Changeless is the sequel to Soulless (which I wrote about here), and it starts out much better than that book did. The dialogue’s much smoother (fewer clunky surrounding phrases like “she stated”) and I grinned right away at the opening scene. Alexia, our sleeping heroine, wakes up to the sound of her husband shouting, and immediately goes on the defensive:
“Well, I certainly did not tell them to go,” denied Alexia into her pillow. She wondered who “they” were. Then she came about to the realization, taking a fluffy-cottony pathway to get there, that he wasn’t yelling at her but at someone else. In their bedroom.
Oh dear. (2)
As with the last book, the action hinges on mysterious goings-on: the army is shifting its troops in huge numbers, ghosts disappear in a “mass exorcism,” and werewolves and vampires find themselves temporarily “infected by … normality,” as Alexia puts it (44). Clearly, this is a matter for investigation by the Bureau of Unnatural Registry and also by Alexia herself, thanks to her post on the Queen’s Shadow Council. When Alexia’s husband heads off to Scotland without telling her, and when she learns that the plague of “changelessness” also seems to be moving north, Alexia decides it’s the perfect time for a Scottish vacation. Because it wouldn’t do for a lady to travel alone, she ends up bringing quite a retinue with her: her maid, her husband’s valet, her best friend Ivy (who’s really ditzy and really fond of remarkably ugly hats), and her half-sister Felicity, who’s been foisted off for a visit with Alexia by their mother.
There isn’t as much sexiness in this book as in the first one (which may be a plus or a minus, depending on your views of such things), but there are some great moments of flirtation featuring one Madame Lefoux, a hat-shop owner (and then some) who is also headed to Scotland (and who likes the ladies and wears men’s clothing). I found some of the plot twists overly obvious—the characters seem remarkably slow to catch on to certain things—but mostly this book was good fun, and better-written than the first book in the series.
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