A review by katereads2much
Competence, by Gail Carriger
5.0
I like to say that I’ve been waiting on “Competence” for ‘yeeeaaarrrsss!’ The truth is I’ve been waiting for not quite two years, but I promise that it felt like five or six. Every day for six months I check NetGalley in hopes that an ARC copy would pop up. I entered every drawing to win a copy.
All of those things proved useless and I had to wait for 3 am EST on Tuesday July 17th for the Audible copy to drop.
Usually, I’m a reasonably patient person, but I loved “Prudence” and “Imprudence” and I knew that “Competence” was going to be Prim’s book, and I was desperate to get to read her and Tash’s story.
Gail Carriger is one of my favorite authors anyway, so I would’ve been excited for her next book regardless, but The Custard Protocol books have been some of my favorites by her (The Supernatural Society books probably take that title, but it’s a very close call) and that added an extra edge to my anxiousness over the release of the book.
It would be fair to say that I was desperate to read this book. It would, in fact, likely be an understatement to say that I was desperate as it doesn’t adequately express the depth of my breathless, heart wrenching desire to read this damned book.
I say all this to say, that I had built this book up to be something I knew was going to be one of my favorite things ever and honestly, how many things can really live up to that kind of expectation?
So did “Competence” live up to the incredibly high expectations I had for it?
No, it did not.
It blew them away.
I love this book. It is easily going on one of my "all-time favorites” list. I don’t know that I could ever pick just one book to be my all-time favorite book because there are just too many that I passionately, ardently love, but this would have to be high up. I’ve had the audiobook in my possession for all of about ten days and I’m already halfway through my fourth listen.
I would love to give a real breakdown of the story and the character interactions and the growth, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but all I’ve been able to do thus far is squeal about how much I love it.
Here are a few things I would say about why I love it even if I can’t properly express any of my feelings:
Seeing things from Percy’s perspective is amazing and makes him so much a better character. I already kind of loved him, but getting to see who he is in his own head is wonderful. Him and Tash are hilarious and fun together.
Primrose’s exasperation over her feelings and then her eventual peace with them is heart-achingly wonderful.
The adventures are fun. The writing is sharp and funny, as always.
I feel like I’ve read the perfect fan fiction for the way I wanted the book to go in a way I never could’ve imagined, but that is precisely what I needed except it’s actually the canon and I feel an inexpressible joy in listening to it over and over again.
So yeah, welcome to the all-time favorites list, “Competence.”
All of those things proved useless and I had to wait for 3 am EST on Tuesday July 17th for the Audible copy to drop.
Usually, I’m a reasonably patient person, but I loved “Prudence” and “Imprudence” and I knew that “Competence” was going to be Prim’s book, and I was desperate to get to read her and Tash’s story.
Gail Carriger is one of my favorite authors anyway, so I would’ve been excited for her next book regardless, but The Custard Protocol books have been some of my favorites by her (The Supernatural Society books probably take that title, but it’s a very close call) and that added an extra edge to my anxiousness over the release of the book.
It would be fair to say that I was desperate to read this book. It would, in fact, likely be an understatement to say that I was desperate as it doesn’t adequately express the depth of my breathless, heart wrenching desire to read this damned book.
I say all this to say, that I had built this book up to be something I knew was going to be one of my favorite things ever and honestly, how many things can really live up to that kind of expectation?
So did “Competence” live up to the incredibly high expectations I had for it?
No, it did not.
It blew them away.
I love this book. It is easily going on one of my "all-time favorites” list. I don’t know that I could ever pick just one book to be my all-time favorite book because there are just too many that I passionately, ardently love, but this would have to be high up. I’ve had the audiobook in my possession for all of about ten days and I’m already halfway through my fourth listen.
I would love to give a real breakdown of the story and the character interactions and the growth, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but all I’ve been able to do thus far is squeal about how much I love it.
Here are a few things I would say about why I love it even if I can’t properly express any of my feelings:
Seeing things from Percy’s perspective is amazing and makes him so much a better character. I already kind of loved him, but getting to see who he is in his own head is wonderful. Him and Tash are hilarious and fun together.
Primrose’s exasperation over her feelings and then her eventual peace with them is heart-achingly wonderful.
The adventures are fun. The writing is sharp and funny, as always.
I feel like I’ve read the perfect fan fiction for the way I wanted the book to go in a way I never could’ve imagined, but that is precisely what I needed except it’s actually the canon and I feel an inexpressible joy in listening to it over and over again.
So yeah, welcome to the all-time favorites list, “Competence.”