Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Oct 31, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, paranormal, vampires, tween, young-adult, fantasy-and-sci-fi, era-victorian, spies, steam-punk, werewolves

“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.”

This is such a FUN book!! Completely appropriate for the tween and early teen set (older teens are often too busy being deeply cynical to enjoy a silly romp like t

“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.”

This is such a FUN book!! Completely appropriate for the tween and early teen set (older teens are often too busy being deeply cynical to enjoy a silly romp like this), also fun for the 40-50 something set (like me!), although possibly not as appealing to boys.

I went into it knowing nothing (except I had read the first Parasol Protectorate book, Soulless, so I had some idea of the general setting) and maybe that's best, so I'm spoiler-tagging the rest of this review (but there aren't any huge spoilers here). This is over-the-top, wink-wink silliness. Don't expect it to be realistic, or gritty. This book is having fun, and laughing at itself all the way.

(view spoiler)

I listened to the audiobook, and it's possible that I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read the paper version ( that might be the first time I've felt this way!). It was a fun audiobook, but I was annoyed every time Dimity lisped.

ETA: By complete coincidence, I've had a recent run of "misfit girl with specialness gets sent to a special secret boarding school for special girls" books:
* Hex Hall, which is set at a school for witches and other paranormals, modern-day world, lots of magic.
* I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, which is a school for girls training to be super-spies, modern-day world, no magic involved.
* And this book, which is set at a school for girls training to be super-spies, in a steampunk world with weres and vampires.
If you like one of these, you'll probably like the others. ...more

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Jun 03, 2019 Pam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-books-read, audio-book, fiction, england, steampunk

AUTHOR Carriger, Gail
TITLE Etiquette & Espionage
DATE READ 06/02/19
RATING 4.5/B+
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF Fiction/2013/audio/8 hr 55 min
SERIES/STAND-ALONE #1 Finishing School
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2019 Reading Goal 92/111;
GROUP READ
CHARACTERS Sophronia Temminnick
TIME/PLACE Late 1800's ? / England
COMMENTS Fun read! Sophronia is more of a tomboy than the young lady her mother wishes. She is interested in machines, inventions and adventures. Her mother sends her off to F ...more

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Aug 10, 2018 Rachel N. rated it really liked it

Shelves: england, humor, espionage, play-book-tag, young-adult, steampunk, read-in-2018

Sophronia Temminnick causes no end of problems to her mother so she is sent to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality which it turns out teaches more than just etiquette, lessons include poisons and knife throwing. Sophronia befriends most of the debuts, other newcomers to the school, and the sooties who work in the boiler room. She also acquires a mechanical dog Bumblesnoot which I loved. The whole book is very tongue in cheek with lots of steam punk elements. It ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is solidly a 3.5 stars, which I've rounded up because a) I liked it well enough and b) I'm way past the middle-school age that this is aimed at. I know it's listed as YA, but I think it skewed younger than YA usually reads.

Other things I wasn't entirely sure about:

Why it's set in the same universe as the Parasol Protectorate series, other than the fact that there are a few crossover characters and, I suspect, Carriger wanted enough of the same elements in this new series as to warrant not c ...more

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Jul 03, 2014 alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, steampunk, teachers-and-pupils, fantasy, sci-fi, audiobook, reread

In anticipation of reading the second Finishing School book Curtsies & Conspiracies, I listened to the audiobook of Etiquette & Espionage. While I don't love this book as much as the Parasol Protectorate series, I do love returning to the same world. Sophronia has grown on me a bit with this second reading, and I do love seeing little LeFoux. I'm wondering if any other familiar characters will make cameos in the series, AND I'm curious where Sophronia fits into Alexia's time....Also, I appreciat ...more

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Nov 22, 2012 alana rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, steampunk, teachers-and-pupils, fantasy, series-in-progress

Etiquette & Espionage takes place earlier within the world of the Parasol Protectorate series and brings a bit of insight into the younger lives of Genevieve LeFoux and Lady Sidhead Maccon. Written for a younger audience, this book lacks the slightly titillating moments with werewolves in favor of more time adventuring on dirigibles. My only criticism is the overabundance of ridiculous names. However, those who enjoyed Carriger's other stories should find this one quite entertaining as well. Bon ...more

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Aug 21, 2016 Jenifer rated it liked it

Shelves: england, audiobook, 2016-read, steampunk

I am a huge fan of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series and was so excited when I first heard about her Finishing School series. Etiquette & Espionage is set in the same Victorian Steam Punk world but this time we follow teenage Sophronia and her friends as she travels to finishing school. I didn't love this one as much as I love Carriger's adult series but it was still a worthwhile and fun read. ...more

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Apr 26, 2023 Madeleine rated it it was ok

Shelves: books-for-hipsters, speculative-fiction, kids-ya, series

Ugh, I had lots of problems with this book (how race is handle, how gender is handled, how there are exactly 0 queer characters although maybe I should actually be thankful for that given the previous 2 complaints) BUT I suddenly got really engaged in the story at the end and now I kind of want to know what happens next. Shrugging emoji.

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