Yzabel

Overall, I liked it and it was a quick read, yet I'm having mixed feelings all the same. It contained its lot of funny moments, in part due to the discrepancy between the actual situation and some trivial detail, such as the treacle tart. The language and writing style I found delightful in many ways, because I like such mannerisms, all that simply, and I'm all for bantering tones in Victorian-like societies. And some characters were pretty likable (Lord Akeldama, Lyall and Floote were definitely my favourite). But not so much the main character, nor how all the other females were presented as being stupid (it seemed to me like Alexia's only reason to hang with Ivy was to make herself feel better, to be with someone of even lesser standing?). The changes in points of view were often too abrupt and jarring, from one paragraph to other (a.k.a something that most writing advice I've read over the years tell you not to do). And there were urgent and dangerous situations in which I wished the characters would have actually got to the point quickly, because so much was at stake, yet they didn't appear to deem it important enough.

I also didn't understand the whole "soulless" impact; it didn't seem like it was such a biggie in all its potential philosophical implications, while I'd have thought it'd be more important. This was a little confusing (as in, being soulless makes her Alexia prone to understanding the finer aspects of fashion... but it's not a problem at all regarding emotions and such? Hmmm...)

As a side note, whoever designed the title's style for this cover deserves to be shot. It doesn't work at all with the photo, nor with the book's themes. Call me shallow, but this actually prevented me from paying a glance to the book at first!