Review : Soulless, the Manga, volume 1
Soulless, the Manga by Gail Carriger (author) and Rem (illustrator)
Pages : 224
Genre : Manga, Steampunk, Romance
Series : The Parasol Protectorate, Manga – Volume 1
My Rating : 4,5/5
From the back of the book :
Now caught up in an intrigue with life or death stakes, Alexia must rely on all her talents to outmatch the forces conspiring against her, but it may be the man who has caught her eye – Lord Conall Maccon – and their budding flirtation that truly drives her to her wit’s end!
My Thoughts :
Oh. My. Gosh. I can’t remember the last time I had such a “squee!” reaction to something I read. That is seriously almost embarrassing!
It’s funny when I think of it, because my reaction to the first book of the series (which is the exact story told by the first manga) had been a little “blah”. Not bad, just a bit disappointed. I understand now that it came mainly from a mix of too high expectations and a misunderstanding of what the book was about. But I didn’t have such expectations for the manga; mostly, I wanted to refresh my memory of the first novel so that I could go on and read the next books. I was able to immersed myself completely into it – and oh my did I love it!
It’s simple, really; Soulless was a fun and completely charming manga. It had nice action scenes, funny dialogue and very sexy moments between Alexia and Lord Maccon. My brain being what it is, I needed to refresh my memory of the book before I could read the manga to refresh my memory of the story (if that makes sense!), so I had reread a few excerpts. I can therefore confirm with complete authority (!!!) that a lot of the text is exactly as it was in the book. Good thing, too, because Alexia has some golden quips and it would have been really sad for her to so suddenly lose her wits.
I loved how detailed the illustrations were. There are a few panels with complete background of the streets that are just so striking! And I really loved the first few color pages; they were simply gorgeous! I understand that a complete color graphic novel would up the price a lot, but it did made me wish I could see Alexia and Maccon in colors from beginning to end.
If the second manga had been on my shelf, I think I would have read it right away – even though I’d really prefer to read the book it was inspired by first. The second manga came out this week, which is absolutely exciting – but it also means I have some catching up to do with my reading!
Learn more about the Soulless series by reading my review of the first book here!
I have read the books and enjoyed them and I also want to give the manga version a try. Normally I’m not the biggest fan of mangas, but I still want to get this one.
I love this series, and that is so cool that the manga made you like the book more. Your review really makes me want to pick this one up! The illustrations are gorgeous.
OMG the art is so stellar!