April 22, 2013

Review: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger


Title: Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)
Author: Gail Carriger
Release Date: February 5th, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 307
Source: Purchased
Rating: ★★★ 
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.
[Summary Source: Goodreads]
THE REVIEW

Sophronia is your average, vaguely rebellious teen. She makes lots of trouble for her mother until she's sent off to a finishing school. But this isn't your average finishing school. It's a finishing school for future assassins. An unconventional Finishing School, if you will (you like that pun, don't you?). As the first book in a series, Etiquette & Espionage introduces Sophronia to a Steampunk world filled with exactly what the title suggests: etiquette and espionage.

Let's break this down:

Okay. This book was great because it totally provides some exciting additional STUFF to Gail Carriger's adult Parasol Protectorate series (of which I've read the first 3 books - all 3 of which I ADORED). But it's great for a whole bunch of other reasons as well.

First of all, HEY NOW BOARDING SCHOOL. I love boarding school stories. It gives the characters so much room to flourish away from their parents. Sure, there are teachers and holidays and whatever, but there's something about a quirky bunch of kids who are mostly left to their own devices that really makes for an awesome book. And since this book mostly takes place on a dirigible, I'd say the level of hijinks and such that students are able to get into are tripled. I mean, just Sophronia's discovery of the Sooties was enough to provide me immense joy.

Then there's Sophronia, who's a stubborn, exciting protagonist. And I think now is a good time to say that this book really does remind me of Harry Potter just a little bit. I mean, there's the school itself: an out of the ordinary boarding school with a building/location that can't QUITE be pinpointed - yeah, Hogwarts. But it's more than all that. Sophronia reminds me a lot of Harry himself because she really is brought into a world she had no idea existed. She wasn't one of the girls who was picked up because she was a legacy. She was brought in and introduced to this brand new world she had no idea existed. Furthermore, she's not like the other girls. She hangs out with Sooties, adopts an illegal mechanimal and is overly curious. She's super nice, doesn't have an agenda and REALLY wants to know what the heck is going on at this school.

But y'know what? I don't think we ever really find out what's going on at this school. That's where a lot of my issues with this book come from. At the end of it all we kind of find out how Sophronia got to the school, but I still don't really understand the structure of the institution. Also, how LONG is Sophronia in this school? Hogwarts is explained fairly quickly so the reader AND Harry can (sorta?) know what's going on, but Sophronia just runs around getting into trouble because... what? Why is she potentially endangering herself for a school that kind of kidnapped her?

This confusion didn't make me dislike the book, however. Maybe it's because I'm a lover of the adult series. I really, really enjoyed Vieve, Sidheag and Captain Niall's backstories. Like whoa, I was so happy every time their names appeared on the page. I also LOVE Gail Carriger's Steampunk world and this expansion of it made me SO VERY happy. I think I'm intrigued with this Finishing School idea. To be honest, I was definitely way more excited at the end of the first book in the Parasol Protectorate series, but I'm still interested in finding out where this goes.

The long and short of it?

Plot: The idea of a literal finishing school is PRETTY FREAKING COOL. Especially when it's made up of girls in Victorian style dresses who have to combat the supernatural element.
World Building: A little iffy. I'm not totally sure what's going on at this school but I'm interested in finding out.
Character Development: Sophronia really does seem to grow into a lady, but not a stuck up lady very much unlike the girl she was at the start of the book. She's just more of a refined lady who still sticks up for the little guy and does things HER OWN WAY. And then, of course, there are the characters from the Parasol Protectorate series that pop up and I LOVE learning more about them.
Prose: Prim and proper, just like the Victorian era, I suppose.
Would I Recommend This Book?: I can't tell if my interest and like for this series comes from my interest and LOVE of the Parasol Protectorate series or otherwise. I think I'd recommend the adult series and if you like that, go back and read the Finishing School series.

Do you like Steampunk? How about boarding schools? Gail Carriger? Werewolves? Vampires? Ghosts? OH MY INDEED. Let me know what you guys thought about this one in the comments below!

12 comments:

  1. Wait... the school is a dirigible? Holy crap that just made this book shoot up on my TBR list! I haven't heard of the Parasol Protectorate series, but now I'm interested in both!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This one sounds so interesting! I keep thinking I may want to read it, but that I'd love to read the PP series first, because that sounds right up my alley. I think it's awesome that the MC in this one grows over the course of the book though. That's rad!

    Molli | Once Upon a Prologue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DEFINITELY read PP and LET ME KNOW what you think!!!

      Delete
  3. It's now on my TBR list simply because it's steampunk, and Victorian. Is the other series you mentioned, Parasol Protectorate, also steampunk-ish? It sounds like it from the goodreads description and if it's in the same universe as this one. Well, they are both on my TBR now :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES! Also Steampunk. It's the same universe! I hope you get to all of it and love it!!

      Delete
  4. I have heard about this book and her other series, and I'm curious about both! I don't normally read that kind of book, but I'll admit to being very, very curious indeed. Based on your review, I may have to pick it up because ANY reference/comparison to Harry Potter just makes me perk up immediately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RIGHT!? It's not as mysterious as Potter is. But the setting's really fun and I think, with time, the series will get better. But definitely read the adult series first!

      Delete
  5. My husband left me last year after 25 years of marriage (he turned 50). It has been the most difficult year of my life, but full of lessons about myself and what life and marriage are all about. I am passionate about marriage and i didn't give up on my husband. resides in USA, I entered online in search of advice on how i can amend my marriage while i was at work. I saw so many positive reviews and nice feed back about how a Doctor called______________Robinson.buckler@ yahoo. com has been wonderful with his work. I gave a shot to make contact with him via his Email and he assured me that my marriage will be peaceful and i believed in his words. 16 hours after he finished work, my husband came back home pleading and now, we are living peacefully again. Get in contact with him if you need any help. he is the real deal WE’RE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. HOW I GOT MY EX HUSBAND BACK WITH THE HELP OF REAL AND EFFECTIVE SPELL FROM DR Aluya My name is jessica, I never thought I will smile again, My husband left me with two kids for one year, All effort to bring him back failed I thought I'm not going to see him again not until I met a lady called Jesse who told me about a spell caster called Dr Aluya , She gave me his email address and mobile number and I contacted him and he assured me that within 48hours my husband will come back to me, In less than 48hours my husband came back started begging for forgiveness saying it is the devils work, so I'm still surprise till now about this miracle,i couldn't conceive but as soon as the spell was cast,i became pregnant and gave birth to my third child,if you need any assistance from him you can contact him via:email:{aluya.48hoursspelltemple@gmail.com} you can also call him or WhatsApp contact:: +2348055431163

    ReplyDelete
  7. i got hpv from my boyfriend  and i was trying all i could do to get rid of this virus over 4 months now i have taking a lot of drugs from different medical doctor which didn't work at all, last month i was doing some research on google on how to get cured totally from this virus i found someone testimony on how she got cured totally from hpv with the help of doc. onokun  natural herbs and she drop doc onokun email address, So i decide to give him a try and i contact him for help he told how to purchase the natural herbs and i did that, Do you believe i only took this herbs for 2 weeks and i got cured permanently from the hpv virus without no side effect. Thank you so much doc onokun for the help i will make sure i tell the whole world about you. contact him if you need his help too  via: Dronokunherbalcure@gmail.com 

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm 61 years old, I contracted hpv in 2011' I has be taking lot treatment for it and embarrassed some months ago the wart stated coming out seriously, I used lot recommendation because there was lot warts around my anus and was so . but today I'm totally happy I got the virus eliminated by using natural treatment from Dr Onokun herbal center after his treatment I got cured. all the warts went away' seriously believed Dr Onokun he have the cure for human papillomavirus because he has eliminated hpv been in my body since 2011, Dr Onokun make it possible for me. Here is Dr Onokun email:  dronokunherbalcure@gmail.com 

    ReplyDelete

Hey there! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment. Also, if you have a blog, be sure to leave a link so I can go check it out!