Manners & Mutiny (Finishing School, #4)

by Gail Carriger

In an alternate England of 1851, Sophronia Temminnick is the only hope for her friends, her school, and all of London when she must put her espionage training to the test to thwart an evil Picklemen plot.

• ISBN10: 0316190284
• ISBN13: 9780316190282
• Publish Date: 3 November 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

3,5 stars

It's nice to see Sophronia's character growth in Manners and Mutiny. While Sophronia's character growth seemed stagnant in previous books in the Finishing School series, in Manners and Mutiny, Sophronia's ready to take on the world, but she's still reckless and all action. However, I still feel that Sophronia lacks some type of spark that makes her memorable.

I also like that Sophronia relies heavily on her friends in Manners and Mutiny. Dimity, Agatha, Vieve and Pillover have become more fleshed out characters with each book in the series. The teachers are also colourful and intriguing and exactly the type of teachers that a school teaching espionage and intelligence should have. I especially enjoyed reading about the fact that Mademoiselle Geraldine actually knew what was going on in her school.

I've never been a huge fan of the main plot in the Finishing School series and Manners and Mutiny didn't change my views. The plot is well-executed, but I'm just not interested in reading about Picklemen, machinery and technology.

There's more romance in Manners and Mutiny and while I didn't mind the direction of the romance, the relationship between Soap and Sophronia lacks chemistry and feels forced.

Manners and Mutiny is hilarious, entertaining and full of utterly ridiculous shenanigans. I'm glad that I gave the Finishing School series a chance and I like how the series ended.

[Beth C.]

I really enjoyed this series, and I greatly appreciated how it wrapped up (no spoilers!). I'm looking forward to reading more by Ms. Carriger, now that I've had my late introduction to her.

[tellemonstar]

Loved it.

[MurderByDeath]

Ahh... the last book.  Sephronia's last year at Madame Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality (Quali-tay).  She's become quite the intelligencer and rather deadly to boot.   

The book wraps up the over-all series arc and shares a few surprises too.  There's a bit of romance in this one and I like that it's as daring (for the times/universe) as Sephronia herself is.   

I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it; it lacked the 'oomph' of Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series – and even the first two books of this series.  Still, it was entertaining and the writing, if not necessarily the plotting, is full of razor-sharp wit and humour.  I never thought I'd say it, but I love the steampunkiness of her books and I look forward to reading the first of her newest series: The Custard Protocol - Prudence.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

Gail hasn't disappointed in her end to the Finishing School series. I was left very satisfied with the way she tied up the ends, as well as leading into or hinting at her the Parasol Protectorate series. Definitely a feel-good ending. Loved the series, but I really hope she goes back into more adult books with the Prudence series. Hehe. ;)