You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I realize giving this a 5 star May seem a bit much for other readers but for me this was a page turner. It had all the Harry Potter vibes with every ounce of feminism And class I crave. I am hooked on this author now.
Fun steampunk!
Book Talk: Finishing school for tomboys. Flying machines, mechanimals, espionage training, subterfuge with voluminous skirts. Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is a perfect school for Sophronia. She would rather climb, construct and be outdoors than curtsey and sit at tea. Almost immediately Sophronia puts her native mechanical abilities together with her new skills to find a missing new invention that will revolutionize the world, or open the door for villainy in the wrong hands.
Book Talk: Finishing school for tomboys. Flying machines, mechanimals, espionage training, subterfuge with voluminous skirts. Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is a perfect school for Sophronia. She would rather climb, construct and be outdoors than curtsey and sit at tea. Almost immediately Sophronia puts her native mechanical abilities together with her new skills to find a missing new invention that will revolutionize the world, or open the door for villainy in the wrong hands.
Etiquette & Espionage is the first in a new series set in the same world as GailCarriger's Parasol Protectorate series. I have to say that I adored this book! It was a more tightly crafted novel than some of the Carriger's previous work. Sophronia is covertly recruited into a finishing school that trains girls in (as the title indicates) both etiquette and espionage. She, along with a varied assortment of friends, works to solve a mystery. The series has a little of a Harry Potter-ish vibe in that regard. Sophronia is such a refreshing YA heroine. She is completely capable without being mopey or depressed. I can't wait to read more of her adventures.
After reading The Heroine's Journey, I decided to start reading Carriger's fiction and started with this one. I echo many of the comments here. Quirky characters, interesting setting. Clearly I should've started with Soulless, where this world began, so I'll try that next. I never did really connect with the main character in this story. I felt like I didn't know her as a person and her wants enough to start. The POV felt a bit distant, and there's not much of a plot. But it was a good enough read, especially in audiobook.
Light, fluffy, clever fun. But I have a weird problem with Carriger's books: her practice of giving characters ludicrous, implausible last names is so disruptive that it takes me thoroughly out of the story. It's a stupid hangup, but it really makes it hard for me to buy into the world she creates.
This book was an absolute delight from start to finish. My only regret is hesitating to buy it in hardback. It is fun, witty, and lively. The Steam punk elements are fun and vivid. Fourteen year old Sophronia is the despair of her mother. Her unladylike ways are not becoming. So what can a mother do, but send her daughter to finishing school. But Mrs. Temminnich has been sadly mislead about the nature of Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School. Yes, there will be obligatory classes on the proper curtsy and how to flutter your eyelashes to the greatest effect but there will be also classes on poisons, knife wielding, and how to most effectively murder someone at the theater. This finishing school teaches young ladies how to be spies, assassins, and proper ladies. Sophronia finds herself enmeshed in the intrigue and plots. All the while struggling to learn how to curtsy properly, Sophronia learns to maneuver in the cutthroat world of proper young ladies.
Sophronia is sent away to finishing school because her mother can't seem to tame her. She's far more interested in machines and adventures than fashion and accessories. But the school isn't quite normal and we learn about it along with Sophronia. We also get to meet the younger versions of characters we know from the Parasol Protecorate!
Gail Carriger's books are so much fun to read. This one is lighter on the werewolves & vampires than her Parasol Protectorate series, but still heavy on the awesomeness of Victorian fashion and sensibilities.
Gail Carriger's books are so much fun to read. This one is lighter on the werewolves & vampires than her Parasol Protectorate series, but still heavy on the awesomeness of Victorian fashion and sensibilities.
My first foray into the Steampunk genre and although it's young adult, I really enjoyed it. My favorite things about it; the floating school, the characters of Soap and Vieve and the mechanimals. I will definitely read more.