Hey guys! It’s Jo, and today I’ll be reviewing the book Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger.
Overview: Etiquette and Espionage is about Sophronia Temminick, a fourteen-year old girl growing up in 1800s England. She gets recruited by Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing School, which she quickly learns teaches finishing in both ways, the fancy and the sinister. She makes some good friends (and some enemies), explores the floating school (yes, the school floats), visits the boiler room and hangs out with “sooties”, goes to lessons with supernaturals like werewolves and vampires, and wraps herself up in trouble and adventure. It’s a steampunk adventure in frilly dresses.
Review: I really enjoyed the idea of this book. It’s like Harry Potter, except that instead of learning magic, the students at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s learn etiquette and espionage, wear frilly dresses instead of robes, and go to school in a dirigible caterpillar. As Marie Lu reviewed on the back cover, “The perfect steampunk version of Harry Potter.” I thought the plot line was pretty interesting, and all the scenarios Sophronia gets herself into are really fun. Some things that happened seemed awfully convenient to the plot, so that they were almost unbelieveable. The actual premise of the conflict of the plot was pretty interesting, but basic at some points. At some points it seemed a bit plotless, but it all wraps up in the end. Gail Carriger really builds off the plot. I loved all the characters like Dimity, Vieve, and Soap. The writing kind of annoyed me. It sounded very immature. I understand that Gail Carriger was trying to make it sound old fashioned, but it didn’t really suit me. In my opinion, the writing quality wasn’t that great. 
Rating:
Plot: ****/*****
Characters: ****/*****
Adventure: ****/*****
Character Development: ***.5/*****
Writing quality: **.5/*****
Hook (how much the story had me hooked): ***/*****
Language: */***** (no bad words at all)
Use of alcohol or drugs: */*****
Age: It is a young adult book because of level of reading, but I think that it is appropriate for anyone 10 and up.
All in all, I thought that Etiquette and Espionage was a pretty good book, and it is part of a series, so I would recommend anyone who is interested to read it.
-Jo
A Reader Lives a Thousand Lives 