Bladed fans and dirigibles and werewolves and trains and
Picklemen… just another week for Sophronia Temminnick at Finishing School. Or
week 27 of the 52 Weeks of Books Challenge.
Gail Carriger, 2014,
Little, Brown and Company
Summary:
Waistcoats &
Weaponry is the third of four installments in Gail Carriger's Finishing School series, which itself is
a prequel to Carriger's popular Parasol
Protectorate series. The series follows Sophronia Temminnick through her
adventures and training at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young
Ladies of Quality - a finishing and spy training school wrapped in one. In her
third year, Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, and two young men from different
stations with the same level of interest in her hijack a train to get their
friend Sidheag home to Scotland. Along their way, they stumble into a dastardly
plot that could affect the whole of London if it is allowed to continue.
Why I Read It:
The last of the borrowed books, hooray! This one was not so much passed on to me as I asked to borrow it because I wanted to read the
third book in the series before I read the last one. Manners & Mutiny (Finishing School #4) was a lovely birthday
present last year, but has not been read yet and is currently sitting in my
stack of books to read between now and the end of the year.
Opinion:
I'd never read anything out of the steampunk genre before I
plucked Gail Carriger's Soulless off
of my younger sister's bookshelf a few years ago. It was a dark time where I
was buying novels that interested me in the store, only to leave them
languishing on my bookshelves because they lost appeal by the time I got them
home. In reading it, I fell in love with the humor Carriger brought to a world
of vampires, werewolves, and other-natural beings. The steampunk elements made
the story a joy, and Alexia, the main character in that series, is one of my
all-time favorite fictional characters. Any visit to the Parasol Protectorate world makes me happy.
Waistcoats &
Weaponry was, therefore, a thoroughly enjoyable return. I almost wish
Sophronia Temminnick was my best friend - the girl is smart, quick on her feet,
and her loyalty to her friends through thick and thin (even when she thinks
they're doing the wrong thing) runs deep. While she hasn't taken a seat next to
Alexia as an all-time favorite, I will pick up a book Sophronia is in.
One of the elements I could have done without was the
Sophronia/Lord Mersey/Soap love triangle that was brewing in Curtsies & Conspiracies and came
into full fruition here. It was good for a few laugh out loud moments as well
as moving some parts of the story forward, but the young adult series love
triangle is becoming overdone for me in general (I think I talked about that in
my review of the third book in the Matched
series, which you can read here and see if I am remembering correctly).
Speaking of Soap, though… oh, Soap. I feel like Soap, the
loveable sootie from Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy and Biffy, Lord
Akeldama's beloved drone in the Parasol
Protectorate series, should sit down for a talk or start a club. They both
hold the distinction of having been turned into werewolves in order to keep
them alive. I'm sure they would have a bit to talk about, although we find out
in Waistcoats & Weaponry that
Soap actually wanted it before he nearly died while Biffy… well, Biffy would
rather have been turned into a vampire. Maybe it's early, but I am sensing a
pattern with this. I'll be keeping an eye out for it in the Custard Protocol series (a sequel to the Parasol Protectorate series following Alexia's daughter, Prudence).
Conclusion:
I'll just say this is another example of how to step back
into a beloved fictional world without ruining it and leave it at that.
52 Weeks of Books Challenge? What is that? What book is Cat reviewing next week?
Read up here! Link: http://www.catpollockwrites.com/p/blog-page_30.html
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