Oh man! I am already sucking at my resolution! Ah well, we continue on with Waistcoats & Weaponry, Gail Carriger’s latest Finishing School book. Sophronia and her lot are learning new things, including steel bladed fans which HOLY CRAP I WANT TO LEARN!

At any rate, Sophronia and her friends Dimity, Soap and Lord Felix Mersey embark on a foolish but well intentioned mission. Lady Sidheag Kingair’s pack back in Scotland is falling apart. They tried to attack the Queen, committing treason and causing their Alpha, Lord Maccon, to run away to London. Lord Maccon takes on the alpha of the Woolsey pack and wins, thereby gaining a new pack. This isn’t an entirely unexpected outcome as he couldn’t rightly stay with his old pack because of their betrayal. Sidheag doesn’t want to accept that though and feels that there must be some way to keep her family together.

Sophronia and Dimity, in the mean time, are at her brother’s engagement soiree, a costume ball. After a bit of a to-do with the mechanicals and an accidental engagement to Dimity’s brother Pillover, Sophronia manages to get the lot of them off to the railroad on her stolen dirigible (she’d had it masquerading as a fancy top to her mother’s gazebo). There they find an unusual train just sitting in the station.

This train isn’t a passenger train and it doesn’t appear to be a freight train. Intrigued, they hook themselves up to it and climb on board. Once there, they find that it’s a hive train and who is on board with them but their old nemesis Monique, newly minted drone. Not knowing what she’s up to but convinced its nothing good, Sophronia and the others take over the train, driving it north.

While all this is going on, Sophronia is fighting her feelings for the sootie Soap (a dark skinned boy who treats her the way she wants to be treated but is entirely unsuitable for marriage) and Lord Mersey (who is entirely suitable and gives her the shivers but doesn’t quite treat her the way she wants to be treated. And obviously his father is a Pickleman, which is really too bad). Her battle of the heart is an underlying theme all the way north, including when they get waylaid by flywaymen.

This book just came out about a month ago, so I won’t go any further. Needless to say, that book is amazing. Oh man. I cannot wait for the next book! So much potential! Please read this book! Please read this series! Rating: A+