Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

A collegue of mine gave me this book with the words 'You have to read this, it's hilarious'. When I started reading it I have to admit I felt a bit confused and I had trouble figuring out the genre. It was not until I had finished reading it and was looking for some information on the author that I understood that this book belongs to the steampunk genre.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction which is typically set in the British Victorian era or the American Wild-West. A typical feature is the steam-powered machines and this novel is full of steam-powered air ships and domestic mechanicals. To that can also be added vampires, werewolves and flywaymen.

The novel was released in February 2013 and is the first novel in a series called the Finishing School Series. Novel number two -Curtsies & Conspiracies will be published in November 2013.

Etiquette & Espionage is a young adult novel which is set in England in 1851 and the protagonist is fourteen-year-old Sophronia Temminnick. Sophronia is not as interested in being a proper lady as her mother would wish. Sophronia is more interested in taking apart clocks and climbing trees than proper manner. When we first meet her she has just destroyed the dumbwaiter when trying to eavesdrop on her mother and her visitor. The following quote, which I just love, is from when she is trying to come up with an excuse for her behaviour:

"'Well, I simply wanted to see how it worked and then there was this-'

Her mother interrupted. 'How it worked? What kind of question is that for a young

lady to ask? How often have I warned you against fraternising with technology?"

If Sophronia is ever going to have chance of finding a husband, her mother decides to send her off to a finishing school where she will learn proper manners. However, Mrs Temminnick has no idea of what kind of finishing school Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality really is and neither does Mademoiselle Geraldine, the headmistress of the school. The young ladies do learn proper manners, but they also learn about espionage and how to finish off people in different ways. 

As mentioned, this is a novel for young adults and as such it probably works and I did enjoy reading it and have learnt  a lot of new vocabulary. However, steampunk is not quite my cup of tea. I did not find it as hilarius as my collegue and it is not very likely that I will ever read the second novel in the series.