Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Etiquette and Espionage (Finishing School, #1)

by Gail Carriger

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.

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. Temminnick 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.

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on

4 of 5 stars

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A fabulous adventure! The names of the characters in this book alone are worth the read!

Ms. Carriger has a beautiful way of immediately putting you into the book - it was so easy to 'see' the story as I read the pages of the book - even the incredibly complicated layout of the school was visible to some degree in my minds eye. The Parasol Protectorate character crossovers made getting to know this new world easier and more entertaining as well. I'm very intrigued by Mr. Niall too.

Just a wonderful, fantastical adventure of a read all around. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys some paranormal steampunk.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 8 April, 2013: Finished reading
  • 8 April, 2013: Reviewed