Ok so, probably four stars are a bit too much but this book put me in a good mood so I'm willing to be generous. 
 I definetly like steampunk when it doesn't take itself too seriously (the genre seems to require such an attitude, in my opinion) and this book certainly satisfies the requirement what with the idea of a finishing school that teaches etiquette applied to espionage techniques while floating mid-air in a sort of dirigible and evil bandits who never travel without their cravats and top hats. 
 Certainly this book is aimed to a young audience and this emerges especially in the subtle gliding over possible violence scenes but the plot is still entertaining and adequately mysterious even if not particularly original and it made me want to read the Parasol Protectorate which is supposedly for an older audience (and it may also explain some details about the setting which are here taken for granted). 
 There are also some similarities with the first Harry Potter book in the structure - the protagonist is possibly the only student unaware of her abilities in the fine art of espionage and murder and of the existence of this sort of school, she meets her best friend during the long journey to the school, whose location is unknown and befriends "lower" members of the staff and is prone to gather information by roaming the school at night. 
 Nevertheless, the context is so different ( and so refreshingly almost-all female) that such similarities can be forgiven, also because the protagonist is quite agreeable and gifted with courage and a certain disregard for society rules without being the usual tomboy. I also appreciated the lack of romance, for once. 
 Carriger's style shows that kind of "well-mannered" irony that the Victorian setting seems to require and does a good job of using a vocabulary adequate to the age, even if several repetitions are present that could certainly have been avoided by a more careful editing. 
 All in all a nice experience.