love watching these two together – they are very different in personality but utterly supportive of each other. The romance between Quensel and Prudence is full of chemistry and I look forward to seeing it develop (since this is a series, we get more of a “moving forward toward the inevitable HEA” than an actual HEA). The prose continues to sparkle. I’m helpless in the face of paragraphs like these, which are pure candy crack with a zinger at the end:
This particular ball did not need her help. Their hosts had installed a marvelous floating chandelier that looked like hundreds of tiny well-lit dirigibles wafting around the room. The attendees were charmed, mostly by the expense. In addition, the punch flowed freely out of a multi-dispensing ambulatory fountain, a string quartet tinkled robustly in one corner, and the conversation frothed with wit. Prue floated through it all on a puffy cloud of ulterior motives.
My one major hesitation about this book is that it involves Prudence going to India and solving a huge political problem there, and I think that this entire plot line is handled in a way that drastically marginalizes the citizens of this universe’s version of India. I love it when steampunk stories venture out of England and America, but I think authors need to be extremely careful about how they tread, even if they are using an alternate universe, given the brutal history of the British Empire in this universe. I was uncomfortable with the concept that Indian vampires evolved in a way that is portrayed as distasteful and that Indian were-creatures have evolved as were-monkeys, particularly since neither group is has a developed character or much chance to speak. They are silent while the white people from Britain sort out all the problems (white people from Britain are also responsible for making the messes – but still). To have an entire book set in India that deals with tensions between the local supernaturals, and to fail to have a single significant local character, is a huge and frankly insulting oversight. There is a mysterious character that plays a major role whose origins are unknown, but this book desperately needs to give characters that openly and obviously identify as being Indian as voice. This is why, despite prose like “a puffy cloud of ulterior motives”, I’m only giving the book a B-, and even the B is a bit of a grace note because this is the first book in the series and it may be setting Prudence up to be less naive in her views.
I think that this book stands just fine on it’s own, but I still recommend starting with the very first Carriger book, Soulless. It’s not Carriger’s best book but it gives world and character building that pays off through all three series. Regarding Prudence, it was deeply flawed, but I’m eager to see how this new series develops. Prudence is very young and her view of British Empire is shaken up a smidge in this book. Will the portrayal of other cultures become more nuanced as Prudence gains more wisdom and maturity? My fingers are crossed, because I am not interested in seeing a bunch of white people save the day over and over again but I AM interested in character development, and Carriger has shown in other series that she can work magic with her characters.
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I pre-ordered a signed copy, so it should ship by day’s end. Even with the low grade, I’m still really excited for Prudence. I’m really happy to hear that Prudence is still young enough that Alexia and Conall are still around. I had the fear that they would have gone to Egypt to begin their decline in Prudence, and I love them too much to let go.
I can’t wait to read more of Carriger’s wit and manners.
You mentioned horrendous hats. I take it Queen Ivy is still in top form sartorially then?
The bit about white people solving all the problems reminds me of an issue I had with a recent graphic novel, where a sweet but clueless white girl basically single-handedly solves all the problems in an overseas Chinese sweatshop where the employees are worked to exhaustion and near death by basically telling them how unions work. It’s like, I get what you’re going for, but it’s a gross oversimplification of complex issues that makes the other people look like idiots.
I did enjoy the only Carriger book I read, which was the first Parasol Protectorate, though it was a little twee for my taste to keep with. I did like the way she introduced just enough tweaks into established supernatural tropes like vampires to keep them fresh and interesting without making them unrecogniseable. She’s definitely got a flair for the creative.
Ask and ye shall receive, so long as ye ask for a Gail Carriger Wiki (which I haven’t explored other than to remember who Quesnel is so I cannot vouch for quality):
http://gailcarriger.wikia.com/wiki/The_Parasol_Protectorate_Wiki
I’m probably a discordant voice here given how popular Carriger is, but I stopped midway through Parasol Protectorate. I just couldn’t stand the hero anymore (definitely alphole territory, as far as I’m concerned), and the part where ********MILD SPOILERS******** he chases his wife away because of misplaced jealousy and then she takes him back without a second thought *********END********was too much for me. I know it’s a fantasy, it just pushed all the wrong buttons.
Also, after a while, I thought the gags were starting to wear a bit thin. The heroin enjoys good food and is a bit on the chubby side? Her best friend has poor taste in hats? It’s embarrassing when her lesbian friend tries to chat her up? Great, I understood the first 48 times. It was still fun, but it didn’t grip me. I’m not certain I’ll give a chance to Prudence if it has some extra colonialism/orientalism tossed into the mix.
It’s so disappointing when you find yourself not liking books you’ve heard so many other people raving about 🙁
So disappointing to hear about how poorly and offensively the book handled India. I enjoyed the Parasol Protectorate series (despite the awfulness of Maccon–I agree with Cecilia about him being a total alphole) because of the clever prose, interesting worldbuilding, nd because the women were awesome, but the final book, the one where they go to Egypt, was my departure gate–not just because it wrapped up the series but also because I didn’t think there was cultural respect there, and even if that’s appropriate for white Brits in the time of empire~, it didn’t need to be in a book written now and set in an alternate universe. So I never picked up the prequel series.
But this sounds SO MUCH WORSE than that oh gosh were-monkeys wtf how does choosing to world-build so that brown people turn into were-monkeys seem like a good idea omg.
The outrage over the were-monkeys is a bit misplaced; they’re Vanaras, actual mythological semimonkey/semihumans from India. Same with the Rakshasas, which are (again) the closest creatures to western vampires that exist in Indian folklore.
I am very excited to read this book, for sure, but I abhor the cover. Boy George does Victorian lady? Really?
I find M&Ms to be inferior, waxy chocolate coated with a tasteless, brittle shell. Carriiger is very like this candy. I prefer Dove chocolates, perhaps Godivas. I read the first Parasol book, and had no interest in reading further. Carriger’s sensibility and sense of humor quickly lost their novelty.
@Leah, You might try In Real Life, where the clueless white girl actually messes things up and its the workers who spread their own message (with her help, as a show of solidarity after her well-intentioned blundering) and help themselves. If anything, Jen Wang’s art is a real treat.
@CK, Thanks, but that’s actually specifically the book I was talking about. 😉 I agree that they eventually get motivated, but it’s only after she shows up again and motivates them, and it all seemed like a pretty huge oversimplification. “Here’s a bunch of Wikipedia articles on how to unionize! Problems are all solved!” I think the book needed to be longer than it was to avoid feeling quite so… neatly bundled to what was actually a much more complex issue, and thus still came off as her fixing everything with a stern talking to. Good message and intent, just too rushed for me to get into.
I also read the first Carriger book and liked it *OK* but didn’t buy any of the other series. I might be interested in this one from the review but when I checked Amazon it was $9.19!! uh…sorry, no can do for that price.
Aww, I was going to check this out, but the “white gentile lady swans in and solves other culture’s problems” ruined the second and third Kushiel books for me, and I can only imagine I’d relive my annoyance here. I’m still looking forward to completing the Finishing School books, at least.
I really can’t decide whether I want to read this or not. Carriger’s style is just gorgeous, she has a real talent for turning a beautiful phrase. On the other hand, the last book in the Parasol Protectorate made me so angry, I’m not sure I want to put myself through that again. I felt there was an awful lot of loose ends and nothing was really resolved to my satisfaction. I sort of hoped that the Custard Protocol might wrap things up for me, but with it being years ahead, I’m not convinced it will. I think this is going to be a “get in the sales” book.
We definitely need a character map. I kept trying to shoehorn people in and getting them mixed across series. I must concur with Sarah though, Rakshasas and Vanaras are “real” mythological characters. Though I’ll also agree with the OP that at least one of the local characters needed a voice. Did we even get the name of the alpha Vanaras?
“…..My one major hesitation about this book is that it involves Prudence going to India and solving a huge political problem there, and I think that this entire plot line is handled in a way that drastically marginalizes the citizens of this universe’s version of India. I love it when steampunk stories venture out of England and America, but I think authors need to be extremely careful about how they tread, even if they are using an alternate universe, given the brutal history of the British Empire in this universe. I was uncomfortable with the concept that Indian vampires evolved in a way that is portrayed as distasteful and that Indian were-creatures have evolved as were-monkeys, particularly since neither group is has a developed character or much chance to speak. They are silent while the white people from Britain sort out all the problems (white people from Britain are also responsible for making the messes – but still). To have an entire book set in India that deals with tensions between the local supernaturals, and to fail to have a single significant local character, is a huge and frankly insulting oversight. There is a mysterious character that plays a major role whose origins are unknown, but this book desperately needs to give characters that openly and obviously identify as being Indian as voice….”
Thank you, thank you, thank you for noticing this! I have long felt the same way about many novels and it feels great to know that I am not the only one. A parallel discomfort I have is when characters go to a new land, and then fail to ask very basic questions about what is going on in that place. This killed one of Sherry Thomas’ novels for me, who is otherwise such an outstanding and marvellous author. Her characters were in India and caught in the midst of what developed into a revolution type uprising. It was very suspenseful, but neither hero nor heroine seemed to spend any time thinking “, Hey, I wonder why they’re all so ticked off? Are their grievances justified?” So the Indian characters in that part of the story just seemed to be menacing, antagonistic type background filler. Why is it that when stories of Scottish or American uprisings are told, the Scots are heroic/protagonistic, yet when people of other cultures try to shake of colonial oppression, it’s not the same?
I got into the Parasol Protectorate because of the graphic novel (comic) adaptation by rem, which I love, and I read and enjoyed the first novel well enough, but I stopped after the comic ended with no regrets. The end of the second volume made me angry, and it stopped really feeling like a romance in the third, though I liked it quite a bit.
I guess I’d approach it more as an adventure story than romance. The supporting cast is pretty great.
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