YA Fantasy. Faris, Duchess of Galazon, attends Greenlaw College and adventure ensues.

Set in an alternate Belle-Époque Europe where elemental magic can be harnessed by a select few, the novel follows the adventures of Faris Nallaneen, Duchess of Galazon as she learns the meaning of duty, responsibility, and love.

Shipped off to Greenlaw College until she reaches her majority, Faris is certain that her Uncle Brinker, steward of Galazon, is intent on keeping her out of the way so he can perform his own devious end. A college for the magical education of young women, Greenlaw is protected by powerful wardens that deny the practice of magic on school grounds. In Faris’s opinion, the place is just another finishing school.

Desperate for Galazon, Faris finds an affinity with the prim and anything-but-proper Jane Brailsford, whose friendship keeps Faris from becoming too homesick and forces her to view her duty to Galazon and the magic of Greenlaw in a new light. But there is more to Galazon than skipping class for a pot of tea and three-volume novels in Jane’s study, as Faris soon learns. Making an enemy of Menary Paganell, Faris begins to see that some magic is deadly and there are those who would use it for their advantage.

A dangerous trip across Europe, a magical quest, mysterious characters, and political plots make Faris’s coming-of-age quite an adventure.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though it is a bit slow in places. I agree with other reviewers who say that this is NOT a book for the average 10 year old -- mostly due to philosophical concepts and advanced language that may not be appropriate for the independent reader level.

Gricel @ thingssheread.wordpress.com ( )

Faris, the underage Duchess of Galazon, is sent away to Greenlaw College by her cruel uncle, who seems unlikely to give up rule of Galazon when Faris comes of age. Greenlaw, however, turns out to be a good place for Faris to strengthen her position, by gaining both friends and magical power; however, she makes a powerful enemy at the school and learns of responsibilities even greater than the care of Galazon.

The book jacket says that it is "a large step up ... from Harry Potter". While I enjoyed the book, I definitely do not agree with this statement. The jacket also says it is for ages 10 and up, but I consider the reading level more advanced and wouldn't recommend it to a precocious reader less than 12. ( )

I first read these books years ago, when they had just come out, and I had remembered liking the sequel (A Scholar of Magics) much more than the original. The sequel is, certainly, a simpler, friendlier, and more conventional story, but on re-read I found myself liking College just as much, if not more.

College plays, self-consciously, with genre and form. It's essentially a fairy tale, about wicked uncles, jealous sorceress, foolish kings and arranged marriages and cursed castles, it's but set in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Western Europe in the early 20th century, and the characters are caught between the two worlds, trying to find a footing, just as much as the reader is (and just as much as much of the world was, in that historical time and place.)

Faris Nallanneen is engaging from the very beginning, Jane is a dear, Tyrian takes a while to come into his own but does so very believably, and the schemes and plots of the antagonists are interestingly complicated and realistically ambiguous. ( )

In a turn of the century fantasy adventure, young ladies are sent to Greenlaw, a finishing school, to learn how to be marriagable - and, on occasion, how to do magic. Faris, the duchess of Galazon, spends a dreamy third of the book in the school, after which she is expelled and must go on to, what else? save the world. However, there is little actual magic involved in this book, Stevermer concentrating more on social interactions, clever turns of event, and the entertainingly normal feelings and activities of Faris herself. On the other hand, the magic that is present feels engagingly natural when it does occur, and the book has a lovely flow. ( )