REVIEW: Manners & Mutiny

[feather_ghyll]

Manners & Mutiny, Finishing School Book the Fourth: Gail Carriger. Atom, 2015

And so the finishing school series ends, just as a lifetime of adventure is opening up for a finished Sophronia. But what an ending to this YA series about spies in training in a steampunk Victorian England with a strong supernatural element!

It starts a bit slowly, although the chapters are entitled crises. Sophronia is back at school, one of the older pupils, keeping her future indenture with the most important werewolf in the country a secret, only occasionally hearing from Soap, now learning how to be a werewolf. She’s worried about what all that business with the mechanicals was really about, and after a party with the Bunson’s boys that’s also an assignment, when Sophronia notices three Picklemen infiltrating the school, specifically the pilot’s bubble, she charges in. But after all the excitement, disappointingly, the school authorities dismiss her concerns.

A visit to newlywed sister Petunia in London at the start of the Christmas holidays gives Sophronia plenty to think about. Soap is now demanding that their relationship alters, now that he is a werewolf and his status has altered, something that Sophronia’s rational side thinks is impossible, while the rest of her is sorely tempted. There is an invitation for her, pals Dimity and Agatha, and ignorant Petunia as chaperone to a soiree at vampire fashion-leader Lord Akaldema’s. What happens there leads to further indications that the Picklemans are up to something no good involving the mechanicals, which the vampires, werewolves and others are mightily interested in. But not Lady Linette, the real headmistress of Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing School for Young Ladies. Sophronia’s attempts to follow up the clues of a legendary intelligencier and former pupil just throw up doubts and lead to a punishment for her and loyal Dimity.

But everything changes when the airship that carries the school suffers an accident. (Or is it an accident?) Sophronia’s choice to stay, because her instincts are screaming that something is wrong, lead her to be there when finally the answers and true plot are revealed. With few assets (Bumbersnoot, her mechanimal, the remaining sooties, the fake headmistress who knows nothing, the vampiric Professor with his own brand of insanity and maybe the help of a former rival), Sophronia has to rely on her smarts and training to pull off a spectacular save. If it means facing the death of enemies, so be it.

Sophronia really is growing up, which means taking responsibility, facing the cost of the promises she’s made and letting her heart make important choices for her future. Quite early on, she is cautioned against becoming so much of a spy that she's unwilling to trust, although she realises that Soap is one of the very few people she trusts with the whole truth, which is one of the reasons why she can’t lie to him and say that she doesn’t love him, even though her fertile brain can’t see a socially acceptable future for them. Of course, it turns out that some of the characters who have been around since the first book have not been what they seemed, not at all, surprising Sophronia and us. This includes, but is not exclusively characters she never trusted, yet Sophronia continues to trust her instincts, to rely on her loyalty to her friends and their loyalty to hers as a strength, as well as any leverage she has in a given situation for the best as she sees it. Her practicality, clear talents, doubts and certainties make her a rootable heroine.

And in the middle of all this serious saving the country stuff, there’s a throughline of silliness, like the daft titles of the members of the nefarious organisation known as the Picklemen, and fun axioms. Attire (especially gentlemen’s top hats) is taken far, far too seriously, which I appreciated.

It therefore tilts a little older than the start of the series did, hinting at a more adult sexuality. The future for Sophronia and Soap will not be respectable, but they’re happy with living in the shadows, working for someone who sees past Sophronia’s youth and gender to respect her, for now. She also gains a better understanding of others, including her sister Petunia, in another sign of maturity. It’s clearly the end of an era, although I know Carriger has written more in the universe. Sometimes it was less interesting, but on the whole, it was a fun romp and page-turner.

I've changed the style of the journal. Who knows if it will stick, although I can be very lazy!?