Etiquette and Espionage (Finishing School #1)

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)

Gail Carriger

Publisher: Atom

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.

This was your choice of books for me to read this month and it was so much fun!! I just dived straight in and found myself enchanted with the idea of a finishing school where young ladies learn manners and subterfuge in a world where werewolves and vampires are the height of fashion and steampunk rules.

Sophronia is a troublesome fourteen year old who keeps getting into scraps at home, so ends up being shipped off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. What her parents don’t realise is that Mademoiselle Geraldine’s trains young girls in the art of espionage, assassination and defence of the realm, while using the correct cutlery and curtseying fashionably. Sophronia is sharp witted and quick and not afraid to take risks, while the rest of her friends she meets at school area variety of young ladies – including one or two who might be familiar to those you have read Gail Carriger’s other series, the Parasol Protectorate. It reminded me so much of the boarding school books I read a young child (Enid Blyton and Trebizon) or Hogwarts. Where the teens manage to solve more mysteries than the adults – and take more risks!

The machinery in the world are amazing – from the mechianimals to the robotic ‘staff’ there is no end of the imagination used to create a truly unique world. There is so much happening and the characters are just fantastic fun. I actually feel the world suits a YA story better than a regular story – and I can’t tell you how much fun discussions of proper manners and correct protocol are! If you want a great summer read than pick this book up – and I promise you will have a blast!

Recommended for fans of Kelley Armstrong and Richelle Mead. 9 out of 10 

Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5) Review

Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5)

-       Gail Carriger

Publisher: Orbit

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle. Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

This is the final book in the Parasol Protectorate series following the adventures of Alexia, in the Victorian era when one can easily have tea with a vampire and a carriage ride with a werewolf...as long as you mind your manners. Two years have passed since Alexia and her husband Lord Maccon, had their daughter Prudence and it’s been two years of relative calm (with the exception of bath time of course). Now though, the death of the Scottish Pack’s Beta means that Alexia, her husband and daughter are set to head to Egypt and the source of the Godbreaker’s curse.

One of the elements that I love about this series is the comedy of manners that has evolves. The idea of going out in public without a hat – scandalous! Tea and cake are essential for British mentality, and Alexia ensures that this is never missed. The first half of Timeless is set in London and is quite slow going as we catch up with all our favourite characters – Biffy, Lord Akeldama, Ivy Tunstall and of course we meet Prudence, Alexia’s daughter for the first time. While this re-introduces us to all the players and provides plenty of comedy moments, not much of interest actually happens – that is all saved for Egypt.

Once Alexia and family hit Egypt a lot happens in a short space of time. The pace speeds up and there is little time to think as events – both heartbreaking and inevitable seem to happen quickly. The ending is sweet and pretty inevitable, but feels like it’s missing that spark that would make it completely satisfying. I’m not sure what it is, but while I did enjoy this visit to Victorian steampunk London, it felt very much like Gail was setting up the scene for a sequel series – perhaps focussing on Prudence when she’s older..? Surprisingly though the next series will actually be a prequel series!

In the end though this is a good finish to a consistently entertaining series and I will miss having tea and cake with Alexia in the future.

Recommended for fans of George Mann and Patricia Briggs. 8 out of 10

Heartless Review

Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate 4)

-       Gail Carriger

Publisher: UK – Orbit

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant. Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

Despite being eight months pregnant, Lady Alexia Maccon takes no prisoners in her latest adventure. From the first page, she waddles in control of herself and others – and making sure there is always a cup of tea at the ready. One of the elements I love about this series is the comedy of manners that ensures. After all, werewolves turning into naked men causes certain social niceties some issues...

This world neatly combined elements of steampunk (steam inventions and dirigibles) with the paranormal in a world of Victorian ideals. This means that unmarried women don’t go out unchaperoned, and even in the midst of an attack it’s scandalous to see men without hats upon their heads. The investigation into who is threatening the queen is interesting – especially when Alexia gets side tracked. However, the first half of the book is relatively slow moving with little urgency until the final hundred pages when there is a huge finale across London and into the countryside.

I love the cast of characters about Alexia, from her over protective alpha husband, Lord Maccon, the dandy former-vampire drone Biffy, mad inventor Madame Lefoux and even hat-obsessed Ivy Tunstell. The world is unique and this is a rip-roaring adventure with perfect manners and a lot of fun.

Recommended for fans of Nicole Peeler and Philippa Ballantine. 8 out of 10.

Blameless Review

Blameless (Parasol Protectorate 3)

- Gail Carriger

Publisher: UK – Orbit

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all the London vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead. While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires - and they're armed with pesto.

This book arrived in the post recently from my preorder and jumped to the top of my TBR pile. Alexia Tarabotti, a half Italian in Victorian England where her foreign blood and extra-ordinary ways is more frowned upon than Vampires or werewolves. She has such a strong character it really comes to live as does the effort Gail Carriger has put into her steampunk Victorian world blended with the Supernatural – where the state of your soul has an impact on whether you will survive the change to an immortal state or not. The world seems slightly familiar but at the same time with the emphasise on manners and society so different. The world is one I would happily spend a lot of time in and I thoroughly enjoyed time here.

Having said that, it’s not a great book for new comers to start with as so much of this novel is a direct continuation of the cliff hanger at the end of Changeless. In part this book doesn’t answer all the questions raised – there are loads of loose ends hanging. This is something you expect from a lot of series now where the overriding arc is spread over a collection of books and doesn’t impact my enjoyment – although it makes me impatient for the next in the series! This novel like Souless and Changeless is a lot of fun and very readable. The pages just fly by and if you’ve read the previous books you’ll enjoy this as well.

Recommended for KE Mills fans and Terry Prachett fans. 8 out of 10