Soulless: The Complete Omnibus Edition Review
Alexia Tarabotti is unique in her upper class world: she’s a spinster, she’s a preternatural or ‘soulless’ – someone who can turn supernatural beings ‘human’ by a mere touch – and she’s just been attacked by a vampire, at a ball no less! Ordered by Queen Victoria, an investigation is launched into new werewolves and vampires are being made and are dying in mysterious circumstances. Alexia is stuck between the world of vampires and werewolves or, more accurately, stuck between her budding romance with Lord Conall Maccon, an alpha werewolf investigating these incidents, and the number of beings trying to kill her.
This very thick omnibus volume is based upon the first three volumes of the Parasol Protectorate series, a steampunk/romance/supernatural sequence of novels by American author Gail Carriger, set in an alternative version of Victorian England. A quick disclaimer: I have never read the novels, I merely saw this omnibus on the Yen Press website and felt intrigued by its premise. So this review will be looking at the manga as a standalone product and whether it’s a good read as it is, rather than exploring how it is as an adaptation. The manga was originally released way back in 2012, so this nice omnibus brings the series to print for the first time in a while. If you’re wondering why the series stops after Book 3 out of 5, there is an explanation on Gail Carriger’s website, but considering there are manga adaptations of light novels that stop prematurely, and many anime adaptations that barely scratch the surface of manga they’re based on, this isn’t unusual. Besides, the original novels are still in print, if you wish to continue the story, and Gail Carriger does provide other manga recommendations to check out after Soulless (spoiler alert: she has taste!).
The story is set in Victorian England, with a steampunk/supernatural twist, plus some crime solving, with comedy and romance thrown in for good measure. It’s a quirky book and as someone who enjoys unique mashups of genres, whilst also being a big fan of supernatural stories overall, I found the story entertaining throughout. The plot feels very fast-paced and engaging as we fly through three novels’ worth of material, but we do get a nice balance of quieter character moments, political intrigue with how this version of London works with all the supernaturals walking around, plus the romance building too. My personal favourite was the first volume, as it felt the most complete and also evenly paced, with my least favourite being the third volume, as the excessive amount of side characters and some holes in the world building started to make parts of the story drag for me.
The protagonist, Alexia, is fun to follow throughout however; she’s sharp-tongued, visually striking and her ‘soulless’ ability is both unique and not overly complicated. Her style, poise and not taking any nonsense from anyone gives a nice contrast to the darker elements of the story, plus the displaying the typical British stiff upper-lip style you’d expect from the Victorian era. What I liked most about her power is that it’s simple on the surface, but it’s clear that Gail Carriger has thought long and hard about how that power can be used in day-to-day situations. For example: you’d think having Alexia simply touch a vampire or werewolf to make them human would make her overpowered, but when she’s thrown into a locked cell with a hungry werewolf, the fact that she has to cling to such a fierce beast takes a lot of guts, which Alexia has plenty of. I also enjoy the non-mystery solving or combat sides of her power, such as her giving a vampire the chance to see the sunset by making them human enough to enjoy it without getting burnt. It was a really simple but wonderful use of her power, humanising both her and the vampire she’s friends with, whilst also showing her compassion for the supernatural kind overall.
As for the romance, to borrow a TVTropes term, it’s very ‘slap-slap-kiss’ as in lots of arguing in between smooches. Think Spike and Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sam and Diane from Cheers, etc. The male love interest is a werewolf; they use alpha/beta/omega dynamics in their lore (not omegaverse style, if you were wondering) and even have some unique lore compared to other werewolf fiction I’ve read. Instead of werewolves breeding and having a large family/pack dynamic, they’re ‘made’ in the same way that vampires are: kill the victim with a werewolf bite and they transform afterward but are considered ‘undead’. This romance didn’t do much for me personally, but I can see others enjoying it more who enjoy such dynamics, and I did like the mixed werewolf/vampire lore that leads to a twist at the end of Book 2 (obviously I won’t spoil).
REM, who is an American artist that got their break with Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga competition, provides a beautiful and consistent manga-style art. The time period is brought to life with the luscious and detailed images and I really appreciate the effort put into giving Alexia all the different outfits and the parasol designs. I would have liked if maybe the werewolves and vampires had slightly different fang styles, to help differentiate between them when they’re in ‘human’ form. There’s a few glossy colour pages, at the front and spread out across the book, that were lovely as well.
Soulless is a fun manga omnibus that is full of action, romance, thrills and humour; a satisfying read from start to end. This version of the story gives enough closure to wrap up the plot in an emotionally satisfying way, but also leaving room to continue if the reader wants to jump into the original novels. If you’ve already read all of Black Butler and are looking for a new Victorian-style supernatural story, or are a fan of werewolf romances overall, give this a try.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press.
