REVIEW: Etiquette & Espionage: Finishing School Book the First by Gail Carriger

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My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

When mischievous young Sophronia Temminnick is sent off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, she immediately envisions the worst—for she would much rather be climbing and dismantling mechanicals than learning how to be a lady. But coupled with the fine arts of social etiquette, dress, and dance, the girls are also trained in espionage, diversion and intelligence gathering. Insofar as Sophronia had expected to abhor the boarding school, housed in an air dinghy hovering over Dartmoor, she instead finds that she's quite enjoying her time there, thriving in an environment that seems to cater to her shenanigans. Danger ensues as Sophronia commissions some of her new friends in tracking down a mysterious prototype, and meets an odd assortment of gentlemen, flywaymen, and Picklemen along the way.

This was a fantastic read! I quite enjoyed the romp through this fantastical 19th century world, of dirigibles and air dinghies. The writing style was fairly fast paced, slowing down at times when extra description was needed, but otherwise moved along pretty quickly. There were elements of the supernatural as well, though they definitely didn't dominate the story. I loved Sophronia's character, her determination and fearlessness were inspiring. And the little mechanimal Bumbersnoot... awesome!

I've already started on Curtsies & Conspiracies, the second book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.