Book Review: Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger is the third book in the Finishing School series. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series, as there is a growing storyline that requires the build up to fully enjoy the character interaction. Sophronia continues her second year at finishing school in style and with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown. Such a fashionable choice of weapon comes in handy when Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and the charming Lord Felix Mersey stowaway on a train to return their classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. No one suspected what--or who--they would find aboard that suspiciously empty train. Sophronia uncovers a plot that threatens to throw all of London into chaos and she must decide where her loyalties lie, once and for all. 

Waistcoats & Weaponry has the action and character development that I have come to expect from this series. There are twists and turns to the tale, and some surprises along the way. I liked the discoveries of strengths and weaknesses in their group, and their opponents. Sophronia continues to be a fun heroine, and is working hard to discover what she wants from life in the long run, and just what is going on in the world around them. Tension between Sophronia, Soap, and Felix is ramping up, and decisions need to be made. While I liked the high action and drama, I felt like the series has lost a little momentum and that this book is just the filler to string us all along to read the fourth book in the series. Although, I must admit that it does do that job admirably and I am now chomping at the bit for Manners & Mutiny, which should be released in November of 2015.  

If you have enjoyed the Finishing School series thus far then you need to read Waistcoats & Weaponry. I do not this it continues with the same quality of the two previous books, but it does hold some necessary story lines, sub plots, and precursors to the expected conclusion of the series. 

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