Curtsies & Conspiracies

Let me start off saying that I read book 3 before book 2. It wasn't awful because there was plenty of action and character development that occurred in book 2 to make me go back and read it. However there wasn't so much that happened that I was lost by skipping. If I had read them in order, then my complaint wouldn't be a complaint.
The action and character development increased with each book. So there is more action in book 3 and I am more in love with the characters in book 3. That is a good thing for the Finishing School Universe and for all those that read them in order. However for the one that read them out of order, book 2 didn't inspire as passionate a response as book 3. But I just couldn't not read it! I am in love with Sorophina, Dimity, Sidheag, Agatha, and Soap. I will take any chance I can get to hang out with them!

Sophronia, Dimity, and the rest of the girls at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Aademy for Young Ladies of Quality are being tested. Some will do well, others will end up on probation, and one will stand out. Meanwhile, something is going on that will land them in London, and it appears someone is after Dimity and Pillover. Using her training, Sophronia plans to get to the bottom of all the secrecy surrounding her. I don't read a lot of steampunk, but I really enjoy these books. The messes they get into are very funny to me and I look forward to the next book.

Pros: fun characters, interesting mystery, dry humour

Cons:

For Parents: minor violence, kissing

Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality makes course for London after picking up some gentlemen from Bunson and Lacroix's Boys' Polytechnique. They're to see the results of an experiment in navigating the aetherosphere, something that would greatly reduce travel times. But not everyone wants the experiment to succeed.

In many ways this is a light-hearted Harry Potter, if Harry went to a school for spies in a dirigible set in a steampunk Victorian England, cared more about fashion and Hermione was the protagonist. This is the second book of Gail Carriger's Finishing School series, and it maintains the same level of propriety crossed with rule breaking as the first. The humour is dry, the sort you acknowledge with a snort rather than a guffaw, despite how unbecoming either action would be in polite society.

Sophronia and her gang of misfits are such fun characters, though due to exam results, she finds herself working alone more than she'd prefer, in this volume. It was also nice to see her encounter real consequences for the kind of work she's training to do, making her wonder if this really is what she wants.

The mystery involves several threads, some of which harken back to the events of the previous book. There's also the knowledge at the end that though things were resolved, there are still some questions to be answered.

If you haven't read these books, you're missing out.

Sophronia is back, along with her eclectic group of friends, in this second outing. First, let me say, I know about ‘sophomore slump'. I seen in it shows and read it in books. I am pleased to say that this is not that. If anything, I would have to say I liked C&C a bit more that E&E. (Come on, I can't be the only one using these abbreviations.)

I still have some of the same issues as I did with the first in the series (lacking in plot, stereotyped characters) - but they were definitely fewer an further between. The story did improve, but not as much as I had hoped, and the characters were settling into their roles quite nicely. Surprising - at least to me - was how this novel tied into the previous in the series. And that was something that gave this story much more sturdy footing from which to tell its story. While this outing could have built on the series, it really didn't. Not saying it needed to, as I am genuinely enjoying this series, but, in terms of comparing this one to E&E... It neither made the series climb (as I had hoped) or fall. So, ultimately, I have to say that this is a solid edition to the series and I liked it.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)