Prudence (The Custard Protocol #1)

Summary:

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances - names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones? (Summary and book cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

This was a long anticipated book for me, but I found myself a bit disappointed.  Having loved the “Soulless” series, I was extremely curious to see what was next in the story.  Somehow, “Prudence” just didn’t come up to snuff.  The biggest complaint was that the flowery language seems to have run wild.  The style of language was expected, but this was a new level of ridiculous that was too much for me.  By the second half, I felt the language had been tamed, but perhaps I just got used to it.

The other main disappointment was that there was very little interaction with the original characters.  I know, I know – this is the story about Prudence, but I think a little more setup from Lord Akeldama would have provided a better background for the rest of the story.  With Prudence skipping her going-away party it seems we also skipped 1/3 of the plot.

All that being said, once Prudence arrived in India I found the story picked up quite a bit and thought the interactions quite funny.  I will likely be continuing the series for at least once more book, but will be very curious to see how it continues.

Rating: 3 stars!

Who should read it? Gail Carriger fans, but I’d start with the Soulless series first.

Want to read the whole series?

• Imprudence (The Custard Protocol #2)