| Title | : | Mairelon the Magician (Mairelon, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0765342324 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780765342324 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published February 10, 1991 |
But there is something odd about this magician. He isn't like the other hucksters and swindlers that Kim is used to. When he catches her in the act, Kim thinks she's done for.
Until he suggests she become his apprentice. Kim wonders how tough it could be faking a bit of hocus pocus.
But Mairelon isn't an act. His magic is real .
Mairelon the Magician (Mairelon, #1) Reviews
-
I saw that someone on my Goodreads list had put this book up and I thought, "Hey, I think I have that on my shelf somewhere." Sure enough, it was there. I don't know where I got it, I've had it for years and never read it. It was either something I inherited from my mom's collection of books when she was downsizing or it was a gift from my aunt who is a librarian and has given me many cool books over the years.
Anyway, one night Seth and I were looking for something to read aloud together. We had finished reading "These Three Remain" from the Fitzwilliam Darcy series (which is totally fun to read out loud, especially if you get your husband involved. In my case, it had been his idea, so bonus!) We pulled Mairelon the Magician out next and started reading.
It was very clever and entertaining. As fantasy plots go, we liked it better than Harry Potter. It was a lot more intricate and elaborate. We wanted to hurry and get our stuff done for the day so we could read the book together! I even tried out a cockney accent. It was a great cross between fantasy and a Regency era mystery. Totally fun and a fairly quick read. It took us about 4-5 days, and we were reading out loud. -
I wish I had a ton of good things to say about Mairelon the Magician, but I don't. In fact, I did something with this book that I have NEVER done with a book before--I gave up on it in the middle of the climax.
*If you aren't interested in scathing reviews, stop here!*
I had just slogged through a cliched 'gather all the usual suspects into one room' scene that was loooooong, boring, and confusing, with a good dozen characters (many of them called by more than one name) running around in the dark, when the main character was asked to explain what's going on, and what does he say? 'Sure, but it's a long story!' I just about lost it.
My favorite character was Kim, the POV character. But she turned out to be little more than the POV character, her only purpose in the story to be in the right place at the right time to witness all the happenings of the book. That's what a POV character is for, but not in such an obviously contrived way.
It's too bad. I like Patricia C. Wrede's Dealing With Dragons series. Maybe she's just not cut out for mystery. -
This book felt so thoroughly mediocre. Which is unusual, I think. Most books have something that make them stand out more (in good or bad ways!), but this felt like just a collection of things that I like well enough, but that never became more than that.
Like, Regency era with magic! Orphan girl falls in with mysterious magician! But it never really sparked for me. There was stuff that was supposed to be all farce-like, but . . . it's not even that it felt flat. It was just THERE. Mediocre.
Oh well. I'll still read the next. -
Regency heist capers! This book is amazing -- magic and manners all wrapped up into an amazing package filled with thieves cant and not a single person who is what they seem.
I love this book! It's a perfect winter reread. -
I was quite disappointed with this book, mostly because I loved PCW's Enchanted Forest Chronicles and this book wasn't nearly as good. It had loads of potential, with Kim going from gutter thief to a crime-solving magician. But it didn't deliver.
1st, it was third person, and I feel the story would have been stronger from inside Kim's head. Do much of the story is about the old guy Mairelon anyway, and I wish the story was actually about the main character instead.
2nd, Mairelon seems like a girl's name, and it bothered me throughout the book that he was a guy, although it would have been okay if Kim called him by his real name, Richard.
3rd, Kim's street slang was over the top distracting.
4th, Kim does almost NOTHING to further the plot. Come to think of it, Mairelon himself does little. They eavesdrop a lot. And talk a lot. And Kim . Oh, and she overturns a table. And then they do some more talking.
5th, the conclusion did not come off as funny ridiculous. It was just dumb ridiculous. The guy with the pistols (loaded, as we find out when he accidentally shoots the ceiling), waves the pistols around and orders everyone to silence . . . and (get this) no one listens. Well, they listen, frightened, for about a second, then they atart arguing again. People keep arriving on scene, at this out of the way cabin which half of them shoukdn't have known about. And the bad guy just keeps waving his pistols around. He has killed before, but these people, whom he does NOT need alive, just annoy him. Why doesn't he shoot one or two or ten of them? No, he chooses to shout at them and wave his pistols around.
And Jon Aberwhatever was not a comical figure. Maybe because too much of the story was about adults; I don't know why. He would wench and get drunk and bungle both his robbery attempts. And generally get in the way of everyone else.
Oh, there were just too many people in general, and it was hard leeping all their names and relationships straight, especialky because everyone had a first and last name and a title, and some had nicknames or (like Mairelon), fake names.
At least the actual ending (after the loooong conversations) was actually decent, with Kim finding out she could learn magic (um, yeah, we knew that from beginning, big surprise).
Kim was dressed as a boy the entire time. She did almost nothing, just observed. And she didn't even prove to be an interesting character. I never felt like she was in danger, and the brief paragraph when I did, I didn't care. -
This book is one of my main comfort reads. The writing is a little rough in patches (you can tell this is one of Wrede's earlier books), but Kim's voice is so fantastic that it lives in my head for days after I finish reading it, and Mairelon's character is adorably exasperating. They're one of my favorite fantasy duos, and I wish Wrede had written more than just two books for them! Full of vivid characters and, in Kim's words, "better than a Drury Lane comedy" for sheer farcical absurdity, this book is perfect for anyone looking for a quick, lighthearted fantasy read.
-
When Kim is caught snooping in the wagon of a traveling illusionist, she's shocked that her target reacts by offering her a job. Helping Mairelon on stage sounds like the perfect way of getting out of town for a bit, but it soon becomes clear that the man she's joined up with is no ordinary performer.
This one got off to a promising start with Kim's introduction to Mairelon and her encounters on the streets of a fantasy-world London. It's a little coincidence-heavy and I feel like I've read one too many girl-who-dresses-as-a-boy stories, but I try to give YA more of a pass on those kinds of things.
Unfortunately, the book starts to get off track once the characters start traveling. Based on the setup, I was really expecting Kim to spend at least a little time playing magician's assistant, but after finishing the novel that whole idea felt like an excuse to get her along and teach her some trick knots. I wish the early part of their trip had been expanded a little and actually made use of the interesting premise.
The mystery had some cute moments, but it ended up as a bit of a mess thanks to putting nearly every character ever mentioned in one large room and having them talk the plot to death. Far too much of the story was just told to the reader, with Kim acting mainly as an observer of bigger events.
The twist at the end for Kim wasn't much of a surprise. Not a huge deal, but it made a lot of this book feel like setup for the sequel, which I'm not sure I plan to read. -
I'll try to review this in full later, but for now:
I read this as part of the
A Matter of Magic set, which has this and the next book in 1 volume; since I'm not done reading A Matter of Magic, and don't know when I'll get back to it, I'll just talk about this individually for now.
Basically, I love Patricia C Wrede. She writes characters that I just adore, and this - mostly - was no exception. Everything was going along swimmingly until suddenly it WASN'T.
I'm giving this a 4 because I'm setting aside this HUGE WEIRD PERIOD at the end that went effing crazy. Turned into a total slap-stick sideshow. I'm pretty sure that EVERY character in the book was gathered in 1 room, and all under suspicion, at one point. And then they all Scooby Doo-ed.
You know that thing where everyone just spills their guts and WAY overshares, explaining away every damn thing?
That.
That happened.
I hate that.
But it was like some weird glitch, or something, because aside from that (and my sometimes-irritation at the slang), I really enjoyed this. -
Wow, I haven't disliked a book this much in a really long time. There were too many characters and I just had no desire to keep track of them. The dialog was horrible and page after page was filled with what could have been said in less than one. I broke down and decided to skim read and then just started skipping whole pages. I would pick a page and read a few lines here and there to try and catch on what was happening and it was the same for about 50 pages!
"You have the platter??" "No.. I have the platter.. haha!" "Think again it was a fake!" "I know where the platter is!" "E's goin to get the platter!... No No E's not because I have snuck up on him and now I will get the platter instead!"
The mystery of the magic platter was just NOT that interesting to me and I was bored. I couldn't wait for it to be over.
YA fantasy is really hit or miss for me... and this one was a huge miss. -
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. After the good reviews I thought I might go into it expecting a little much, but it delivered.
The protagonist was sympathetic and developed well during the story. The antagonists were quite dislikable, in a likable sort of way for an antagonist. That may sound strange, but I've read way too many books where the bad guys were just bad and that was all. There was some development here, and I appreciated it.
Not exactly what I was expecting, but well done and a very pleasant diversion. -
This was a fun story and yet, if you are familiar with Patricia C. Wrede, it feels a bit like...every other Patricia C. Wrede book you've read. Especially Sorcery and Cecelia. Lots of convoluted thieving cant, ridiculous characters, and an improbable climax all designed to heighten the absurdity of the situation. I think if I read this book years ago I would have enjoyed it more. As it is, I saw some traces of Georgette Heyer and some elements of fun but never quite fell in love with it.
I do like Kim and Mairelon, though, and I immensely enjoyed the sequel. This is worth reading for that. -
Almost 17 (at least as near as she can tell), Kim has spent all of her life on the streets of London, living disguised as a boy and struggling just to survive. An orphan with no other means to support herself, Kim once belonged to a family of thieves but an unfortunate run-in with the law has left her more alone than ever, her taste for 'the cracking lay' utterly destroyed. Now she gets by as best she can, so she doesn't hesitate to take a commission to break into a street magician's wagon just to take a look around. The man who hired her might be a gentry toff (and therefore not to be trusted), but he's offering her the small fortune of five pounds and he hasn't even asked her to steal anything.
Too bad the toff didn't see fit to mention that the the street magician is a real wizard - one who easily sees through her boy's disguise. To Kim's utter amazement, Mairelon offers to take her on as an assistant. He'll teach her to perform stage-show magic tricks, as well as how to speak properly and to read, if she'll instruct him in the art of lock-picking. For Kim, it's a dream come true. She can leave the dangers of London and her life as a boy behind and live in the relative safety of a traveling magician's wagon. And if this toff's offer turns out to be as twisted as the last, she still has that five pounds to fall back on.
It doesn't take Kim long to realize that Mairelon is as familiar with living in disguise as she is. Immediately upon setting off with the wizard and his irascible man-servant Hunch, Kim finds herself embroiled in a world of upper class double-dealing, sinister intrigue and slippery wizard politics. Mairelon is determined to set a past wrong to rights and Kim is equally determined to help him do just that - and if she satisfies her curiosity about the mysterious wizard along the way, so much the better.
The addition of magic to the colorful depiction of Regency England enhances this sweet and utterly charming historical romp through the countryside. Readers new to novels set in this era may find themselves temporarily thrown by Kim's use of the thieves' cant, but they'll quickly adjust as context makes meanings clear. Patricia Wrede is a master storyteller - it's virtually impossible not to be swept along with Kim as she gets caught up in Mairelon's world. Be prepared: as soon as you finish this one, you'll want to move on to the sequel, The Magician's Ward. -
Kim has played the part of a thieving boy for most of her life, hiding her gender being the safer alternative to revealing herself as a girl in the dark underbelly of Regency London. But she knows this career path will soon come to an end, as at seventeen she is quickly outgrowing her disguise. When a job leads her into Mairelon the magician’s wagon, she finds real magic and an opportunity to become someone new.
Following Mairelon as he flees from the city, she quickly finds herself lost in a plot of stolen magic artifacts and aristocratic intrigues. Soon she’ll have to give up the freedom of being a boy forever and try to figure out who she really is, so that she can become Mairelon’s student and enter London Society as a real magician. But being a girl brings new problems, marriage proposals, and a definite notion that nothing fun also falls under the heading of being Proper.
I’m reviewing these two books together, because odds are the easiest copy of the books to find is the combined version. Really, I think they work much better together, as the first ends with an incomplete feeling (all right, fine, that’s code for no real romance). In addition, I liked the second book, Magician’s Ward, much better, but I think you need to start with the first book, Mairelon the Magician.
In essence, reading these books is pretty much just like reading Sorcery and Cecelia, except with different characters and plot. The feeling and world are the same, and while I can’t find anything that says the books all take place in the same world, they easily could. In fact, how magic is treated in the worlds, history, etc., all seems to be pretty much the same, except in Sorcery and Cecelia magicians create focuses, which is at least never mentioned in the Mairelon books. What all this means is if you haven’t read these yet and love Sorcery and Cecelia, these might need to be next on your to-be-read list.
Read more of my review and past reviews at
Bookwyrm Chrysalis -
In an alternate Regency, Kim is scouting out a wagon where an itinerant magician is performing his tricks. Once she knows how long he is out, she goes inside to check what he's got, a spying mission a real toff sent her on. When she tries to open one chest, a ward explodes, and she thinks she should have asked for more money, since she hit on a real wizard.
When she rouses again, the wizard and his servant have caught her. Whereupon the wizard takes her on, over the servant's objection (there are hints later that he's trying to atone, but nothing much comes of that), and sends her back to report on what she found. And he takes her out of London on a mission to the countryside, involving a search for something stolen. She works out the details as the rest of the story progresses through events that include a mad race of carriages, a silly order of would-be druids, a meeting that doesn't meet, a request that someone not ask that a wizard turn him to a frog because that's a lot of work, repeated attempts to burgle a library in one night, an elopement, a priest hole, and the illegitimate half-brother of a nobleman. -
"Mairelon the Magician" (1), by Patricia Wrede (already 5* for Dragon series), is a warm witty clever wizard masquerading as a caravan amateur, who plays sculptor Pygmalion to train 17ish boyish pauper Kim. To clear the toff's name, they seek a set of enspelled silver dishes and original London thieves from five years ago. I got a tad annoyed, tangled in names and relationships, shifty and silly shenanigans, lost track who said who did what where. How could interfering Lady Granleigh decide "quickly", without talent, that her platter was fake p265 ? A train of wannabe light-fingers troop through dark library "better than a Drury Lane" comic farce, as is the hostage shoot-out finale where all converge, disguises fall, mystery solved.
Elegant deceptive French Renee recognizes Kim is a girl immediately. I look forward to her chaperone role to come, her oolala influence on Kim's cant. (Typo p153 "more that a little bit on the go" should be "than".)
Accents and phrasing amuse. I like the conclusion "After this, anything might happen. Anything at all." -
I desperately wanted to give this four stars, but the ending happened. By Jove, that was tedious.
The protagonist? FABULOUS. Kim was interesting and fun and didn't take any crap. Mairelon was enjoyable and his character complemented Kim's adorably. I ship it.
The problem was that their relationship was often pushed aside for a wordy, often confusing, and slightly boring mystery plot that culminated in one of the most boring couple of chapters I've ever had the displeasure of reading. For the first time in a while, I was actually skimming the pages instead of chewing over the words in my mind. I couldn't take it.
I was also frustrated with how Kim was sidelined through a lot of the book. A lot of her action was overhearing long conversations from characters she generally had no connection with.
Despite the ending, I did enjoy most of the book, and Kim and Mairelon were definitely worth it. I've heard that the next book is much better (and has more of a focus on Kim and Mairelon, yesssssss), and I am excited to read it! -
2019 bk 413. A joyful revisit of a title from 1991. This was so different from her other fantasy books (at the time) and it took a bit to sink in what was really happening, but once it sunk in, it brought me to a delight in the magical regency books genre. Mairelon the Magician seeks to clear his name, he has spent years on the continent, supposedly in disgrace for theft of items from the Royal College of Wizards. He had spent that time spying for England and learning spycraft while learning more about his magic. Disguised as a peddlar, along with his faithful servant, Hutch, his magical show draws orphan, Kim, in. Well crafted, but with only one sequel, which I will read next.
-
I'm actually reading the omnibus edition of both books 1 & 2,
A Matter of Magic (which has the
MOST BEAUTIFUL COVER!!). But something in me bristles at the idea of writing a combined review for two books, so logging separate editions it is!
So, Mairelon the Magician. I LOVED Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons, so I was expecting a sort of similar airy witty writing? It's aimed at an older audience with more complex prose, but that just meant the writing is denser and more convoluted, and I found myself missing the slimmed-down style of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.
The premise is so promising -- a Regency-era street urchin passing as a boy, taken in by a magician off to solve MYSTERIES -- but:
a) That utterly abysmal ending, where literally every single character ever mentioned spontaneously shows up and they all talk about the plot for a million pages. I was pretty good at tracking the 129387123 characters in the book, but utterly lost track of them and their schemes and plans and motives once you put them ALL in one single room together and had them all talking and expositioning over each other. It seemed like it was aiming for a comedic play on the typical British murder mystery & expository "parlour scene", but it was impossible to follow. I think if this had been adapted for screen, that whole sprawling scene would have played a LOT better when you could see who's who and follow the physical comedy.
b) There were so, so, so so many scenes of Kim or Kim/Mairelon hiding and watching things happen. SO MANY. The POV was third-person limited, when it seemed like the narrative really wanted it to be third-person omniscient -- but so much of the plot hinged on these eavesdropping/spying scenes. Which is such a passive way to drive plot forward. The leads never really did anything, besides be in the right place at the right time, and pass messages back and forth.
c) Mairelon and Kim seem barely fleshed-out as characters. As an example:
d) The narration browbeat you with information sometimes, and mysteries that aren't mysteries. Most notably:
e) The thieves' cant was really frustrating and overdone. It's possible to drop in lots of slang in a book, but when each sentence was loaded with like 4 of them, it was so distracting.
f) I thinnnk the sequel is going to include
I have a huge love for street thieves and urchins (The Lies of Locke Lamora!!), but this one just missed the mark with me. I'll probably read the sequel because, again, it's a combined edition, and it sounds like I might like that one more plot-wise. -
I loved the Dragon series by Wrede, and I was hoping the same kind of wit and charm those books had would be brought to this novel. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat forgettable book (as a few days after reading it I can no longer recall much detail.
The main character Kim dresses as a boy and does various odd jobs to earn money. It was somewhat amusing to follow this character albeit only in a somewhat superficial manner. Mairelon, the other "main" character seemed a bit perfect but at least had witticisms which redeemed him a little.
The constant amount of secrets and odd matter of fact-ness about things which didn't seem altogether clear in the story though, detracted from my liking the book quite a bit. Also, the fact that the same characters kept popping up in the same places at the same time was more suspension of belief than I could handle. -
Давайте я сейчас сразу сделаю аванс на вторую часть (ныне оба романа серии издают под одной обложкой) и скажу, что вот в этой книге я обнаружила примерно всё, чего ждала от "Shades of Milk and Honey".
-
A fun story, but certainly not comparable to
Diana Wynne Jones's work, and not as well written as Wrede's
Dealing with Dragons.
My main beef with the book was that it treated the readers like they were stupid and had to have every little thing explained to them, and to do this it sacrificed character integrity. When your main characters are supposed to be smart, having them alternately play dumb with each other just to explain things to the reader (things the reader doesn't even need explained) is vexatious.
Although these info-dumps occurred throughout the book, one particular instance was unforgivable: A major plot point was blatantly obvious from the very moment a certain character showed up. It should have been obvious to the main characters because they had functioning eyeballs, and it should at least have been suspected, yet it was (somehow) a complete surprise until the finale, and then it had to be explained in a heavy-handed manner.
The second main annoyance was that the minor characters could not be taken seriously. What might have been intended to be tongue-in-cheek came across as slapstick, and serious plot points were turned farcical by the implausible actions and dialogue of minor characters. Even the main villains, who were supposed to strike fear in the POV character's heart, were hard to believe. More respect for the reader and for the characters would have gone a long way to making this book shine. It has an intriguing premise, and the main characters are appealing enough (Mairelon was great, though no Howl), but the lamentable supporting cast had all the exaggeration of the characters in a Disney Channel movie.
One plot point, at least, was handled correctly: Wrede foreshadowed it throughout the book, and during the denouement revealed it in a suitably understated fashion, which allows the readers to fully appreciate it since they weren't smacked over the head.
Other good points of the book:
• Mairelon (and his flippancy)
• Kim (and the lack of romanticizing of her circumstances, her general wariness, and the true consequences she faced on the streets)
• Mairelon and Kim's relationship and banter
• the use of cant (though it did get a bit much at times)
• Mairelon's friend, who could actually be taken seriously
• characters actually walking through mud and dealing with inconveniences on an adventure
I will, I think, read the sequel, since its premise interests me and I did like this book well enough, despite its flaws.
Dealing with Dragons was decent, too, so I hold out hope that Wrede's writing and characterization will improve.
Also, a note on what I hope is just this edition: The copy I read had a glut of egregious typos. Besides a few misspellings scattered throughout, commas were placed where commas had absolutely no business existing, some question marks were thrown in at random, and two entire pages were almost entirely bereft of periods. -
So what if Jane Austin or Robert Neill, only with magic? The sort of upper-class intricate magic that is very amusing for dinner parties and spare-time noodling but largely not as useful as a horse, a pistol, and a dedicated manservant at your beck and call?
The public fact of magic is omnipresent but not hugely leaned into, so intermittent statements by various characters surprises the reader each time: there's a ministry of magic of sorts, and some kind of frou-frou governmental post. It's part of the upper-class education the same way that Latin or Greek or Rhetoric is. But it isn't clear what role it has or how its presence makes this Regency England substantially different. For all the fuss about the Saltash Set, the upshot remains that its function is limited and fussy. It is a MacGuffin.
Does that matter? Probably not. This is a fantasy of manners with a sharp eye on the class structure of the time and another sharp eye on something bordering on stage farce. The gambits of various players collide amusingly at a few points, with a repeated pattern where some upper-class twit is hopelessly out of depth and only the impeccable manners of everyone involved prevents said twit from occupying a secret, shallow grave.
It's not my jam exactly. A boatload of twit characters are flung about and run together, and the anchors of all this is Mairelon doing a secretive mystery-sleuth act and Kim, who reacts to all this with logical trepidation and confusion and whose development is reserved for the sequel. -
A solid, if not terribly demanding or ground breaking fantasy set in a roughly Victorian England with functional - if not terribly common - magic.
Our hero(ine) Kim has grown up on the streets of London, but is nearing the end of her ability to pretend boyhood as her nutritionally delayed puberty finally rears its unwelcome head. Scared straight from a life of petty crime after her guardian hangs, she has spent the last couple of years surviving on what little she can earn honestly. Desperate for a few more weeks of safety, she reluctantly accepts the promise of a princely sum to search (but not steal from) a street magician's wagon. When she is inevitably caught, she is shocked when the magician in question not only (a) immediately realizes she's female, but (b) doesn't seem terribly angry, and (c) recruits her himself to serve as an assistant, which will involve accompanying him out of London almost immediately. While the magician is clearly not telling her everything - and just as clearly is much more than a street illusionist - Kim has far more reasons to say "yes" than "no," and the adventure is on.
The rest of the book is occupied with a long, complicated, and occasionally hilarious McGuffin chase. There are a lot of characters with a lot of names and a lot of motivations, which I honestly had trouble keeping straight at times. But a few of them get a bit of character development, and the main characters of Mairelon and Kim get a reasonable amount. The dialog is good, and the various dialects, including Kim's rather thick "thieves cant," add an air of verisimilitude.
While it's not a particularly unique or thought provoking book, it was nothing if not enjoyable. I look forward to reading the sequel. -
Kim, a street child who disguises herself as a boy for her own safety, meets up with the traveling magician Mairelon when she is hired to look around his wagon and gather information. Mairelon catches her and the two end up joining forces on a quest to recover a magical artifact.
This tale, set in an alternate Regency England where magic is very much alive and well, sounded different and promising. Parts of it do feel fresh and different, as we see the magic Kim and Mairelon encounter on their travels. And we certainly see that Mairelon isn't quite what he seems.
However, each of the fun and intriguing portions of the story seemed counterbalanced by ponderous plodding. The various rivals for the magical artifact cross each others' paths so often that I started losing track of who seemed to be on which side. And worse, at times I just didn't feel interested enough to care. This book was mostly a pleasant diversion, but it felt like it had something missing. -
The setting is Regency England with magic. A young teen homeless girl in London dresses as a boy and is hired to break into a stage magician's wagon to see if a silver object is there.
That stage magician is really a *real* magician and a minor noble who was accused of stealing some magical stuff (including that silver object), but he disappeared to be a spy against the French, and had just come back to find the set of magical objects.
There are some scenes where lots of different people with their own interests interact in bumbling ways.
I will read the sequel soon. -
This was hilarious. Some characters reminded me so much of a Georgette Heyer novel (Freddy Meredith) and the ridiculous escapades and regency setting. With magic added in! This was such a fun read. Looking forward to part 2!
-
A recent re-read, I still find this fun and very funny. Patricia C Wrede does a great job of writing physical comedy, so you really feel like you are watching a slamming doors farce!
-
Really fun to follow and such an enjoyable heroine!
TW/CW:
poverty, mentions of sexual harassment, sexism (challenged), violence, death, sweet Polly Oliver trope. -
Kim has lived on the streets her whole life and is sharp and cunning as they come. Disguised as a boy, she lives by her wits, doing what she can to survive. When a wealthy gentleman offers her a large sum of money to case a street magician's wagon, Kim thinks it will be an easy job. She gets more than she bargained for when she becomes involved with Mairelon the Magician. Soon, Kim is on the run with Mairelon as they search for the magical Saltash Set of dinnerware and uncover a plot that could threaten both Kim and Mairelon. This book is filled with excellent period details about the gritty realities of 19th century London. There are also good descriptions of upper-class life, as seen through the eyes of an outsider. Kim and Mairelon make a good team and I enjoyed their witty dialogue. There are many light moments in this novel, including a screwball comedy scene that will have you laughing out loud. My biggest complaint with this book is that there are way too many characters. I had a really hard time following who they all were and what they wanted. Another problem for some readers may be the excessive use of street slang. For someone who isn't experienced in reading it, it could be difficult, but I've read that type of slang before and can usually understand the meaning from the context. This book is set in a world just like the one Wrede and Caroline Stevermer created in Sorcery & Cecilia. If you've read that and you're looking for more of the same, then you should definitely pick up this book.
