Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer

Magic Below Stairs Reviews

• 
  mirnatius

  I mostly read this because it's related to Cecilia's and Kate's series, so it was nice to get more time with them. I do wish it had been listed as part of the series because they are very prominent. It takes place a bit after The Grand Tour.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TW/CW:
  poverty, some violence, mentions of miscarriages.
• 
  Emily

  Cute tie-in to the Sorcery and Cecilia trilogy. I liked it fine, and it was interesting to see Thomas and Kate through the eyes of their servants. This felt more like a middle grade book, which threw me off a little at first, since S &C are YA. It didn’t add a ton to the main series, but it was fun to see some familiar faces again. I loved it that Thomas went into labor when Kate did because of her wedding ring being his magic focus. Brilliant!
• 
  Maureen E

  by
  Caroline Stevermer
  
  Opening line--"The first time he met Billy Bly, Frederick thought he must be dreaming. Billy Bly looked like a little old man dressed all in green, and came just to Frederick's knee."
  
  This is a hard book for me to review. Essentially the problem is that I'm too old for it (*tear*) and I've read the other Kate and Cecy books. Because of that I felt impatient with the Frederick person, who kept hogging up the space and keeping Kate and Thomas away. The writing, while definitely suitable for the target age group, was a little too simple to keep my attention, or impress me with its elegance.
  
  I don't want to make it sound like this is a bad book. It's not at all! Frederick is an engaging hero and his relationship with Bess is nice, in that it felt realistic without seeming unduly romantic. Because how old are they? Too young to be canoodling. (I say, while I waggle my stick and mutter about kids these days.) Basically, it felt like a relationship that could develop somewhere in the future, but hadn't yet.
  
  So, I'm sure that for kids in the right age group and with the right temperament, this would be a fun book. For me, it was a bit of a disappointment, because what I wanted was another Kate and Cecy book and I didn't get it.
  
  Book source: public library
  Book information: Dial Books, 2010
  
  My other Caroline Stevermer reviews:
  
  Sorcery and Cecelia (with Patricia C. Wrede)
  
  A College of Magics and A Scholar of Magics
• 
  Mir

  Good but brief, this novella about an orphan hired as a servant in a sorcerer's house is set in the alternate-England of
  Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot but intended for younger readers. I quite liked the protagonist and the plot ideas, but the book as a whole felt a little undeveloped.
• 
  MasterGamgee

  Nice story about an orphan who ends up working as assistant valet to a wizard. The house class system, along with all the duties entailed by the below stairs people was well described and I've watched enough Masterpiece Theatre in my days to see that nothing here sounded out of place!
  
  The characters were well-thought out - well, except for the wizard's wife, I thought, and that added to the enjoyment of the story.
  
  One quibble, it felt like some of the dialogue between the wizard and his wife was filler. The discussion seemed to go nowhere and didn't add anything to the story.
  
  All in all a pleasant read. Oh, and I wouldn't mind a Billy Bly in my house ;)
• 
  Annette

  
  
  for more books set in this world. I need more Thomas and Kate. 😍
• 
  Elevetha

  Set in the world that Patrica C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer created for their Sorcery and Cecilia books. This book is about Frederick working for Thomas Schofield, training to be a footman. Love Thomas! Anyway, there is a lingering curse set on the Schofield house and Frederick and the brownie, Billy Bly, must save the Schofield family before it's too late. Events in this book take place after "The Grand Tour" but before "The Mislaid Magician." Lovely short book expanding on the Sorcery and Cecilia books and the awesomeness that is the Schofield family!
• 
  Eden

  2019 bk 397. I picked this up because Stevermer was one of the authors of Sorcery & Cecelia and at the time I was looking for fantasy for my middle grades guys that had a male character and wasn't a quest. Surprise, this is set in the same universe, and after the first couple of chapter, in the home of Kate and Thomas of Sorcery & Cecelia. Young Frederick is an orphan, but an orphan who has been taken under the care of a brownie. Through a series of incidents, Frederick is taken into the Scholfield's household as a liveried footman, er boy. He learns many things, including the trick of ironing and then putting on a cravat. This ability brings him to the attention of Thomas (along with some magical happenings), and he rises to under or assistant valet. A world of possibilities open up to Frederick as he seeks to protect Thomas and Kate from malicious magic. A very satisfying story and I do hope that he shows up again.
• 
  Ed

  This is a nice easy read. It pulls you in quickly and I actually cared about Frederick, making it easy to turn the page to see where his next adventure would be. And watching his emotions as situations changed made him feel like a real person, not just a character in a book.
• 
  Stephanie

  I loved this - such a lovely blend of fairy tale magic (and even structure, in many ways) with a beautifully-done Regency-era setting. (And a different kind of Regency setting than the norm, since this one is really about the servants rather than the masters!) As a huge fan of Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede's Sorcery & Cecilia series, it was a fun added touch for me to recognize a few side characters, but that part certainly wasn't essential to the book - anyone could pick this one up and enjoy it perfectly well without having ever read her earlier books.
  
  My only regret was that I'd bought this one on my Kindle. Now I have to buy a second, paper version so that my son can enjoy it for himself when he's old enough!
  
  
• 
  Rebecca

  Another book I really wanted to love, since I adored 'Sorcery and Cecilia.' I tried to figure out why I didn't love this book, which is the story of a young orphan who ends up working for the Schofields, and finally decided it was due to lack of focus. I was never really sure where the author was going, and after a while I wasn't sure if she'd gotten there. The protagonist's motivation waffled a lot, and his relationships with the other characters seemed sort of stiff--they didn't really develop, and the relationships didn't really develop. I guess things just didn't seem to tie together, which is ironic since the protagonist is an excellent knot-tier. Anyway, disappointing.
• 
  colleen the convivial curmudgeon

  A cute and quick story about an orphan who becomes a servant who ends up having magical abilities.
  
  There's really nothing more to it than what's on the tin, and it's only loosely a part of the "Cecelia and Kate stories". Definitely written for younger stories, and I did find Frederick and Billy Bly sweet and charming, and Bess was a fun character. I would've liked to see a bit more development to Lord Schofield, though I suppose that happens more in the other books - though I can't say I recall the characters from the original trilogy particularly well, to be honest.
  
  Anyway - short, sweet book and I think younger children, especially, would like it.
• 
  Rebekah Shafer

  Thoroughly charming.
• 
  Shawn Cooke

  Magic Below Stairs is a charming young adult novel, with a protagonist that is easy to like, even if he is not particularly distinctive or unusual. This is Victorian England (plus magic) at its most romanticized, with jovial lords whose bark is worse than their bite, wise mentors, evil orphanages, and of course, servants happy with their station in life.
  
  In a more adult novel I would be more inclined to cavil at this, but at the age range it is written, the broad strokes and glorification of a more romantic age feels genuine and wholesome. And if the hero turns out to have magical talent and begins his a journey of upward mobility out of keeping with the time, well, it’s a type of story I enjoy even if it’s not particularly realistic.
  
  But who is worried about realism in a novel about an alternate Victorian English where magic is commonplace, if not everyday? Stevermer has written a delightful story and I can’t help but want to read more in this universe.
• 
  Maria

  Frederick grew up in an orphanage, until he's sent to be a footboy for a wizard. His dedication and kindness bring unexpected benefits that catch the eye of Lord Schofield. Brownies, family curses and shoe polish have a potent mix.
  
  Why I started this book: Loved this whole series of
  Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and was eager for a novella set in the same world.
  
  Why I finished it: Short, fun read and a reminder that talent and skills go to all levels of society. And that kindness has unexpected ripples.
• 
  Lucy

  Regency period magic. Orphan Frederick Lincoln meets a helpful brownie in the kitchen of the orphanage. When a new footboy is wanted from the orphanage, Frederick is chosen because he fits the uniform. He goes to the household of wizard Lord Thomas Schofield, one of the characters in the Cecelia and Kate trilogy of books by Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede. Eventually Frederick proves himself useful in unexpected ways, especially the ability to tie a cravat for the master, so he is upgraded to assistant valet. When they move to the country house for the restful pregnancy of Thomas's wife Kate, they find that the curse there hasn't been dissipated as they thought.
  Kind of fun.
• 
  Farah Mendlesohn

  Apparently I've read this before but I have zero memory of it. That's not CS's fault: I had covid last summer and my memory since is pretty dodgy. But it meant that tho I worked out by the end that it was a K&C book, I didn't remember that while reading it, and I clearly benefitted from that.
  
  It's a fun book. I liked watching someone rise within their profession because they are basically good at what they do. I liked the agency of the brownie (side-eyes the author who grew rich on writing a slave society). I also liked that friendship matters. All in all a fun read.
• 
  Liana

  This is good... this book is really good. It had everything in it that makes a good story, but the climax at the end had me a tad bit disappointed...! I had expected it to be... more, I guess. It was a bit of a let down, and then it just ended. Either way, GREAT story! I'm happy I read it and will probably look at it again, as well as the other books. :)
• 
  Anna

  A fun little children's fantasy. This would probably be a better book if it was longer. There would then be time to find out more about Billy Bly and more thoroughly explore the threat which as it stands is dealt with much to quickly in the end. Frederick is a fun and different hero and more time in his world would have been welcome.
• 
  Beka

  This was a pretty quick read and a fun peek at a different side of some characters from the Cecilia & Kate world. Sometimes the dialogue was a little confusing (had to read some passages a couple times to really get what they were saying), but I really enjoyed Frederick and Billy Bly.
• 
  Jenny

  A perfectly lovely middle grade fiction. I checked this out of the library before I read the Chocolate Teapot series, so it was a happy surprise to be in the company of Wizards Kate & Thomas Scofield again.
• 
  passeriform

  It was fun to read a story set in a world I've enjoyed in other books, this time aloud and with my seven-year-old. He LOVED it and is already rereading it.
  
  Not too scary. Pretty interesting magic, too!
• 
  Marsha Valance

  In an alternate Regency England where magic works, a 10-year-old orphan is chosen as a bootboy for a noble wizarding household. There, with the help of a brownie, he fights off a curse and proves himself to have the ability to become an apprentice magician.
• 
  Stacy

  This was an easy book to get into and you fall in love with the characters fast. I enjoyed the references to the enchanted chocolate pot but you don’t have to know those books to enjoy this one. This one is for a younger audience.
• 
  Iris

  It was neat to see familiar characters from Sorcery and Cecilia (Thomas and Kate). I think a middle schooler would enjoy this book. It is from the perspective of a young boy and there are elements of magic throughout.
  
  Content:
  Language: none
  Sexual: none
  Violence: mild
• 
  Aleea J. Brewer

  Fun Read
  
  This is a fun book about a young man finding a place. We all need that place where we feel safe, secure and know what is expected of us. Then we begin to grow. I do hope Frederick will be subjected to another exploit by Caroline Stevemer. She writes a good tale.
• 
  aem

  not as interesting as the rest of the cecilia & kate series...