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| SFBC 3-in-1 Omnibus |
Okay,
let's get this out of the way right off the bat: I have major
theological/philosophical problems with the very idea underlying this
series, specifically the rationale that supernatural creatures such
as vampires, werewolves, and ghosts (as of the end of this first
book, all that have been introduced – well, if you ignore the robot
zombie that also appears!) result from a surfeit of “soul” in
certain individuals who are balanced off by others who have a deficit
of “soul,” the most extreme example being the “preternatural”
heroine of these tales, Miss Alexia Tarabotti. I cannot truly
conceive of a “soulless person.” It is, however, fairly easy to
get past that dodgy foundational concept as a stumbling block –
which I'm sure others wouldn't share anyway – by considering the
quasi-scientific theory postulated to be about as accurate as others
of the time-frame which provides the setting, the late 19th-century,
e.g. that of a luminiferous aether that supposedly provided the
medium through which light propagated [link]
– which is to say, not so. I'm sure that by a century and more
after Miss Tarabotti in that literary alternate universe of “The
Parasol Protectorate” the anima theory of nature (my term)
will have given way to something radically different as the "luminiferous aether" has fallen before quantum mechanics and general
relativity. Indeed, the hubris of a scientific theory perversely
co-opting a theological concept seems to me to fit well the zeitgeist
of the age, especially in an imagined mash-up of steampunk and urban
fantasy. The result is an indescribably clever and hilariously
written send-up of Victorian England that is best described by the
author herself in the introduction, “In Which Gail Discusses
Building the World of the Parasol Protectorate”:
