MANNERS AND MUTINY SPOILERS SERIES

I really liked that we finally get to see Agatha come into her own in this last book, especially finally proving herself as just a capable (if not potentially better, given her demeanor) intelligencer as Sophronia’s friends.Īnd it’s also worth seeing Sophronia’s development as a future spy and how she’s even gone in the wrong direction at times. It’s definitely most prevalent with Agatha’s character development in this book-it’s been hinted at that she does have a darker edge to her at times as well as holding her own secrets, but even then she’s been mostly a milksop girl who tended to get shoved to the side thanks to the dynamic personalities of Dimity and Sidheag.

Carriger certainly does do a good job of presenting an incredibly varied cast of characters, but on occasion, the development of some characters tend to get shafted until they’re needed. MY HEART STILL WEEPS FOR MY POOR BABY.) Especially with the departure of several of Sophronia’s friends and contacts from the last two books, which I think actually helped the characterization. (And in Vieve’s case, the breaking point from wide-eyed excited baby inventor to the jaded, cool bifauxen lesbian inventor in Changeless. It’s also interesting to see how these characters developed from the young and slightly-wide-eyed inductees to Madamoiselle Geraldine’s to the jaded and experienced inteligencers by series’ end. Lyall’s cameo in this book did not help.) SpoilerWhile the ending of Manners & Mutiny does signal a massive world impact with the mechanicals’ revolt, it’s really more of a world-building detail rather than dealing with the emotional fallout from Lyall’s betrayal of the Woolsey alpha. (With the exception of Waistcoats & Weaponry, which I would argue has had the most emotional impact and fallout across all three series.

MANNERS AND MUTINY SPOILERS SERIES

One of the things that I’ve always loved not just about the individual series, but the universe in general is that there’s a sense that Carriger has everything planned out so far in advance that this was always meant to be, or that because while the events of each series do leave some lasting effect on the world, the individual events aren’t as immediately important to the present-day characters most of the time. It’s also because to the best of my knowledge, the Custard Protocol series feels truncated with only two scheduled books-and given the coloring scheme of the covers, there’s a likelihood that it will be a duology-and I do think that Prudence Akeldama-Maccon and crew have a wealth of adventures in them that we might not get to see.)Īfter the generally good but somewhat lukewarm Waistcoats & Weaponry (aside from the ending that left me crying and yelling at the book), Manners & Mutiny packs in so much of the action and intrigue that seemed to be missing at times from the previous volumes, leading up to a literally explosive and surprising ending that manages to segue neatly into the preceding series without the plot connections feeling too heavy-handed or crammed in to make sense. (Although while I say I’m sad about this universe ending, I would love to see Carriger branch out and doing something completely different from what we’ve already seen from her.

I don’t think that I’ve fallen in love with a universe that’s so well-crafted and engaging this quickly, and while Manners & Mutiny strings together the threads to bring forth the main Parasol Protectorate plot, it’s impending end is enough to make me sad.

I don’t know what I’m more devastated about at the moment-the final book of Gail Carriger’s wonderful Finishing School series, or the fact that her Parasol Protectorate universe will effectively finish with the release of next year’s Imprudence.

Manners and mutiny spoilers