AUTHOR: GAIL CARRIGER
Pages: 312
Date: 12/04/2013
Grade: 4
Details: Finishing School Book the First
Received from Atom
Through Nudge
Own
Fourteen year old Sophronia Temminnick is driving her
mother to distraction. She is nothing like her sisters or other girls her age.
Rather than interested in fashion, good manners and elegance she has a
fascination with climbing trees and discovering how things work by dismantling
them. After an unfortunate incident with a dumbwaiter Mrs. Temminnick is only
too happy when her wayward daughter is invited to Mademoiselle Geraldine’s
Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality.
Sophronia dreads the idea of going to a school where
she will have to dedicate her time to being truly feminine but since she isn’t
given a choice she travels to the school with one of the teacher’s and another
new student. What could have been a boring journey filled with apprehension
turns into something far more interesting when their coach is attacked by
flyway-men and it is up to Sophronia to save the day. And the school turns out
to be not quite what she expected either. Not only is the school’s location
rather fluid, the lessons are unexpected as well. Yes, Sophronia will have to
learn how to curtsy properly, something which proves quite hard since:
“It is one thing to
learn how to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a
knife at the same time.”
Not to mention the fact that she has both a werewolf
and a vampire among her teachers. And then there is the small matter of the
missing prototype and the flyway-men so determined to acquire it that the whole
school is being threatened.
Welcome to finishing school, where finishing comes in
lots of different ways.
This book is so much fun. Sophronia is a wonderful
main character; she’s feisty, clever, curious and not easily scared. Following
her exploits is an exhilarating experience. There isn’t a dull paragraph in
this book and almost every single page will contain at least one moment that
will have the reader smile if not laugh out loud. But while the reader is taken
from one exciting moment to the next and it seems like we’re on an
uninterrupted adventure there is also room for character development and world
building.
This book is set in a steam-punk version of Victorian
England and this makes for a wonderful combination. I loved all the technical
devices introduced in this story, especially Bumbersnoot, the little mechanical
dog Sophronia secretly adopts. And I adore the idea of training girls to be
assassins or spies while also teaching them how to be proper ladies. Everything
a lady uses, wears or carries with her turns out to not only be a fashion
accessory but also a potential weapon. Who knew there were so many uses for the
simple fan or handkerchief?
It is hard to read this book and not draw parallels
with the Harry Potter stories. The boarding school setting, the secret nature
of the school and its location, the student who is an instant enemy, the
unlikely friends, they are all clearly recognisable and I could probably come
up with more examples. But, this story is unique enough to stand on its own two
feet. Gail Carriger has created her own universe with its own quirks and
charms. And while there are a lot of mysterious devices as well as supernatural
creatures in this book there is no magic and that fact in itself sets the book
apart from Rowling’s books.
If I have one complaint about this book it is that it
wasn’t any longer. I don’t think this story would have suffered if there had
been more descriptions and background information. I would have loved to read a
bit more about the lessons and all the weird and wonderful skills the girls are
taught. I would have liked to see all the other characters fleshed out a little
bit more. As it was, all of that took a backseat to the thrill of the
adventure. Mind you, this is the first book in a series, so I’m hopeful that in
books to come I will find the detail I’m craving at the moment.
This book is a magical, thrill a minute sort of read
that will keep the reader turning the pages with a huge grin on their face;
pure enjoyment between two covers.
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