Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1)

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Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)

by Gail Carriger (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 4,755 ratings · 1,196 reviews

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....more

Hardcover, 307 pages

Published February 5th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (first published February 1st 2013)

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Jul 04, 2011 Wendy Darling marked it as on-hold

Shelves: young-adult, steampunk, victorian, 2013-publication, february, lb

Tea should be required for the reading of all Gail Carriger books, don't you think?

168 likes · like · see review

Oct 05, 2012 Crowinator rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, urban-fantasy, historical, school-hard-special-skills-sector, booklist-review, arcs, 2012-reads, alt-history, favorites-read-in-2012, steampunk-clockwork

Well. Well well well. I think I'll have to go back and give the adult series set in this alternate steampunk Victorian world a try.

Despite my stumbling over the affected narrative style at the outset, I ended up being entirely swayed by its charm and cleverness, and I enjoyed the book so much that I was disappointed when it was over. I wanted it to continue, perhaps indefinitely. It reminds me very much of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series in its lighthearted silliness and droll humor, tho...more

20 likes · like · see review

Feb 23, 2013 Maja rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cover-lust, failed-to-impress, huge-disappointment, steampunk, wake-me-up-next-year, ya, so-many-vampires, reviewed-in-2013

2.5 stars, rounded up because I'm feeling particularly generous today.

Before any of you start plotting my painful and untimely death, I should point out that I’m a big fan of Ms. Carriger’s previous work. The Parasol Protectorate series is a favorite of mine, despite losing some steam in the later installments. However, I don’t think Etiquette and Espionage was up to her usual standards, and it makes me very sad that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would. It took me a while to put my t...more 2.5 stars, rounded up because I'm feeling particularly generous today.

Before any of you start plotting my painful and untimely death, I should point out that I’m a big fan of Ms. Carriger’s previous work. The Parasol Protectorate series is a favorite of mine, despite losing some steam in the later installments. However, I don’t think Etiquette and Espionage was up to her usual standards, and it makes me very sad that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would. It took me a while to put my thoughts in order and figure out exactly what went wrong, at least for me, and even now I can only explain a part of it. In Parasol Protectorate, Carriger’s trademark sense of humor was what made the series stand out, but there was also some substance underneath, and the plots kept me engaged and interested. Etiquette and Espionage had neither, I’m afraid.

“But I have advanced eyelash fluttering to practice, and a mathematics problem concerning how to order strychnine and a lamb dinner on a limited budget, and three chapters on court etiquette to read, and my handkerchief to starch, and the quadrille to memorize!”
“No one said learning etiquette and espionage would be easy, my dear.”

And it wasn’t easy, my dears. Not for our main character, Miss Sophronia Angelina Temminnick, and certainly not for me. What started out as entertaining, promising read, ended up almost suffocating me with repetitiveness and lack of an actual plot. A good sense of humor is not a band aid you can just slap over a pile of problems and hope your readers forget they’re there. It has been tried before, and as far as I’m concerned, it never, ever worked.

As a fan, I loved revisiting Alexia’s universe, but at the same time, seeing it reused left me with the impression that Gail Carriger took the lazy way out. This is the part I’m most conflicted about, but it’s also one I would have been glad to overlook had the rest been interesting enough. But in the end, the most interesting parts were those links to the Parasol Protectorate series.

It wasn’t just the world that was the same, some of the characters showed up too, albeit as much younger versions of themselves. Of all the crossover characters, I enjoyed meeting a nine-year-old Genevieve Lefoux the most and was delighted to learn that she preferred boys’ clothes even as a little girl.

There is no romance in Etiquette & Espionage, just hints of one that could develop uite beautifully in the future. While I adored the no-romance part itself, in combination with a very weak plot, it gave a pretty empty book.

It’s obvious by now that I’m the odd one out in this case, so please take my opinion with a grain of salt and make sure to read at least a few more reviews before making a decision. It’s all a matter of personal taste, after all. I’m prepared to give this series another chance because I adore Carriger’s sense of humor. Hopefully the next book will have a more exciting plot.

(less)

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May 18, 2013 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: this-made-me-want-to-fall-asleep, oh-so-meh, why-did-i-even-read-this, awesome-covers

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads

2.5 stars
'"Practice your eyelash-fluttering, ladies. Six rounds of one hundred each before bed."-'

I took the big mistake when I read Marie Lu being quoted on my copy of Etiquette & Espionage. "I wish I could attend a school as fun as this finishing academy. It is the perfect steam punk version of Harry Potter." After observing this, I assumed that the book was just as good as Harry Potter. RIIIGHT?! It literally has my name written all over it.

LITERALLY...more

7 likes · like · see review

Apr 10, 2013 Sesana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, steampunk, fantasy

I think that maybe somebody who'd read the entire Parasol Protectorate series to this point may end up enjoying Etiquette & Espionage a bit more than I did. I've only read Soulless so far, which was enough for me to notice that the Finishing School series will be set in the same universe. Fine by me, I really like Carriger's versions of vampire and werewolf societies.

And I did really enjoy this book. It's YA, which is a bit of a change for Carriger. I think she made the jump really nicely by...more I think that maybe somebody who'd read the entire Parasol Protectorate series to this point may end up enjoying Etiquette & Espionage a bit more than I did. I've only read Soulless so far, which was enough for me to notice that the Finishing School series will be set in the same universe. Fine by me, I really like Carriger's versions of vampire and werewolf societies.

And I did really enjoy this book. It's YA, which is a bit of a change for Carriger. I think she made the jump really nicely by just cleaning up some of the content but leaving the tone mostly the same. I love the idea of the finishing school, which teaches advanced spying techniques alongside the skills generally expected of a proper Victorian lady. And so our protagonist, Sophronia, learns how to execute both a proper curtsy and an unwanted guest. I loved the idea of their discretion lessons the most: taking tea with a headmistress who has no idea her charges are being trained to be potentially deadly spies.

But all that is really just the setting. The plot (aside from the usual boarding school politics) is about a missing prototype of some sort. Sadly, the plot is kind of thinly developed, in favor of developing the boarding school setting. It works, to a certain extent, because I'm really fascinated by the place. The plot, not so much. But there were a lot of open questions left at the end of the first book, and I did feel like they were going to be answered. Maybe I'm reaching a bit, but I feel like this seemingly minor adventure is going to end up playing a much bigger part in the overarching story to come.

Big kudos to Carriger for only giving the slightest hint of a potential romance. Too many books, especially YA books, rush the romance directly from the initial meeting to an all-consuming love in two steps or less. I really hope she continues to handle this well, because I'd really love to see a YA series with a romance that develops slowly over the course of the series, based on mutual respect and admiration. That isn't too much to ask... Is it?

Also posted at Shelf Inflicted.(less)

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May 05, 2013 KM is currently reading it

Shelves: steampunk, little-brown, best-titles, netgalley-edelweiss, kindle-books

*Update 3/17: IN LOVE with this cover!!! Can't wait to read a Gail Carriger YA novel!!!! :D

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Apr 10, 2013 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book introduces a series that operates on two levels: one as a prequel to Gail Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate' novels, and two as a young adult series.

Like the Parasol Protectorate books, the Finishing School books are set in a world which is a mashup of Victorian England steampunk and paranormal fantasy. Also like those books, this series is also a cheeky comedy of manners. Unlike the first series, though, this book pays less stylistic homage to the bodice ripper and more to the modern Y...more This book introduces a series that operates on two levels: one as a prequel to Gail Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate' novels, and two as a young adult series.

Like the Parasol Protectorate books, the Finishing School books are set in a world which is a mashup of Victorian England steampunk and paranormal fantasy. Also like those books, this series is also a cheeky comedy of manners. Unlike the first series, though, this book pays less stylistic homage to the bodice ripper and more to the modern YA novel. In other words, it's a bit more family friendly.

The plot revolves around 14-year-old Sophronia, the youngest of a large and proper Victorian family. A disgrace to her mother, Sophronia is constantly climbing things and displaying a shocking interest in science. Determined to sculpt her daughter into something more lady-like, Sophronia is shipped off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

Unbeknownst to her mother, however, this Finishing Academy teaches a different kind of 'finishing': in addition to learning how to be ladies, the girls learn how to be assassins. Sophronia quickly makes friends and enemies and takes to her situation like a fish to water. Readers of the previous series will enjoy spotting younger versions of some of the characters from the other series.

The intrigue and adventure begin before Sophronia can even make it to the school, as the woman who recruited her turns out to be a student with a secret to hide and they are attacked by Skywaymen in dirigibles. The school itself is a huge dirigible floating above fog-enshrouded English moors. Vampires and werewolves are both on staff, and the school is under constant threat from marauding Skywaymen and the even more mysterious Picklemen.

Etiquette & Espionage is bursting with imaginative details, more-so than the Parasol Protectorate series. On the other hand it is a little slower-paced than those books. Still, it's a light, easy read, extremely imaginative and definitely enjoyable. Recommended for anyone interested in inventive YA or who has previously read the Parasol Protectorate and wants more.(less)

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Feb 05, 2013 Misty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, excited-for, series, own, juvenile-ya, sci_fi-fantasy, supernatural-paranormal, arc-or-galley, review-copy-accepted, read-in-2013

"[Is] that wise? Having a mess of seedling evil geniuses falling in love with you willy-nilly? What if they feel spurned?"
"Ah, but in the interim, think of the lovely gifts they can make you. Monique bragged that one of her boys made her silver and wood hair sticks as anti-supernatural weapons. With amethyst inlay. And another made her an exploding wicker chicken."
"Goodness, what's that for?"
Dimity pursed her lips. "Who doesn't want an exploding wicker chicken?"

I have to say, I was equal par...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Marika rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sophronia would much rather take apart mechanicals and spy on guests from the dumbwaiter than be a proper lady. Despairing, her mother sends her off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But Mademoiselle Geraldine's is not an ordinary finishing school. Oh, there are etiquette lessons (from a vampire) but there's another sort finishing, too-- one that involves espionage. As would be expected at a school for espionage, there's more going on than meets the eye....more

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Mar 16, 2013 Ferdy rated it 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars - Spoilers

I loved the Parasol Protectorate series. Naturally, when I found out Gail Carriger was writing a YA prequel spin off, I was excited. All that humour, steampunk craziness and madness in a YA book was bound to be great. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
I still liked Etiquette & Espionage but it didn't live up to my expectations. I think one of the main reasons I wasn't impressed with it was because it felt more like a Children's book rather than a YA book. If I had known that goin...more

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May 12, 2013 Hailee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hailee Christman
Carriger, G. (2013). Etiquette & espionage. New York: Little, Brown.
Sci-Fi / Steampunk
Selection process: Booklist, starred review, November 15, 2012. Retrieved from Booklistonline.com

Sophronia is not the proper lady her mother in Victorian England wishes here to be. Caring more for the inn workings of mechanicals than petticoats and with an affinity for climbing, it is surprising when Sophronia is chosen to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy. After her stagecoa...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, steampunk, library-read

I had high expectations from this book, being such a fan of 'Parasol Protectorate' as I am, but I found this one a bit lacking. I think, mostly, it was the wry wit which seemed to just not really be around much. This book seemed much more earnest, in a sort of way. Maybe it's because of the different audience, or maybe Carriger just wanted to come at things from a slightly different angle, but, whatever it was, this felt sort of lacking.

That said, I still enjoyed the story, overall. I didn't qui...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love this author. Since I adore her adult series, I knew without a doubt that this book must be read!

First off, her writing it about the same as her adult series expect for teens. Talk over tea, handsome gentlemen and of course a secret society under the guise of a school. I love it. Every plot twist and new exploration of the world the author created only lead me deeper into the story. It flowed nicely, never wavering or leaving the reader behind. I really enjoyed the main character Sophronia...more

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Mar 12, 2013 First Second Books added it · review of another edition

Shelves: gina

This book was a lot of fun – it read like an Edwardian steampunk version of Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls books – except without the romance, and that was nice too! It was great to read a teen paranormal-esque book where the protagonist was not like, ‘really, it’s all about this dark and mysterious werewolf/magician/vampire – everything that I’d want out of my own life is secondary to him.’

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Apr 09, 2013 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, young-adult, fantasy-sf

A fun, but flawed, book. I could have done without the werewolves and vampires (they seemed extraneous), and a few plotlines were dropped (the friendship with Sidheag and Agatha seemed pointless since they were left behind, plus who was in cahoots with Monique?). I never really understood the prototype either. Perhaps if I had read the Parasol Protectorate I would have.

Full review: http://www.stackedbooks.org/2013/03/e...

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May 07, 2013 April rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy, steampunk, young-adult

I adored this story. It has all the good stuff: humor, cleverness, great characters and an interesting plot. I loved that Sophronia was not only clever but friendly and kind and color blind. I'm very interested in what comes next!

Also, the voice actor who read this did a terrific job, she had a distinct voice and accent for each character and there was never any difficulty in knowing who was speaking.

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May 19, 2013 Paradoxical rated it 3 of 5 stars

Though a decent book, I never grew attached to it--not to the plot and not to the characters. There were flashes of something interesting in Sophronia, but everything else just sort of fell by the wayside. There just didn't seem to be much substance to the book, whereas I rather adored the author's Parasol Protectorate series.

My favorite bits about the book was how Sophronia was both clever and observant. You'll see a few demonstrations of this over the course of the book, and you have a feelin...more

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May 19, 2013 Jenaveve Lester rated it 5 of 5 stars

I recently read Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. To quickly summarize, without giving too much away, the story opens in supernatural Victorian England. A daring young girl named Sophronia is sent to a special finishing school, but this finishing academy is not like any other. Brave Sophronia has been accepted at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. She is then tested from all sorts of classes such as Fine Arts, Dance, and Manners. Not forgetting the...more

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May 11, 2013 Liv rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, ya

This was the first book in the Finishing School series, a new one that was meant for the YA readership. The story was set in the same world as that of the Parasol Protectorate series, so it was not unfamiliar to those of us who were already acquainted with Ms. Carriger's previous works.

The interesting about this new series was that we were introduced to characters from the Parasol Protectorate series, albeit of a different era (i.e. when they were still youngsters). It brought back some good mem...more This was the first book in the Finishing School series, a new one that was meant for the YA readership. The story was set in the same world as that of the Parasol Protectorate series, so it was not unfamiliar to those of us who were already acquainted with Ms. Carriger's previous works.

The interesting about this new series was that we were introduced to characters from the Parasol Protectorate series, albeit of a different era (i.e. when they were still youngsters). It brought back some good memories and also gave us more background information on these characters.

The story began with Sophronia, the teenage heroine, who was drafted to a "finishing school" for girls, in which she was supposed to learn proper lady etiquettes. Sophronia was unlike her sisters and other girls in that she was not entirely ladylike and often got into troubles due to her curious and inquisitive nature. The main conflict of this story was primarily based on the fact that some bad guys were after this special "prototype" that an older girl (Monique) at the school was carrying. Monique managed to hide the device before the bad guys got to her but then she refused to offer it up to the teachers at school. So it began Sophronia's mission of finding and retrieving this prototype while doing her darn best at the finishing school and learning all her proper techniques in spying and intelligence gathering.

Some parts of the story were really funny and the humour was similar to that found in the main Parasol Protectorate series. The world-building was adequately done in that readers were introduced to some really interesting steampunk concepts and they were consistent with the main series. However, that was about where things ended for me. Most of the story was slow in building and actions were largely missing. More bluntly put, it was boring, with a captial B. The plot lacked substance and didn't make any sense to me at all. In particular, the true purpose behind Monique's hiding of the prototype device was never resolved. It had taken me more than 5 days to finish this book, which was saying something, because it wasn't a long or complicated novel at all.

To sum this all up, it was a rather disappointing read. It lacked depth and the main conflict was laughable at best. The suspenseful elements were weakly delivered and some of the unknowns/mysteries were never answered or resolved. While I didn't hate it per se, I wasn't entirely interested in it either.

So 2 stars it will get then.(less)

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May 11, 2013 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

First off, I have been wanting to get a hold of this book and read it since it came out. Sadly, school and lack of the actual book made this hard to do. But I finally got a hold of it and I am SO happy. The last names are a hysterical as always (Barnaclegoose? Really?) as well as the rest of the book. Being a HUGE fan of the Parasol Protectorate, I was delighted to see some favorite supporting characters from that series de-aged in this one. Sophronia (how do you pronounce that anyway? Sof-ronia...more

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May 10, 2013 Fellshot rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk-ish

For some people the formula for young adult steampunk seems simple.

Step 1: Find some classic science fiction from the mid to late 1800′s.
Step 2: Add a “plucky” heroine.
Step 3: Add a love triangle.
Step 4: ????
Step 5: Profit!

After careful sampling and many dents in the wall, I have discovered that my reaction to his kind of novel is best illustrated by young Tardar Sauce the grumpy cat: NO.

If only someone would swan in, take that five step plan outlined above, lament at how unfashionable and unfla...more For some people the formula for young adult steampunk seems simple.

Step 1: Find some classic science fiction from the mid to late 1800′s.
Step 2: Add a “plucky” heroine.
Step 3: Add a love triangle.
Step 4: ????
Step 5: Profit!

After careful sampling and many dents in the wall, I have discovered that my reaction to his kind of novel is best illustrated by young Tardar Sauce the grumpy cat: NO.

If only someone would swan in, take that five step plan outlined above, lament at how unfashionable and unflattering it is, and put forth something new. Oh wait, Etiquette and Espionage exists.

Sophronia gets recruited to Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. Instead of simply teaching things like household management and bookkeeping as preparation for become a Lady of an estate, students are taught how to finish someone in the Mortal Kombat sense of the phrase and curtsy prettily while doing it. There is an unknown nefarious group pursuing the school for a prototype which was squirreled away by Monique, another student. Sophronia decides to figure out who wants it and where it is hidden.

The initial impression one gets while reading Etiquette and Espionage is that it is really quite silly. It looks like madcap school hijinks that are permissible only so long as one doesn’t get caught. It looks like an inordinate amount of focus on fashion and social rules and obligations. It becomes something very different, using those restrictions and expectations against themselves to disguise, mislead, and redirect with the intention to do so. Since everyone in the school is trying to learn how to do these things, everyone in the school has something going on that they want to hide. Sophronia really doesn’t want anyone to know how she gets around the restricted parts of the school undetected. All the teachers are also trying to cover things up, but their reactions when a student finds out what is going on, their reaction is more one of mixed praise (since the student is clearly trying to learn and apply those lessons on espionage) and discipline (the student got caught). Much of the time the conversations between the students and teachers have a subtext to them because the teachers know that the students are beginning to look for those cues and are interested in seeing what the students do once they figure it out.

Like the rest of the book, the characters initially come off as silly. Sophronia is introduced by her trying to navigate within a dumbwaiter and considered an unrefined pest by her mother, but what Sophronia needs is a creative outlet for herself. Dimity never stops talking about how she just isn’t the evil genius her parents are and how neither she nor her brother Pillover are quite up to par, but both of them are quietly creative in their own way. This is especially true when Sophronia finds the section of the school where the people who stoke the boilers in this steampunk setting are. The only person who ends up being exactly what they seem is Monique, who first shown as cannily deceitful and never stops being so through the book.

Those passingly familiar with The Parasol Protectorate books will recognize the very young versions of characters from that series. And also the way the technology involved is quite different between the two, what with mechanical butlers and maids in Etiquette and mostly human help-staff in the Protectorate books. It still has a similar sense of humor running through it and enough Pie in the Face jokes to satisfy one’s desire for a bit of slapstick. Actually…I just realized how important dessert is in this novel. It’s a bit of a running gag.

I enjoyed the book. I’ve gotten quite bored of several tropes in YA, not least of which has been the lack of anything even vaguely resembling a farce. When much of the fiction supposedly aimed at YA audiences is trying so very hard to prove that it is “serious business,” it was as refreshing as a summer blackberry and ginger trifle and just as enjoyable.(less)

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May 08, 2013 Talia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sophronia’s knack for mechanics and a tendency toward mischief are hardly desirable qualities for a Victorian lady, but they do make her an ideal recruit for Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

When the 14-year-old girl arrives, she quickly discovers her school is unlike any other. Classes taught by werewolves and vampires are merely the beginning. Along with music and dance, Sophronia is schooled in the arts of espionage and intrigue – hardly subjects her mot...more

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May 07, 2013 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fun. If you adored the Parasol Protectorate series, you may find this a tad underwhelming, despite being set in the same universe. This wasn't really the case with me, as I personally, I lost interest in PP around book three, so you may want to take this review with a grain of salt.

E&E is quick and entertaining. It's YA steampunk literature, so it's not going to be the Next Great Novel (or even the Next Harry Potter), nor is it setting out to be. If you want some truly frivolous prose about...more

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May 07, 2013 Aoife Roantree rated it 4 of 5 stars

'Etiquette & Espionage' is aimed at an approximately 12-plus age-group. It's the first novel in a proposed four-book series - The Finishing School. It's set in the same world as her popular Parasol Protectorate series, which I have heard good things about but have unfortunately not read.

'Etiquette & Espionage' tells the story of fourteen year-old Sophronia, sent away by her despairing mother to finishing school. Unfortunately, her mother is unaware that Sophronia has been recommended t...more

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May 03, 2013 Fly To The Sky rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review first appeared on my blog, Read Books and Live Green

This is one of those books that proves my theory that there is no such thing as bad steampunk! This book....GAHHH!! I loved it!! This book had it all! So here's my book breakdown:
THE PROS
1.) The beginning. For me the beginning was a glimpse into the wonderful world of steampunk. Instead of wondering whether the book I was reading was steampunk, this book immediatly came out with the fact, with an opening scene full of crashing dumbw...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Book Angel Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review by Clare (Year 10)

When I first saw Etiquette & Espionage I was expecting to read a book about a girl learning to be polite and proper young lady, with a few neat tricks up her sleeves. Not for one second did I think I would find a floating school, top-hat wearing werewolves and mechanical maids.

After an accident with a dumbbell Miss Sophronia Temminnick is sent off to Mademoiselle Geraldine’s finishing academy for young ladies of quality.

Throughout the book Sophronia is trying to find...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Aleap rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: being-female, education, steampunk

Apparently, this is a prequel to an existing adult steampunk series and features characters you would be familiar with had you read the adult series first. I did not know that going into this and although it shouldn't make a huge difference, it certainly goes a way in explaining why it was I was sometimes confused by things that seemed to be intended as a given, with no further explanation. Somewhat disappointing was the fact that this also read like a book intended for fourth or fifth graders a...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Aspen Junge rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ripping-good-yarns

Just wonderful! Suitable for a Young Adult and Young-At-Heart Adult audience, Etiquette and Espionage is set in the same steampunky world as The Parasol Protectorate series, but about a generation earlier. Young Sophronia Temminnick is a hopeless scramble of an adolescent girl, and for her rather embarassingly loud and untidy sins is bundled off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

"Finished," in this school, turns out to be more a transitive verb than an ad...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fourteen year old Sophronia Temminnick is driving her mother to distraction. She is nothing like her sisters or other girls her age. Rather than interested in fashion, good manners and elegance she has a fascination with climbing trees and discovering how things work by dismantling them. After an unfortunate incident with a dumbwaiter Mrs. Temminnick is only too happy when her wayward daughter is invited to Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality.

Sophronia dreads t...more Fourteen year old Sophronia Temminnick is driving her mother to distraction. She is nothing like her sisters or other girls her age. Rather than interested in fashion, good manners and elegance she has a fascination with climbing trees and discovering how things work by dismantling them. After an unfortunate incident with a dumbwaiter Mrs. Temminnick is only too happy when her wayward daughter is invited to Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality.

Sophronia dreads the idea of going to a school where she will have to dedicate her time to being truly feminine but since she isn’t given a choice she travels to the school with one of the teacher’s and another new student. What could have been a boring journey filled with apprehension turns into something far more interesting when their coach is attacked by flyway-men and it is up to Sophronia to save the day. And the school turns out to be not quite what she expected either. Not only is the school’s location rather fluid, the lessons are unexpected as well. Yes, Sophronia will have to learn how to curtsy properly, something which proves quite hard since:

“It is one thing to learn how to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time.”

Not to mention the fact that she has both a werewolf and a vampire among her teachers. And then there is the small matter of the missing prototype and the flyway-men so determined to acquire it that the whole school is being threatened.

Welcome to finishing school, where finishing comes in lots of different ways.

This book is so much fun. Sophronia is a wonderful main character; she’s feisty, clever, curious and not easily scared. Following her exploits is an exhilarating experience. There isn’t a dull paragraph in this book and almost every single page will contain at least one moment that will have the reader smile if not laugh out loud. But while the reader is taken from one exciting moment to the next and it seems like we’re on an uninterrupted adventure there is also room for character development and world building.

This book is set in a steam-punk version of Victorian England and this makes for a wonderful combination. I loved all the technical devices introduced in this story, especially Bumbersnoot, the little mechanical dog Sophronia secretly adopts. And I adore the idea of training girls to be assassins or spies while also teaching them how to be proper ladies. Everything a lady uses, wears or carries with her turns out to not only be a fashion accessory but also a potential weapon. Who knew there were so many uses for the simple fan or handkerchief?

It is hard to read this book and not draw parallels with the Harry Potter stories. The boarding school setting, the secret nature of the school and its location, the student who is an instant enemy, the unlikely friends, they are all clearly recognisable and I could probably come up with more examples. But, this story is unique enough to stand on its own two feet. Gail Carriger has created her own universe with its own quirks and charms. And while there are a lot of mysterious devices as well as supernatural creatures in this book there is no magic and that fact in itself sets the book apart from Rowling’s books.

If I have one complaint about this book it is that it wasn’t any longer. I don’t think this story would have suffered if there had been more descriptions and background information. I would have loved to read a bit more about the lessons and all the weird and wonderful skills the girls are taught. I would have liked to see all the other characters fleshed out a little bit more. As it was, all of that took a backseat to the thrill of the adventure. Mind you, this is the first book in a series, so I’m hopeful that in books to come I will find the detail I’m craving at the moment.

This book is a magical, thrill a minute sort of read that will keep the reader turning the pages with a huge grin on their face; pure enjoyment between two covers.
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Apr 11, 2013 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sophronia is 14 years old, from a very proper (and very large) family – and she is expected to be a lady. Which is unfortunate, because she doesn’t exactly fit – as becomes clear when she spills trifle all over a visiting lady while climbing in the dumb waiter; it all seemed like such a good idea at the time.

In despair, her mother sends her to finishing school – Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, which only the very best ladies go to.

Of course, her mother do...more Sophronia is 14 years old, from a very proper (and very large) family – and she is expected to be a lady. Which is unfortunate, because she doesn’t exactly fit – as becomes clear when she spills trifle all over a visiting lady while climbing in the dumb waiter; it all seemed like such a good idea at the time.

In despair, her mother sends her to finishing school – Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, which only the very best ladies go to.

Of course, her mother doesn’t know about the advanced curriculum in the floating school – held aloft by 3 giant blimps. The studies of poisons and weapons, of tumbling, of lying and manipulations; everything an intelligence gatherer – or an assassin – would need.

Learning alone in such a school would be a story in and of itself – but one of Sophronia’s fellow students is up to something – something that has even her teachers perturbed and angry and may risk the school itself. If that weren’t motivation enough, Sophronia doesn’t like her very much and is determined to get involved.

I love the delightful tone of this book, a tone that is common to all of Gail Carriger’s steampunks. We have the delightful formality of the time – the speech, the mode of dress, the stilted, powerfully restrictive modes of etiquette and proper behaviour all combine to ensconce us firmly in the Victorian era. Yet at the same time it’s funny and fun, there’s a lightness to it that both pokes fun at the rigid strictures of the time while at the same time using them to produce endless fun and a lot of good humour.

Even the very basis of the school rests on the inherent jarring juxtaposition of what the finishing school is. Here are young ladies of quali-tay learning all the proper (and relatively useless or frivolous) things such a young lady should learn – the proper way to dress, the way to speak, the way to address people of varying ranks; manners and deportment and attire and posture and polite conversation over dainty teacups and all the other important and vital information.

And then mix it up with the art of espionage and assassination. How does one order a lamb dinner AND strychnine when on a budget? What is the best way to hide a knife in one’s décolletage?

But it’s more than just the mix of the two – it’s how wonderfully well they’re blended. The stifling requirements of Victorian Etiquette aren’t just something they have to work round - after all, this is something we’ve seen before, deadly assassins, warriors and martial artists who dress up as helpless normal people – even frivolous, silly people – and then cast all that aside to become the lethal people they are underneath. Their fancy top is camouflage that gets in the way and needs to be cast aside and struggled with.

But not here – the finishing school USES Victorian Femininity as a strength, an asset. They have lessons on how to manipulate and control people by the way they faint, on the way they talk and act. They have lessons on inventive applications of a handkerchief, of how a sewing kit is always useful to carry in the most odd of occasions, even the intelegencer’s use of a ribbon. They have fighting styles that relies on stealth and surprise, approaching and killing quickly someone you engage in conversation – styles that rely on manipulation and stealth and people’s assumptions against them.

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About Gail Carriger

Ms. Carriger writes steampunk urbane fantasy comedies of manners to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. She then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a...more

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“He...boasted an unassuming mustache, which was perched atop his upper lip cautiously, as though it were slightly embarrassed to be there and would like to slide away and become a sideburn or something more fashionable.” — 19 people liked it

“It's no good choosing your first husband from a school for evil geniuses. Much too difficult to kill.” — 12 people liked it

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Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)

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