Sophronia is an extremely intelligent young lady. When coupled with her boundless curiosity, you have a young lady who is bound to get into trouble and has a habit of sneaking into places where she shouldn’t be. At the beginning of the story, Sophronia has little care for etiquette and prefers to partake in activities deemed, unladylike. As the story progresses, she becomes more of a proper lady. Her curtsies and manners develop, but she remains curious and unafraid of getting her hands dirty to achieve a task.
Gail Carriger’s Etiquette & Espionage is a relatively slow paced book. Gail Carriger tends to dwell on the details, especially in the beginning of the story. Although the details are important to understanding the steam punk environment, it can make the book rather dull. The majority of the setting is within a school, so there are average middle school stereotypes and problems. This book has an interesting way of naming its chapters. Each chapter was a different lesson, for example, “Lesson 3: How Not to Make Introductions” (Carriger 32). Almost all the character in this book love spewing witty remarks, although the witty moments can be far and few between. In all, I give this 307 page book 3.5 stars.