A review by rebeccadupont
Competence, by Gail Carriger
4.0
This book is my favorite of the Custard Protocol series so far. I enjoyed the narration of Primrose and Percy. I found it different and refreshing in the series after two from Rue's view. I liked their very different and oddly overlapping behaviors and views on situations.
The overall plot did feel a bit thin with going to find South American vampires and that not happening until the last fourth of the book, instead it was more about ship life, family feel and relationships of all kinds. There was a lot of love and relationships as the focus which is not always my favorite but as those relationships most central were queer of some nature I was glad to see that and it made me far more interested. I was happy to see both Prim with Tasherit and Rodrigo with Anitra find happy endings, if the former did take a bit longer than I would have liked due to Prim's protests.
I have to say that I am sure some will be upset with Prim's waffling - do I want Tasherit or not - but thinking of society at the time and social constructs it is not surprising. She seems to know what she desires, as in women, but also wants the social expectations of family and children so watching her go through that struggle while frustrating from a 21st century POV it is not surprising for her time period. Just because Rue (or her mother) can jump into things does not mean that social etiquette Prim can. In fact the whole ship is full of social outcasts for that time and there is one point in the book where Prim acknowledges this to herself and it is what helps her take the leap and I thought that was well done.
I was surprised at also getting Percy's POV in this book but quite happy with it. Percy has no love interest and came off very asexual in this book, which I also appreciated as a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed seeing his more calculating view, the different science angles and felt it a good balance to all the love plot lines. I would have enjoyed a bit more action in the book overall but still found myself flowing through this book more readily than any other in this series so far.
The overall plot did feel a bit thin with going to find South American vampires and that not happening until the last fourth of the book, instead it was more about ship life, family feel and relationships of all kinds. There was a lot of love and relationships as the focus which is not always my favorite but as those relationships most central were queer of some nature I was glad to see that and it made me far more interested. I was happy to see both Prim with Tasherit and Rodrigo with Anitra find happy endings, if the former did take a bit longer than I would have liked due to Prim's protests.
I have to say that I am sure some will be upset with Prim's waffling - do I want Tasherit or not - but thinking of society at the time and social constructs it is not surprising. She seems to know what she desires, as in women, but also wants the social expectations of family and children so watching her go through that struggle while frustrating from a 21st century POV it is not surprising for her time period. Just because Rue (or her mother) can jump into things does not mean that social etiquette Prim can. In fact the whole ship is full of social outcasts for that time and there is one point in the book where Prim acknowledges this to herself and it is what helps her take the leap and I thought that was well done.
I was surprised at also getting Percy's POV in this book but quite happy with it. Percy has no love interest and came off very asexual in this book, which I also appreciated as a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed seeing his more calculating view, the different science angles and felt it a good balance to all the love plot lines. I would have enjoyed a bit more action in the book overall but still found myself flowing through this book more readily than any other in this series so far.