Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger

Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger is the final book in the Finishing School series. I have previously reviewed the first three books: Etiquette and Espionage, Curtsies and Conspiracies, and Waistcoats and Weaponry. This final book ties up the main plot elements and dangers raised in the earlier books and provides a fitting conclusion for all of our favourite characters. (And, quite frankly, made me want to pick up Soulless again, when I finished reading, just to check some suspicions.)

Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine’s floating dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia’s sweet sootie Soap nearby. She would much rather be using her skills to thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she’s not sure whom to trust. What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is certain: a large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster—in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.

What will become of our proper young heroine when she puts her years of training to the test? Find out in this highly anticipated and thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Finishing School series!

This book was on form with humour and adventure. I feel like it might have been even funnier than the earlier books although it's hard to compare since it's been a while since I read them. In any case, Manners and Mutiny had me laughing out loud several times.

The story in this book focuses more strongly on Sophronia and then Dimity and Agatha than the previous books. While boys still exist, they are much less relevant than, particularly, they were in Waistcoats and Weaponry. Agatha has now become the third in Sophronia and Dimity's little group and plays a more prominent role now that Sidheag has left the school. After being the most background character in the first three books, we suddenly get to see Agatha in the foreground a lot more and learn more about her. So that was interesting and a bit surprising.

Most of the latter half of the book is taken up by the main climax of the series. I was a bit surprised at just how long the climactic event lasted, but it definitely wasn't boring at all. Even more than the earlier books, this one really tests Sophronia's mettle and allows her to learn more about herself (rather than learning about poisons or fan fighting). And of course, there's the part where Sophronia comes to the end of her Finishing school experience, a test of it's own.

Basically, this series is awesome. If you've read the earlier books, I can't imagine why you wouldn't read this conclusion. If you're new to the series, this is absolutely not the place to start. I recommend starting with the first book, Etiquette and Espionage. This was a wonderful series and I am looking forward to more Gail Carriger books in my life.

5 / 5 stars

First published: November 2015, Little, Brown Books
Series: Finishing School, book four of four
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Google Play