Review: Waistcoats & Weaponry

Title: Finishing School #3: Waistcoats & Weaponry

Author: Gail Carriger

Date of Publication: November 4, 2014

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: Sophronia continues second year finishing school in style -- with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown. She, best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and charming Lord Felix Mersey stow away on train to return classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. No one suspects what or who would be aboard the suspiciously empty train.

My Review:

Carriger never fails to entertain me and Waistcoats & Weaponry was no exception. Hilarious writing, lovable characters, and the strongest plot in the series yet, this novel was a wonderful read! Short and quick I blew through this novel in a little more than a day, and honestly it was just the thing I needed to boost my spirits.

This novel definitely had the best plots of any of the Finishing School books, though we haven't lost any of the flair that we've all come to love from Carriger. Sophronia and her friends are starting to get older and Waistcoats & Weaponry focused not just one ridiculous lessons and hilarious dialogue but the worries Sophronia and her friends have regarding the future. At the end of the novel we get a bit of the idea of where Sophronia is going and I'm super excited to see her out the real world, rather than purely at finishing school.

Even though this series is very light on the romance, bordering on non-existent really, I'm happy to see that the love triangle has (mostly) cleared up and we have some room for actual romance in the future. I'm not really one for love triangles but Carriger did an amazing job on this one, even though there was one person I was rooting for in particular (Soap!), I really liked both of the love interests for completely different reasons. Sophronia came a long way in this novel in that she was able to come to terms with the fact that all of them were growing up and, even though it took awhile, she was able to realize her feelings and hopefully in the next novel we'll get to see her act on them!

But in the end what makes these novels so fantastic is how outrageous they are. I just can't get enough of Carrigers writing and I constantly find myself laughing out loud during her novels. The writing is a perfect blend of propriety and the ridiculous that it really brings the novel together. To be honest the plot and romance aren't all that amazing and without the writing I probably wouldn't enjoy these nearly as much as I do, but the writing is so wonderful and fantastic that I can't stop coming back for more, and loving every minute of it.

Carriger is truly one of the most talented steampunk writers in the genre today. I just can't get enough of her writing and I'm so excited to get my hands on the next book in this fantastic series. I can't recommend this one enough!

4/5