| Competence | ||
 | ||
| Book 3 | ||
| Author | Gail Carriger | |
| Release Date | July 17th, 2018 | |
| Series | The Custard Protocol | |
| Pages | 320 | |
| Publisher | Orbit | |
Summary[]
Accidentally abandoned!
All alone in Singapore, proper Miss Primrose Tunstell must steal helium to save her airship, the Spotted Custard, in a scheme involving a lovesick werecat and a fake fish tail.
When she uncovers rumors of a new kind of vampire, Prim and the Custard crew embark on a mission to Peru. There, they encounter airship pirates and strange atmospheric phenomena, and are mistaken for representatives of the Spanish Inquisition. Forced into extreme subterfuge (and some rather ridiculous outfits) Prim must also answer three of life’s most challenging questions:
Can the perfect book club give a man back his soul?
Will her brother ever stop wearing his idiotic velvet fez?
And can the amount of lard in Christmas pudding save an entire species?
About[]
Gail continues chronicling the adventures of the Spotted Custard’s crackpot dirigible crew, following them as they explore the crumbling remnants of the British Empire, both supernatural and otherwise.
Chapter Titles[]
Chapter One: A Lioness in a Hat and Other Concerns
Chapter Two: A Bad Case of the Dropsies
Chapter Three: A Merlion in a Mushroom
Chapter Four: The Premier Floating Philosophy Club
Chapter Five: A Grey and Melancholy Danger
Chapter Six: In Which Thomas Aquinas is an Absolute Crocker
Chapter Seven: A Very Warm Welcome
Chapter Eight: A Mystery, a Fez, and an Italian Mathematician
Chapter Nine: Soup Ladle of Death
Chapter Ten: Cats Can’t Be Trusted
Chapter Eleven: Our Lord and Saviour The Spotted Custard
Chapter Twelve: Rumours of Pishtacos
Chapter Thirteen: On Hives, Haciendas, and Hijinks
Chapter Fourteen: The Etiquette of Proper Introductions
Chapter Fifteen: Weddings and Their Consequences
Chapter Sixteen: Homeward Bound
Timeline[]
This book takes place after Imprudence. In the final chapter, Primrose welcomes the new year 1896, meaning most of the book took place during the year 1895.
Quotes[]
“The stars were vast and twinkling with savage cheer above them, and the sea was a vast and satin-rich bed of cruelty below. Primrose shivered at her own fancy, but there was something about the wide emptiness that terrorised. I suppose I am nothing if not a creature of cities with bustling streets and cosy hearths. This vastness is not for me. And I am not for it.”
"But that is not quite the same thing. Your world doesn't understand who you love, but it really doesn't understand who I am. Drifters have found a way to accept my kind, but not yours."
"It was comforting to think that it was her very soul that had chosen to love women. That she was born this way. Perhaps it had hurt so hard resisting Tasherit's easy affection because it was natural to love where one would and not as society dictated."
"I live on a ship full of outcasts, populated by society's unacceptable. And yet, here I stand, happy. And I love them all."
Cover Art Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The covers for the North American editions and other English-speaking territory editions are different due to Gail's decision to self-publish Competence in those countries.