I LOVED this book! Rosen smushes together Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest, throws in a dash of Frankenstein, a smidge of Conan Doyle, a side of English boarding-school, and a heaping tablespoon of steampunk. And it worked! It worked! *cue lightning and mad laughter*
Violet and Ashton are twins but never really cared about it that much, until Violet realizes that she simply HAS to attend the best mad-scientist school in the world, the prestigous, highly selective, and male-only Illyria College. No worries. With the help of effete Ashton (an acknowledged and mostly un-remarked "invert" known now as the much less loaded 'gay') she learns to dress and act as a man, submits her application, and promptly has her headmaster falling head over heels in love with her (to the disconcertion of said headmaster, who is decidedly NOT gay, and doesn't understand why he's attracted so to "Ashton.")
If you're familiar with the two main source texts, you know how things will go, but the journey isn't really the point here. Characters are delightful (especially the professors and their mini backstories), mad science romps through every page (I had to stop reading to laugh about the poor exclamative bunny, Oscar) and the story winds to an eventful conclusion that leaves just enough strings lying about to form a sequel, but not to feel as if it needs one.
All in all, absolutely delightful.
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