Manners & Mutiny, Gail Carriger

Pages: 322

Publisher: Atom

Release Date: 3^rd November

Edition: UK paperback, purchased copy

Other Titles by this Author: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, Timeless, Etiquette & Espionage, Curtsies & Conspiracies, Waistcoats & Weaponry, Prudence

Are you ready to graduate from Finishing School?

Espionage lessons 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 fashionable 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 a decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.

What will become of our proper young heroine when she puts her years of training to the test?

I went into Manners & Mutiny with a bittersweet excitement. I was both excited to see how Sophronia and the gang’s adventures would conclude, but I was also really sad to be seeing them go.

After the dramatic ending of Waistcoats & Weaponry, *spoiler for book three coming up!* Agatha is in Scotland with the werewolves and Sophronia’s has bargained for Soap’s life with her own and Soap is now a dashing young werewolf and Sophronia’s finding it harder than ever to resist him. *spoiler over!* The dynamics between Sophronia and Soap have changed, but Sophronia is still scared of admitting her feelings and adjusting to the fact that a relationship with Soap would go against social expectations. Their relationship really came into focus in Manners & Mutiny and it was nice to see that other side of Sophronia.  

Sophronia, Dimity and Agatha have a rather big mission on their hands for their final adventure at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s. The Picklemen are up to something, something bigger and more dastardly than ever before and as the teachers refuse to listen to Sophronia, she has to take it on herself. This is definitely Sophronia’s biggest moment and she pulled together everything she learned at Finishing School to save her friends, her teachers, and maybe even England itself. The finale of this final battle takes the whole final third of the novel, and while that might usually get on my nerves, Carriger retained the humour, charm, wit and brilliant danger that I've come to love from this series so I was happy!

Manners & Mutiny had one of my very favourite things: a well-rounded, fun and satisfying epilogue. It catches up with Sophronia a while after the final battle and we find out where everyone is and what they’re up to. I love a flash forward, especially when it retains everything I've loved about a novel or series and I think Carriger did it perfectly here.

This was a wonderful ending to a wonderful series and I’m glad I’ve got a whole other series of Carriger’s still to read.

Sophie