Heartless, and other stuff

I finished Heartless last night, fourth in the Parasol Protectorate series. It maintains the same tone as the previous books - somewhat light-hearted Victorian-era urban fantasy. There's an assassination plot to solve amidst the supernatural workings of period London, where even enemies may take a moment to civilly discuss fashion. I think the story may over-estimate the protagonist's ability to get around at such an advanced stage of pregnancy (though difficulties are mentioned), but I can hardly argue from personal experience. ;)

In the end, though, I think the book is mostly about relationships. The past and present of some among characters come into light with various degrees of impact. By the end, most of the immediate crises are resolved, some secrets are revealed, a second person is "officially" inducted into the so-called Parasol Protectorate, some factions are a little shaken up, and we get a fair idea of what the mysterious child of a werewolf and a preternatural really can do. All good.

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Unrelated, this week has been a bit low for me. Oh, not bad really, but... rather meh on the entertainment front. A little roleplaying on line over the week, but not a lot of progress there. The current raid situation in WoW has me feeling what few goals I have there fall out of the "attainable in the foreseeable future" realm (and I really can't set my own personal sights on those elusive guild achievements, as it's just too much). I've been playing Oblivion again in some of my free time, but I find that the quests aren't holding my attention as well the third (or so) time through and having to level again to get to some of the elements I remember most fondly is a chore.

Ah well, what can you do? I'm setting a personal goal for the weekend of doing some house cleaning and trying a new recipe or two. We'll see how well I accomplish that.

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