Having read and loved Etiquette and Espionage, I couldn’t help but buy Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger, the second in her young adult Finishing School series.
We find our heroine, Sophronia Temminick, about to undertake a test at the beginning of this book, which involves a strange machine called an ‘oddgob’. The machine proceeds to test her tea-serving ability, not to mention her choice of weaponry and her skills of surveillance, with the results being delivered before the other pupils. With several of the students told to improve their performance (Sophronia’s best friend Dimity included), Sophronia instead scores the highest marks possible and suffers her fellow spies-in-training being turned against her.
Ostracised, with only Vieve, Soap and her mechanimal for company, Sophronia takes to increasing the frequency of her nightly jaunts around the airship, attempting to eavesdrop on important staff conversations. She discovers that the mysterious prototype from the first book might actually have a use in aether travel, which would allow higher speed air travel than thought possible, not to mention having the potential for vampires to roam further afield. With there being several factions known to be against the supernatural, there are those who would prevent this scientific experiment and go to any lengths to get their hands on the device.
Along with these scientific advancements, there is the added excitement of a select few boys from Bunson’s Academy joining the girls onboard the airship for a trip to London. Their number includes Dimity’s brother, Pillover, and Felix Mersey, a lord who has taken a particular shine to Sophronia and goes out of his way to try and gain her attention. Of course, there are also regular trips to the boiler room where we find Soap, our favourite sootie, and even more scenes featuring Vieve, the clever young inventor. With an even wider cast of characters, there are even more opportunities for Sophronia to drag people into her wild schemes, using her wits and intelligence along with her impeccable taste for fashion.
I love the way that this series is continuing to expand, with even more characters being introduced in this book as the airship progresses towards London. This change of setting allows for even more cameos from Carriger’s main series, whilst also expanding the supernatural influences throughout the book. This particular instalment sees further exploration of vampire nature and the restrictions on their movement, with Sophronia taking a particular interest in the science of their existence and applying this to the new prototype developments.
In the first book, I did think that Sophronia needed to work harder at being a team player, but in this book her wild and solo excursions seemed to flow a lot easier than before. I think the difference is that she uses her skills at subterfuge to connect with other characters, such as her trips to visit Vieve or Soap. With her being cast out from the crowd in the beginning, we get to see her observations on the other girls and her lonely attempts at conversation, and find that she actually misses her friends and their valuable inputs about what might be occurring. It is through the others that we learn more about vampires and werewolves, as Sophronia is far from knowledgeable about supernatural society and cannot learn everything by herself.
I especially enjoyed the fact that our heroine is almost forced to rely on others for help in this book, particularly towards the conclusion, as I think she comes closer to realising that not everything can be accomplished alone. This is extended to the school’s relationship with Bunson’s school for boys, as we are given more of an insight into how the schools run side by side and the different objectives they share. Their differences are exemplified in Sophronia’s relationship with Felix Mersey, as her attempts at pushing him away only serve to reinforce the similarities between their teachings and his potential reliability as an ally. We get the suggestion of romantic awakening in our heroine, as she begins to realise that Soap might see her as more than a friend, with his increasing jealousy over Mersey’s attempts at courtship. I’m interested to see how this love triangle develops in future books, as I think it has a great pace so far.
Once again, I adored this series and everything that Gail Carriger has to offer in her steampunk alternative of Victorian England. I liked how this instalment gave us more of an insight into vampire culture and the science involved, perhaps even more so than in Carriger’s main Parasol Protectorate series. Sadly, we got to see less of the girls’ classes than before, although the fraternisation with Bunson’s was entertaining and shed more light on the relations between the two schools. I think that we are left with a few unanswered questions for next time, especially as Sophronia’s relationships with both Soap and Mersey are developed substantially in this book, so I can’t wait to dive in to a new term at this particular finishing school.
Rating: 4 Stars
Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
(Finishing School #2)
Steampunk, Young Adult
Atom (5 Nov 2013)
Paperback: 310 pages
Website || Goodreads || Amazon UK: Paperback / Kindle || Amazon US: Paperback / Kindle
