Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
I must admit, the concept of the story, a kind of spin off of a typical charlies angles type story was ultimatley what drew me in to this story. The first couple parts of the book were interesting and fun, but the story started to fizzle out half way through. Other than the ultimate fizzling out, I do have some good things to say. I like the way the story was structured. Almost like it was evenly divided between the three girls, from the beginning and it gave a sense of equality that I think the author was trying to show within the book, but it came over more easily through the titles and the structure of the story. The cleverly named titles, were probably my favorite part of the book. Normally, I dont look at titles but just continue on with the story but reading these titles one chapter after another, just had me busting up. The style of writing had foreshadowing and the syntactical similarities between each girls POV, proves just how related these girls are to each other. The repeating symbolism made this book great to analyze. Now for the characters.
Cora: I loved her fiesty and independent nature. She was a leader and probably my favorite character along with Michiko. Loved Andrew Harris, despite his storyline, very disappointed with the way his story ended.
Nellie: She was a fun character, probably the life of the party when she was around other character. I especially liked her interactions with Jeff, mostly because he was so different from all the other guys she had to put up with. But I found her personality lacking in some areas when it was her POV but it was written like it was a general POV and I really had to look back and remeber 'oh, this is Nellie speaking'.
Michiko: She is so strong, despite her obvious setback with the language barrier. I've always been interested in Asian Culture, love Korea and Japan, and reading all the stuff I already knew was just so nice. It's not often, modern YA books feature an acuratley based foriegn character if the plot is not majorly set in that country.
Overall, the book was good, not as intriguing as I wished it would be, maybe I'm just not that into Murder Mysteries, but I still liked the characters, so 4 stars!
Cora: I loved her fiesty and independent nature. She was a leader and probably my favorite character along with Michiko. Loved Andrew Harris, despite his storyline, very disappointed with the way his story ended.
Nellie: She was a fun character, probably the life of the party when she was around other character. I especially liked her interactions with Jeff, mostly because he was so different from all the other guys she had to put up with. But I found her personality lacking in some areas when it was her POV but it was written like it was a general POV and I really had to look back and remeber 'oh, this is Nellie speaking'.
Michiko: She is so strong, despite her obvious setback with the language barrier. I've always been interested in Asian Culture, love Korea and Japan, and reading all the stuff I already knew was just so nice. It's not often, modern YA books feature an acuratley based foriegn character if the plot is not majorly set in that country.
Overall, the book was good, not as intriguing as I wished it would be, maybe I'm just not that into Murder Mysteries, but I still liked the characters, so 4 stars!
I loved this book. It was packed with action and had strong female characters.
I don't so much teach short stories as use them as a means to talk about literary concepts. Likewise, I often respond to books more than I review them, using them as a means to talk about the steampunk scene at large. Besides, you can get a plot synopsis off Goodreads or Amazon. My reflections on Adrienne Kress's The Friday Society are emblematic of this, since I'm not sure a review of squee is what the book needs. There's a lot of squee out there for The Friday Society, including my assessment of it as one of my top five steampunk reads of 2012. It's fun fiction, targeted at YA readers who enjoy female protagonists and a healthy dose of amour with their adventure. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, but after four years of immersing myself in steampunk reading, playing at the fringes of steampunk culture, and hovering over debates in steampunk fora, I can hear supercilious naysayers disregarding Kress for the anachronism of her writing style alone. On the first page, an explosion is described as loud, bright, and explosion-y. This is not Gibson and Sterling, aping the writing styles of the nineteenth century. This is a cheeky modern author who uses playful tone and modern idiom to make her heroines accessible to her ostensibly YA readership. In many ways, Kress's approach to writing reminds me of Gail Carriger, but in a less Victorian fashion. Steampunk hipsters and snobs will find much to complain about in The Friday Society.
Which is one of the reasons I developed my theory of the steampunk aesthetic in the way I did. At the blog Entropic Worlds, the excellent post "Critical Engineering: A Perspective on Defining Steampunk" astutely recognizes that my "set of constraints seems to be effective at determining how steampunk something is, though not necessarily how good a work of steampunk is." This assessment is reminiscent of Jess Nevins' division of prescriptive and descriptive approaches to defining steampunk. I am descriptive. Entropic Worlds seems to be defining steampunk prescriptively: "I am personally more interested in reading a book that does steampunk well, even if it only does it a little bit, versus a steampunk book that is unoriginal and uninteresting, regardless of how filled it is with dirigibles, aether, and parasols." Entropic Worlds' basis for good steampunk is value based, a definition that ultimately tells the genre or aesthetic where is should be going. As an educator, I applaud the impetus toward quality or greater engagement with social concerns, but this does not describe steampunk. It describes a movement in steampunk toward writing that engages these ideas. Entropic Worlds cites The Difference Engine as exemplar of how steampunk should be, citing the novel as "one of the most universally accepted examples of the genre." Locus magazine argued that The Difference Engine was too realistic to really be steampunk - in short, it wasn't gonzo enough. I tend to agree. The Difference Engine could be seen as reaction to the gonzo steampunk of Blaylock, Powers, and Jeter's Morlock Night, but is hardly the seminal archetype of what steampunk should be.
I like serious steampunk. I like steampunk that is socially significant, as Entropic Worlds recommends. And while I can read social significance into Kress's The Friday Society through the three female leads in much the same way I did when I read Alexia Tarabotti/Maccon as steampunk New Woman, I do not have the impression that this was Kress's explicit intention. I have more a sense of steampunk Charlies Angels than I do steampunk Herland. Kress's three heroines, Cora the inventor, Nellie the magician's assistant, and Michiko the blademaster, all face marginalization by the males in their life. However, this is as much a standard device of most YA fiction about young women as it is a commentary on the plight of women in the nineteenth century. I can read it socially, and I can read it politically. I can discuss how steampunk fiction addresses these concerns. But to prescriptively delineate the boundaries of good steampunk based on a work's qualitative engagement with those concerns is to ignore a significant portion of steampunk writing, consequently hobbling steampunk scholarship in the same fashion as general SF scholarship, which is often so busy talking about gender in The Left Hand of Darkness it sometimes forgets to talk about Star Trek's first onscreen interracial kiss.
I hope young readers of The Friday Society can see how Cora, Nellie, and Michiko are the navigators on their seas of fate, but in the event they don't, I'll be glad they're enjoying a page-turning adventure that allows them to explore three different personas through those women. Young readers are still discovering who they are, and Kress has done a lovely job of giving her readers three very different heroines to identify with. I like Michiko best myself, but you might think Cora is cooler. Or maybe I related to Nellie a week ago, but I feel more Michiko today. And even if I don't do that, isn't the scene where the old man gifts that awesome sword to Michiko sweet? Steampunk's pretty kickass, isn't it?
It is. And while I will continue to champion steampunk that kicks ass in a socio-political way, I'll continue to champion steampunk that just kicks literal ass. Or in the case of The Friday Society, blows shit up. Because while steampunk can be socio-political, or socio-political and fun, sometimes its just F-U-N. And The Friday Society is definitely fun.
Which is one of the reasons I developed my theory of the steampunk aesthetic in the way I did. At the blog Entropic Worlds, the excellent post "Critical Engineering: A Perspective on Defining Steampunk" astutely recognizes that my "set of constraints seems to be effective at determining how steampunk something is, though not necessarily how good a work of steampunk is." This assessment is reminiscent of Jess Nevins' division of prescriptive and descriptive approaches to defining steampunk. I am descriptive. Entropic Worlds seems to be defining steampunk prescriptively: "I am personally more interested in reading a book that does steampunk well, even if it only does it a little bit, versus a steampunk book that is unoriginal and uninteresting, regardless of how filled it is with dirigibles, aether, and parasols." Entropic Worlds' basis for good steampunk is value based, a definition that ultimately tells the genre or aesthetic where is should be going. As an educator, I applaud the impetus toward quality or greater engagement with social concerns, but this does not describe steampunk. It describes a movement in steampunk toward writing that engages these ideas. Entropic Worlds cites The Difference Engine as exemplar of how steampunk should be, citing the novel as "one of the most universally accepted examples of the genre." Locus magazine argued that The Difference Engine was too realistic to really be steampunk - in short, it wasn't gonzo enough. I tend to agree. The Difference Engine could be seen as reaction to the gonzo steampunk of Blaylock, Powers, and Jeter's Morlock Night, but is hardly the seminal archetype of what steampunk should be.
I like serious steampunk. I like steampunk that is socially significant, as Entropic Worlds recommends. And while I can read social significance into Kress's The Friday Society through the three female leads in much the same way I did when I read Alexia Tarabotti/Maccon as steampunk New Woman, I do not have the impression that this was Kress's explicit intention. I have more a sense of steampunk Charlies Angels than I do steampunk Herland. Kress's three heroines, Cora the inventor, Nellie the magician's assistant, and Michiko the blademaster, all face marginalization by the males in their life. However, this is as much a standard device of most YA fiction about young women as it is a commentary on the plight of women in the nineteenth century. I can read it socially, and I can read it politically. I can discuss how steampunk fiction addresses these concerns. But to prescriptively delineate the boundaries of good steampunk based on a work's qualitative engagement with those concerns is to ignore a significant portion of steampunk writing, consequently hobbling steampunk scholarship in the same fashion as general SF scholarship, which is often so busy talking about gender in The Left Hand of Darkness it sometimes forgets to talk about Star Trek's first onscreen interracial kiss.
I hope young readers of The Friday Society can see how Cora, Nellie, and Michiko are the navigators on their seas of fate, but in the event they don't, I'll be glad they're enjoying a page-turning adventure that allows them to explore three different personas through those women. Young readers are still discovering who they are, and Kress has done a lovely job of giving her readers three very different heroines to identify with. I like Michiko best myself, but you might think Cora is cooler. Or maybe I related to Nellie a week ago, but I feel more Michiko today. And even if I don't do that, isn't the scene where the old man gifts that awesome sword to Michiko sweet? Steampunk's pretty kickass, isn't it?
It is. And while I will continue to champion steampunk that kicks ass in a socio-political way, I'll continue to champion steampunk that just kicks literal ass. Or in the case of The Friday Society, blows shit up. Because while steampunk can be socio-political, or socio-political and fun, sometimes its just F-U-N. And The Friday Society is definitely fun.
This proved to be exactly what it presented itself as: a YA, steam-punk version of Charlie's Angels. It was light, fluffy, and fun, as long as you don't expect too much of it.
I am not a young adult. In fact, it has been multiple decades since I was a young adult, but I can still appreciate and enjoy the occasional YA book. I did enjoy this, because it offers something I think is important for young readers, especially female young readers - girl characters who present laudable role-models. This book absolutely does that.
The three main characters are smart, capable, honourable determined people, and, at the same time are still young girls, with all the qualities that go along with that. None of these characters are perfect, but they are resourceful, and, even more importantly, they help each other, even when they don't really "get" each other or who the others are. That is a lesson more young girls could benefit from learning - you don't have to understand or agree with everything others are and do, in order to respect and help them.
This book isn't Shakespeare, and it isn't the best writing I've ever come across. But it was fun and exciting and "girl-power-ey". As I said, if you appreciate it for what it is, and don't ask it to be more than what it is, you could really have some fun going along on the adventures of the Friday Society. I certainly did.
I am not a young adult. In fact, it has been multiple decades since I was a young adult, but I can still appreciate and enjoy the occasional YA book. I did enjoy this, because it offers something I think is important for young readers, especially female young readers - girl characters who present laudable role-models. This book absolutely does that.
The three main characters are smart, capable, honourable determined people, and, at the same time are still young girls, with all the qualities that go along with that. None of these characters are perfect, but they are resourceful, and, even more importantly, they help each other, even when they don't really "get" each other or who the others are. That is a lesson more young girls could benefit from learning - you don't have to understand or agree with everything others are and do, in order to respect and help them.
This book isn't Shakespeare, and it isn't the best writing I've ever come across. But it was fun and exciting and "girl-power-ey". As I said, if you appreciate it for what it is, and don't ask it to be more than what it is, you could really have some fun going along on the adventures of the Friday Society. I certainly did.
After reading the first three chapters, I didn't not envision myself liking this book at all. The writing style is so ridiculous (and completely inappropriate for the supposed time period) that I nearly wrote it off as a waste of time. Even though I had every intention of casting it aside, for some reason I kept going. It was a pretty fun read and I didn't hate it; full, as it was, of silliness, cliche feminism, and inaccuracy.
To paraphrase Tyra Banks:
"Be quiet Adrienne Kress! Be quiet Stop it! I have never in my life yelled at an author like.
WHEN MY MOTHER YELLS LIKE THIS IT'S BECAUSE SHE LOVES ME. I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU. How dare you! Learn something from this! When you you go to bed at night, you lay there and you take responsibility for yourself -- because nobody's going to take responsibility for you. Take responsibility for yourself."
I wanted to be so much better than it was. The premise of this book seemed right up my alley: lady friendships! ladies being awesome! mysteries! ladies saving the world! steampunk! AN ACTUAL FEMALE JAPANESE MAIN CHARACTER (HOW RARE IS THAT???)!
Unfortunately, what I found was that all the characters were paper-thin, unlikeable, and underdeveloped. None of the female characters were particularly likable. The writing is awful, I am not exaggerating when I say that I've met thirteen year olds who can write better and they also have better execution when it comes to attempted social commentary (sexism, elitism - there was no follow through).
The plot was terrible and I want to know if the author even had an editor look over her writing. The dialogue was shamefully bad and the exotification /Othering of all non-white characters (Michiko, Nellie's Magician) was jaw-droppingly offensive.
As someone with a degree in East Asian Studies, it is clear that Kress didn't even try to research Japanese culture, history, or martial arts, maybe under the guise of 'this is steampunk so I don't NEED to do research'. (That is a weak excuse assuming that Kress did *some* research on Victorian London, but maybe only European culture/history is worth researching?)
I cringed in secondhand embarrassment when it became clear that Michiko's role in the book is to being ~exotic~, carry a sword, and speak pidgin English. She figuratively did not serve any other purpose and I cannot understand how no one pointed out to Kress that Michiko was a walking stereotype.
The cover is the best part of this book and I've learned to never, ever judge a book by its (lovely) cover again.
"Be quiet Adrienne Kress! Be quiet Stop it! I have never in my life yelled at an author like.
WHEN MY MOTHER YELLS LIKE THIS IT'S BECAUSE SHE LOVES ME. I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU. How dare you! Learn something from this! When you you go to bed at night, you lay there and you take responsibility for yourself -- because nobody's going to take responsibility for you. Take responsibility for yourself."
I wanted to be so much better than it was. The premise of this book seemed right up my alley: lady friendships! ladies being awesome! mysteries! ladies saving the world! steampunk! AN ACTUAL FEMALE JAPANESE MAIN CHARACTER (HOW RARE IS THAT???)!
Unfortunately, what I found was that all the characters were paper-thin, unlikeable, and underdeveloped. None of the female characters were particularly likable. The writing is awful, I am not exaggerating when I say that I've met thirteen year olds who can write better and they also have better execution when it comes to attempted social commentary (sexism, elitism - there was no follow through).
The plot was terrible and I want to know if the author even had an editor look over her writing. The dialogue was shamefully bad and the exotification /Othering of all non-white characters (Michiko, Nellie's Magician) was jaw-droppingly offensive.
As someone with a degree in East Asian Studies, it is clear that Kress didn't even try to research Japanese culture, history, or martial arts, maybe under the guise of 'this is steampunk so I don't NEED to do research'. (That is a weak excuse assuming that Kress did *some* research on Victorian London, but maybe only European culture/history is worth researching?)
I cringed in secondhand embarrassment when it became clear that Michiko's role in the book is to being ~exotic~, carry a sword, and speak pidgin English. She figuratively did not serve any other purpose and I cannot understand how no one pointed out to Kress that Michiko was a walking stereotype.
The cover is the best part of this book and I've learned to never, ever judge a book by its (lovely) cover again.
Really unsure about how I feel in regards to this book. It has it's good moments, but it also had it's boring parts. I don't agree with everyone saying how predictable it was. I was only half right with my predictions. I really liked the characters. Nellie was my favorite of the 3 girls. I also had a huge problem with the dialogue. This takes place in the 1900s and it sounded like present language. Overall I enjoyed it, but I wasn't in love with it. This was my first steampunk novel as well. That could have had a lot to do with it.
Watch or read the transcript of my full review here. For now, here's a sneak peek...
This is the first steampunk novel I’ve read (unless Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series counts), so it’s not a genre I’m familiar with. I’ve heard others complain about the overabundance of details of clothes in the steampunk genre, but I didn’t find that to be a problem in this book at all. In fact, I found that any details given about clothes or gadgets added to the experience.
One element that I was unsure about, however, was the language: both in dialogue and in the narrative. The setting is Edwardian London, but sometimes the way words were used or phrased seemed modern to me. It was jarring for me, but again due to my lack of familiarity with the genre, I’m not sure if that’s an element of steampunk. If it is, I can see how it can add to the charm of the genre, but if not I feel like it takes away from the realism.
This is the first steampunk novel I’ve read (unless Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series counts), so it’s not a genre I’m familiar with. I’ve heard others complain about the overabundance of details of clothes in the steampunk genre, but I didn’t find that to be a problem in this book at all. In fact, I found that any details given about clothes or gadgets added to the experience.
One element that I was unsure about, however, was the language: both in dialogue and in the narrative. The setting is Edwardian London, but sometimes the way words were used or phrased seemed modern to me. It was jarring for me, but again due to my lack of familiarity with the genre, I’m not sure if that’s an element of steampunk. If it is, I can see how it can add to the charm of the genre, but if not I feel like it takes away from the realism.
Can I just say how much I love Adrienne Kress? Like, an insane amount. She has joined the list of authors that I don't really care if a book they wrote doesn't sound like my cup of tea, I'm probably going to read it and almost definitely going to enjoy it.
I'm not... I'm not -not- a fan of steampunk, but I don't go out of my way to read it. And it's not what drew me to this story either. What drew me in were the three women pictured on the cover: Headstrong Cora (in the middle), up-front and hilarious Nellie (on the left), and the quiet, centered young warrior Michiko (on the right). Each girl is unique and able to carry significant parts of the story by themselves, but together they make an unstoppable team.
Things I loved:
The personalities of the girls AND of the men they serve. Well, except for Callum. I'm holding out hope for a sequel where Michiko finally smacks him upside the head and moves in with one of the others.
How all three experienced some sort of character growth, but all exhibit a "this is who I am, deal with it".
The mystery, set in London, and how visual it gets (mostly due to the role that fog and the weather plays).
How Nellie, at the end, actually gets to use a completely new tactic to save her skin towards the end. That was just perfect for her! Love it.
Sherry, the parrot. My absolute freaking favorite side character.
How the mysteries are connected, right up until they aren't, but they all get solved anyway.
Things I didn't like
The romance. Or rather, specifically the romance that tries to form between Cora and Andrew. Partially because I'm demiromantic, it just seemed rather... sudden. "Oh cute boy my heart flutters let's kiss", even though it is stretched over a period of... two days? I think? (Honestly I share Nellie's opinion of Officer Murphy, so yeah.. just Cora/Andrew.)
The ending is a little anti-climatic. Although both mysteries ended in ways that made me give a little vindictive chuckle. I just really share Cora's feeling as the book wraps up. I just don't want it to end.
I'm not... I'm not -not- a fan of steampunk, but I don't go out of my way to read it. And it's not what drew me to this story either. What drew me in were the three women pictured on the cover: Headstrong Cora (in the middle), up-front and hilarious Nellie (on the left), and the quiet, centered young warrior Michiko (on the right). Each girl is unique and able to carry significant parts of the story by themselves, but together they make an unstoppable team.
Things I loved:
The personalities of the girls AND of the men they serve. Well, except for Callum. I'm holding out hope for a sequel where Michiko finally smacks him upside the head and moves in with one of the others.
How all three experienced some sort of character growth, but all exhibit a "this is who I am, deal with it".
The mystery, set in London, and how visual it gets (mostly due to the role that fog and the weather plays).
How Nellie, at the end, actually gets to use a completely new tactic to save her skin towards the end. That was just perfect for her! Love it.
Sherry, the parrot. My absolute freaking favorite side character.
How the mysteries are connected, right up until they aren't, but they all get solved anyway.
Things I didn't like
The romance. Or rather, specifically the romance that tries to form between Cora and Andrew. Partially because I'm demiromantic, it just seemed rather... sudden. "Oh cute boy my heart flutters let's kiss", even though it is stretched over a period of... two days? I think? (Honestly I share Nellie's opinion of Officer Murphy, so yeah.. just Cora/Andrew.)
The ending is a little anti-climatic. Although both mysteries ended in ways that made me give a little vindictive chuckle. I just really share Cora's feeling as the book wraps up. I just don't want it to end.