Book Review: Romancing The Inventor by Gail Carriger

 *Spoilers*

I had high hopes for this book, about steampunk Victorian lesbians. However, all I can truly say about it is that it is...somewhat entertaining--not that it's as spectacular as I had thought it would be. There was a lot of potential there, but not much payoff for what it could be. It was worth the four dollars I paid for it as an ebook, but I wouldn't bother paying fourteen dollars for the paperback, and I won't bother buying any other books by the same author any time soon.

The thing that bothered me most about this book was that, despite its title, Romancing The Inventor, the main character, Imogene the parlourmaid, does not actually do much to woo the inventor, Genevieve. She also does not do anything to save herself from the (male and female) vampires who want to rape and eat her. Nearly everything is done for her. The werewolves even unexpectedly save her towards the end--because they were called by the inventor!
For a long while, she doesn't even contradict Genevieve (the inventor--her name is much too similar to Imogene's own name) when she assumes Imogene is straight.
 Imogene only once actually does something to woo Genevieve, literally stripping naked after Genevieve had saved her many times already. She is also satisfied with a one-night stand with the woman she's pining after, knowing that Genevieve could not love her. (Though I'm not sure how a lesbian in that world would know how to find other lesbians, so it almost makes sense for her to be satisfied with scraps of affection. But she does have an opportunity to go to London and work in a hat shop, so there is at least a possibility of the big city being more liberal and diverse. She does not take this opportunity, preferring to pine after Genevieve instead.)
The rest of the time, Imogene does nothing to flirt or seduce Genevieve. She does not wear low-cut dresses or lean over her work. She does not shake out her hair, or talk about "the sisterhood of women" and how wonderful it is. She does not even come out to her, for a while. All these things are cliche, but they are at least something.
Even the plan to woo Genevieve, towards the end of the story, is thought of by Genevieve's friend, Lady Maccon. Imogene simply goes along with the plan. And then, like magic, Genevieve changes her mind and decides that she can love again! And the catalyst for this is not shown; there is no one moment when she realizes what she is missing without Imogene.
Ultimately, this is not a story about an ambitious parlourmaid trying to find love and rise above her station, in spite of the obstacles in nineteenth-century Britain. This is about a parlourmaid who luckily makes friends in high places, through no effort of her own. It should have been about Genevieve, wrestling with her own demons. At least then, there would have been an internal conflict for the main character, and therefore more of a conflict for the story.

And at first, Genevieve woos Imogene, before pulling back emotionally from her. Imogene also has thoughts that indicate she is only just discovering her sexuality, even though she has known for a long time now that she likes women and not men. So the plot is confused about what it wants to be.

There was not much explanation about Lady Maccon, Genevieve's friend who married a werewolf. It was even brought up that she and her husband had a daughter, but that it was supposed to be impossible for werewolves and humans to interbreed. (At least, that is how I interpreted it, as it actually said, "Everyone knew that it was impossible for either werewolves or vampires to breed." How then do these beings come into existence in this world? Do humans become them by biting, or is there some other mechanism?) None of these questions are answered in this book.
There is even mention of the "risks" of trying to become an immortal vampire by being bitten by one. But there is no explanation of what these risks are. Characters act like being bitten by a vampire robs you of your soul or something, but I don't know what the side effects are, to being bitten but not killed. (And apparently, not becoming a vampire, either.) So as Imogene is about to be bitten by the vampire queen, I actually thought, "What's the big deal?" when it seemed that I was meant to be very anxious about that.
It was obvious that this book was meant to be merely a piece of the puzzle that is this story world. As soon as Lady Maccon and her werewolf husband were mentioned, I knew that that was just a tie-in to many other of Carriger's stories.
Genevieve even talks about her late partner, Angelique, dying and "going to ghost," which sounds like it may not necessarily be what I'm thinking of, depending on the mechanism for becoming a ghost in this world--which is not explained. There is also no appearance by the ghost of Angelique, if she indeed is a ghost. The author could have explored this in the story--in fact, it would have been interesting if Angelique had accused Genevieve of not truly loving her or their son, because she was thinking about moving on. Their son, Quesnel, is also mentioned--Genevieve even visits him--but he plays no part in the story at all. (All of these extra vampires and werewolves, and not one brief visit by Genevieve's ex or her son!)
So because it doesn't explain everything, or at least, the questions the story itself raises, this only does "okay" as a stand-alone story. It is not that great, standing on its own.

Something that is also unrealistic (admittedly, in a world of vampires and werewolves) is the fact that Imogene could not read, but was a genius at arithmetic. If she did not go to school because she comes from a poor country family, then how would she think to memorize sums? She would have to spend hours counting on her fingers, without any schooling, and it is unclear whether she knows how to write down numbers.
It is not even very likely that should would be illiterate, according to Wikipedia. ("Despite lacking a system of free and compulsory primary schooling, England managed to reach near universal literacy in the nineteenth century as a result of shared, informal learning systems such as family members, fellow workers, and/or benevolent employers, to name a few.") Interestingly enough, however, because she was a female of the lower classes, she may have been able to read, but unable to write. She would have been more likely able to write if she were male--there was a gap with the sexes at that time.
So it is unlikely she would not be able to read, but likely that she would not be able to write. And the story does not mention that most people know how to read, and she is one of the few that do not. Indeed, it seems to imply that it is common in her village, not to know how to read. She does not even know how to sign her name.

The subplot with her mother and "the littles," an unknown number of her younger siblings (of which we know nothing of sexes or ages, much less their characters), is suddenly dropped at the end, after she is saved by the werewolves. No mention is ever made of her mother or family again. We don't know how her mother would react, when she would find out about Imogene's proclivities or new relationship. She does not find out, in the book.
Her mother is nagging to her, and very proper, but I had the impression that she does love Imogene and want what's best for her. So I wanted to see that conversation. But like in Timekeeper by Tara Sim, it is not shown at all, or even told briefly.

I'm not sure it's worth your time, unless you were curious about it already. But I think you will be disappointed. The Kindle version, in this case, is the cheapest; don't buy paperback, because you can read Kindle books on your computer. Like I said before, I won't be buying anything else by this author unless I cannot find any good gay stories at all.
...With a possible exception of the first book in Carriger's Finishing School series--that one was already ordered and on the way when I started this one. It has a great premise--a girl learning, in school, how to be a proper lady and an excellent assassin--but then again, this book had a great premise, too...
We will see.