Manners & Mutiny

January 1, 2016

Gr 6-10-The final book in "The Finishing School" steampunk/paranormal series (Little, Brown) comes to a satisfying conclusion. After an eventful spring, with Sophronia thwarting the Picklemen, and indenturing to the Dewan to save Soap, the rest of the year at Madame Geraldine's Finishing School is quiet. Sophronia, Agatha, and Dimity prepare to leave for the holidays and attend a ball at Bunson's School for Evil Genuises. At Bunson's, Sophronia turns Bumbersnoot over to Vieve for upkeep, as well as the installation of a crystal valve that they hope will alert them when the Picklemen attack again. Older sister Petunia surprises Sophronia with a pleasant Christmas in London with plenty of shopping and a possible lead about the Picklemen's plans. Madame Geraldine's annual New Year's Eve tea is interrupted by Flywaymen and Picklemen taking over the school. Sophronia hides when the students are evacuated and, for three perilous days, removes adversaries and learns their plot. To save the empire, she must go down with the dirigible. The last-minute arrival of her friends and nemesis Monique offers Sophronia a slim chance for survival. Carriger deftly ends the series with most of the young ladies "finishing" their schooling and going off into the world. Sophronia's future is left open, and the lead of Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" (Orbit) adult series is hinted at. The addition of a cutaway map of the dirigible makes it easy to follow the exhilarating adventures of these young ladies with special talents and proper manners. VERDICT A great addition to any library where the books are popular.-Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016
This fourth and final book about Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality, an espionage school in the guise of a finishing academy, is as eventfuland entertainingas Carriger fans would expect. Capable intelligencer-in-training Sophronia navigates her way through a ball that she and her fellow students must attend incognito (as one another); nefarious Picklemen are on a scouting mission on the school's dirigible; and a dinner party alongside politically powerful vampires and werewolves ends with a bang (literally). These plot threads and several others come together during a New Year's Eve party onboard the dirigible, which the Picklemen use as an opportunity to hijack the floating school for their own ends. Naturally, Sophronia takes it upon herself to stop them. Once again, the mashup of steampunk and supernatural elements makes a fascinating world for Sophronia to operate in; it also allows her, ultimately, to fashion her own unconventional happy ending. If the motivations behind various characters' and groups' machinations are occasionally unclear, it's perhaps because Sophronia herself is struggling to make sense of themand readers will likely be having too much fun to worry much about them, anyway. The Finishing School series goes out in style, with plenty of derring-do action, witty repartee, several surprising revelations, and satisfying romance. And, of course, some to-die-for accessories. katie bircher

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)