Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Description:

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore.

Review:

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

5 out of 5

Werewolves, flywaymen, and vampires!  Oh my!  This book starts out with a bang, and keeps going!  And I really liked that about this book.  It reminded me of so many of my favorite books from my childhood, but just a bit cooler.

The Characters:

Sophronia

She strikes me as the steampunk version of Nancy Drew.  And since I loved Nancy Drew as a child, it is inevitable that I’d love Sophronia.  All the things she discovers, her ingenuity, and her honestly also help make her a very likeable character. She is also pretty creative and smart, which is a great combination with her spunk and independence.

I loved her way of looking at things.  She is very logical and very nonplus about what she does both at home and at Finishing School.

Vieve

The ultimate tomboy, she definitely encourages Sophronia in a lot of her adventures (or misadventures depending on how you look at it).

Soap

Very cute male character.  He is pretty unique in the fact that he is one of the only characters that isn’t upper class.  Plus he is a sootie and the only character that is of another race. 

I like how he is quick, smart and funny.  I think sometimes he is the only one who uses his common sense in this story :P.

Dimity

She is the complete opposite of Sophronia.  I think she is a perfect blend of a friend for Sophronia.  She is girly, well versed in the things of being part of an “evil” family and raised to be evil herself, and she loves fashion.   

Overall:

I loved learning about the technology in this steampunk world.  I especially loved Bumbersnoot.  I really would like to have a mechanimal. 

I think the idea of a nomadic finishing school is such a novel idea.  I mean, if you are going to teach young ladies how to finish and to be an intelligencer, then you really need to teach how to hide in plain sight. 

I liked getting to know this world.  I hadn’t read anything else by Ms. Carriger, but I think with this introduction that I’d like to read other works by her.  I found this book very enjoyable and unique in a lot of ways.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading more books from this series.  I highly recommend this book.

Happy Reading!

Cana