Review
Curtsies & Conspiracies
by Gail Carriger
Curtsies & Conspiracies is the second book
in Gail Carriger's Finishing School series!
You don't have to read Etiquette &Espionage
before reading this one
but I highly recommend it!
First
sentences:
“Miss
Temminnick. Miss Plumleigh-Teignmott. With me, please, ladies.”
Sophronia glanced up from her household sums. She was glad of the
distraction.
Summary:
Does one need four fully-grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner
table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully-grown
guests? Sophronia's first year at school has certainly been rousing.
First, her finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy
be surprised!). Secondly, she gets mixed up in an intrigue over a
stolen device and has a cheese pie thrown at her. Now, as Sophronia
sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers'
quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she
learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than at
first appears ...
Vampires, werewolves, and humans are all after the prototype Sophronia recovered in Etiquette & Espionage, which has the potential to alter human and supernatural travel. Sophronia must try to uncover who is behind a dangerous plot to control the prototype as well as survive the London season with a full dance card.
source: Goodreads
My
opinion:
Curtsies
& Conspiracies is the second book in the Finishing School series
by Gail Carriger and as good as the all of her other books. The
official publication date was November 5th,
2013 but I found it at my bookstore on October 31st
and had to buy it. I might have done a little happy dance as well.
The book
starts with Sophronia, Dimity and their friends being at Mademoiselle
Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality for six
months now. Every student has to undertake a test after this time
period which decides if are allowed to stay at school or not.
Sophronia solves the test with her usual knowledge and unconventional
way of thinking but as she is declared the best of her little group
of friends the girls start avoiding her and she can't figure out what
she did to annoy them so much. Even Dimity, her best friend and
roommate ignores her. Shortly after this incident it is announced
that their school will travel to London which excites the girls
tremendously.
Curtsies &
Conspiracies is a wonderful sequel to Etiquette & Espionage and
written in Gail Carriger's typical witty, funny and engaging style
which I love so much.
Sophronia
is a headstrong and ambitious lady who not only enjoys her education
and her nightly trips to the sooties, especially Soap, but would do
everything for her friends.
Dimity,
Sophronia's best friend, is a typical lady and familiar with all
ladylike behaviour, including fainting, flirting and blushing but is
always there to help her friend when she needs someone to distract
the people surrounding them or fashion advice.
Soap is
one of my personal favorites. He is a sootie at Mademoiselle
Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality and even
though he thinks he stands beneath Sorphonia she sees him as one of
her best friends. She can always count on Soap and I think he is the
one who keeps Sophronia grounded at prevents her from becoming a lady
(which is good, don't get me wrong here).
With Curtsies & Conspiracies Gail Carriger managed to created a
wonderful sequel in a highly addicting Steampunk series and I highly
recommend it for Steampunk lovers and those who are looking for a
soft entry into this genre. Sophronia’s story is set before the
Parasol Protectorate series telling the story of Alexia Tarabotti but
we meet some already well known characters in the Finishing School
series.
I
cannot wait for Waistcoats & Weaponry to be published so that I
can continue this amazing journey with Sophronia and all the others
at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.
The books
in the Finishing School series are:
- Etiquette & Espionage (read my review here)
- Curtsies & Conspiracies
- Waistcoats & Weaponry (expected publication: 2014)
- Manners & Mutiny (no publication date given yet)
This sound like a good series, love the cover. Never heard of it before, thanks for telling us about it :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a lot of fun and might be the right book for me. I'm a bit weird in that I love the concept of steampunk but haven't actually read many (or possibly any, none come to mind) books in the genre. I'll go "ooh, this book sounds brilliant!" and then I forget about it... might be time to change that.
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