On Reread: Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger

On Rereads is a monthly feature on My Thoughts Lit where I talk about the books I reread during the month. It's an opportunity to share some new thoughts on a book I read before and usually to prepare for a new release. For the foreseeable future I plan to do one reread a month so I want to share my thoughts on these books the second time around.

Remember how I said I was going to reread The Finishing School series and The Lunar Chronicles by the end of the month. HAHAHA, that was funny. I don't know what I was thinking. I behind on my TBR to begin with so what males me think that I will be able to do twice as many rereads than I have ever done. It was very optimistic and I totally failed at that. But I did get a chance to finish one of those series so here is my thoughts on the audiobooks for....

Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger

Etiquette and Espionage -  (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible / My Review)

I read this series a year ago and it was right about that time that my interest in steampunk really started taking off. I remember absolutely loving the world of this book.Gail Carriger is a master of combining fantasy and science fiction with magical creatures inhabiting a world of technology and for lack of a better word, robots. The contrast is so interesting and there is so much conflict. I also adore the boarding school here and it was great to experience that again.

But what really struck me during my reread is how much stuff from this book comes into play during the rest of the series. When I first read it, I didn't find the plot very interesting because it felt like a lot of setup. But knowing where the story was going, I saw the clues and hints that I missed the first time. I found it so much more complex this time around and very impressed with Carriger's writing and the fact that she clearly planned this whole thing out really well.




Curtsies and Conspiracies - (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible / My Review)

With Curtsies and Conspiracies it was much the same as Etiquette and Espionage. I loved the world so much and the exploration of the supernatural with the steampunk. I noticed during this book that it seems to be that I remember so little about middle books. I forgot a lot about the plot of this book and found myself thinking, "is this the book where this happens?" One thing I do I remember is loving all the information about vampires the first time around. Plus the conflict here is also really cranked up and so this time around I also found it much more complex because I saw the big picture more and where things were going.

I also found in this case that I really enjoyed the audiobook in this series. There are a lot of different people from different places and the narrator does such an amazing job doing a French accent, a Scottish accent, even a Cockney accent. I loved the characterization and the personality she gave to each character it fit so well. The only one I didn't like was Vieve. I love her as a character but I found her voice grating and I wanted her to be less involved so I didn't have to hear it. But then I felt bad because I love Vieve. In general I did find that I loved the audio and think Moira Quick is a fantastic narrator.

Waistcoats and Weaponry - (Amazon / Goodreads / Audible / My Review)

Waistcoats and Weaponry was when I really fell on love with this series. I loved the way things were developing and felt like this time around there was less exposition and more actual plot development. There is also a ton more conflict and things are more political here. But despite the fact that this was my favorite book the first time around, it was a bit of a disappointment during my reread. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't get anything new out of it and with rereads that is a lot of the point.

But the thing that I did love about this book is the character development. I have gotten so attached to these characters after three books and therefore this one is much more of an emotional read. I remember getting hit in the feels for the first time in this book and it definitely happened again. The fact that I like the characterization during the audio made that even worse.

Now I am ready for Manners and Mutiny, the last book int the series. I'm really excited to find out what happens with the characters, especially Sophronia. It comes out next Tuesday at which point it will magically get delivered to my kindle so I can start reading. I won't be able to continue with the audio though. I am however considering continuing with this series. This is technically a prequel series. The series Carriger originally wrote is the Parasol Protectorate, which is I think 30 years after this series and involves a few characters. I'm liking the world so much I may not want to let it go.

Have you read the Finishing School Series? Have you done any rereads lately? What books? Do you like doing rereads or not? Tell me why.  Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!