I adore these books by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. They're epistolary novels, told in the form of letters between the main characters. Think Regency romance novel, with a bit of alternative history to add magic, and plenty of sly wit. ( )

While not as enjoyable as Sorcery & Cecilia, I felt that The Mislaid Magician was a lot more engaging than The Grand Tour. This novel returns to the epistolary form, recounting the adventures of Cecilia and James, and Kate and Thomas as they become entangled in a mystery that has the power alter the fate of England. Where The Grand Tour dragged, the alternating journal entries becoming somewhat convoluted, The Mislaid Magician resumed the easy, fast pace of the original. ( )

Many people felt this installment in the "Sorcery and Cecilia" series to be the worst one in the series. I suppose that's true, but more because the other two were fantastic and this one is just a bit less so. Personally I would have liked a bit more romance, but then, we do finally get to see letters between Thomas and James, which really adds a lot, in my opinion. The mystery is engaging, the children are entertaining, and Kate turns into a dog. Really, what more could you want?

In The Mislaid Magician, Lady Schofield (Kate) and Mrs. Tarleton (Cecy) have been married for ten years and each have a brood of mischievous children. The cousins have continued their friendship, and when Cecy and James are called to attend Wizard Wellington on a matter of some urgency, the Tarleton children come to stay with their Aunt Kate and Uncle Thomas at the Schofield estate Skeynes. The story is told through letters between Kate and Cecy, and also (new this time) between Thomas and James (you will see why later).

It seems that there is a magical plot involving the new railroads that are starting to be built all across England. There are ley lines, underground "rivers" of magical power, that run throughout England that are causing disturbances to the railroads. The artificial ones created by wizards date back 170 years to Cromwell's time. Very little is known about ley lines, but it is becoming evident that someone is trying to manipulate the ley lines for dastardly purposes. James and Cecy must discover what happened to the wizard who was investigating the phenomenon, and Thomas and Kate must deal with their own magical disturbances at home.

I enjoyed the family anecdotes comcerning the children. I thought they were a tiny bit too mischievous, as if it were obligatory for Kate's and Cecy's children to be born troublemakers. Also, the children being able to scry so effectively was a bit off.

It was quite fun reading the correspondence between Thomas and James — full of offhand insults and good-natured raillery. The only issue I have with this is that Thomas and James are not quite as different as one could wish. Sometimes it was hard to remember who was writing. I think the chief difference is that Thomas is much more conceited than James.

Another little quibble I have is with the title. Wrede and Stevermer make it clear that a magician is an untrained magical practitioner, while a wizard is fully trained. The individual who was "mislaid" is a wizard, not a magician. But I suppose the alliteration was necessary. I also keep wanting to call it "The Magician Mislaid," but that's not right. Ah well.

The humor was great, the writing was good, and I thought the family life was realistic (well, as far as "realistic" goes with families of magical ability). The plot did seem to drag again, like the second book, but the other elements were enough to tide me over until things started really happening. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of the first two, and to anyone who enjoys fantasy set in a historical period. ( )

This is the third and, so far as I know, final volume in a series of epistolary novels that were intended as homage to Georgette Heyer, among others. The first, Cecelia and Sorcery, achieved its aim and was highly amusing. The second, The Grand Tour, dragged. This installment picked up the pace again. The story line was more robust than in either of the previous two novels but the tone did not quite achieve the same level of playfulness that the first did. I recommend the first enthusiastically; the second is acceptable but not exciting; this one is reasonably well done. Borrow from the library or a friend, do not buy before having read. ( )

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevemer
Kate and Cecy, Book 3; YA Fantasty; 7/10
Another light, fun read. I still think the first of these "books in letters", The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, was the best, but this was very enjoyable. What I found most interesting was the characters' reactions to the advent of the steam train. Trains being something that are so part of the landscape (especially if you have a four year old son and constantly need to call out, "Look Marcus, a train!") I found the reaction of them as a fad that wasn't going to catch on to be amusing. While not the strongest of stories, it was a lovely read and it was nice to see Kate and Cecy coping with being parents. ( )

While not as splendid as the first book, it is nice to return to the letters of Kate and Cecy, and this time, the lads get voices as well. Some amusement is to be had in the differing stories told by the husbands and wives. The mystery of the missing engineer was engaging, and the system of magic is very interesting indeed. The train's pull on the ley lines is excellent.
The mystery of the silent girl is much more obvious, and the threads tying the two stories together were very weak. ( )

I liked this more than the second book, The Grand Tour, but not as much as the first - Sorcery and Cecelia. This time we get added correspondence between James and Thomas, and a return to letters between the cousins.

Nitpick: We never did find out what the story with the goat was... ( )

Kate and Cecy may be ten years older and several children richer, but their adventures certainly don't suffer for it. When the new Prime Minister requests that James look into a the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a magician/surveyor for the newly constructed railway, he and Cecy pack the kids off to Kate and Thomas, and head north. Between the escapades of the combined brood Kate's coping with, the surprise arrival of her sister Georgy, who is suspiciously mum on the circumstances surrounding and proposed length of her stay, and the discovery that the missing magician has been -- no, I'm not going to spoil the discovery.

Suffice it to say that this is a thoroughly satisfactory follow up to the Sorcery and Cecelia, and completely makes up for the somewhat disappointing Grand Tour. ( )

Good, although it starts off kind of slowly. It's good to see Kate and Cecy, Thomas and James, again, not to mention making the acquaintance of their kids. ( )

Another great book by Patricia Wrede. A must for all lovers of correspondence and fun fantasy novels. ( )

In this fantasy of manners set in regency England, a sequel to Sorcery and Cecelia and The Grand Tour, a Preussian magician surveyer of railroads has disappeared, and foul play is suspected.
The story is told through a series of letters between cousins Kate and Cecy, and their husbands Thomas and James.
James and Cecy are hunting all over the English country side for the missing magician, while trying to discover the connection between the new railways and ley lines. Their children are staying with Kate and Thomas who have their fair share of magical lurkers, unexpected events and houseguests to handle while keeping the combined brood safe.
The story takes place ten years after The Grand Tour, the shared honeymoon of the two couples, and in the interim Kate and Cecy has grown up and have had children en masse.
The epistolary style works better in this story than in The Grand Tour, especially since there is a reason for the use of letters.
The story is interesting and wellpaced, although slightly unlikely at times. The amount of coincidences carrying it forward is staggering, and the way several storylines are tied up nicely in the end by the use of the same henchman in two unrelated schemes contrieved. ( )

This is the third in the series of "letter game" books written by the two authors. (The basic idea is that each writer has a character, and the book plot progresses in a series of letters that the authors write to each other in character. The result is a book with two different voices told in a very amusing fashion.) The first book is Sorcery and Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot.

This book isn't quite as good as the first one, which had the element of novelty and budding romance to make it all the more enjoyable. However, it is quite fun, and I enjoy it better than the second book. (In book 2, the characters are traveling together and instead of letters they write journal entries. I prefer having them write letters. The plot is equally enjoyable in each of the books.)

There isn't much that I can say about this book without ruining the plot of the first two for everyone, but I can say that the series is set in an alternate Regency England, where magic is an acceptable vocation. The two main characters are young ladies of quality, and while the books may be billed as young adult fiction, they have a freshness that adults will be able to enjoy just as much as teens. I really enjoy the series, and would love to see it continue. ( )

Better than The Grand Tour but still not up to the standard set by Sorcery and Cecelia. This book goes back to the original epistolary format, which helps it recover some of its charm, although I did find that initially I missed some of the interpersonal scenes that made it into the diaries of the second book but are not things that get included in letters - as if we'd been allowed to get closer to the characters by sharing more of their thoughts, and then pushed away again. I guess I'm trying to have it both ways, though. The magical peril in this book was more complicated and more interesting this time around, although what was happening to Cecy and James didn't seem to connect nearly as much as it could have to what was happening to Kate and Thomas... it was clear that the two authors had very different ideas going in, and they didn't manage to tie them together as well as they did the first (or even second) time through. Still, a lot of light, witty fun, and very charming. ( )

Ten years after the events of Sorcery and Cecilia and The Grand Tour, Kate and Cecy (and their respective husbands)find themselves once again wrapped up in intrigue and magical plots. Lord Wellington sends James and Cecy to search for a missing surveyor magician who was investigating railroads and magic. They leave their children under Kate's care, who must also deal with Georgy and a surplus child rescued from abduction. The couples (with the help of Aunt Elizabeth) must thwart a plot that threatens the whole country - and keep their precocious children in line, and alive.

This novel returns to the epistolary form that I have enjoyed so much, though it seems that Kate and Thomas had a bit less time on their hands than their counterparts. Nonetheless both sides of the letters have no dearth of adventures. The plot seemed a little more arbitrary and a little thinner. The best book remains the first one. I miss the romantic factor, but nonetheless I'm not sorry I picked this up (even in hardback). I had a great time with it. ( )

Wrede and Stevermer's third Kate and Cecy book picks up, as the title implies, ten years after the end of The Grand Tour. Now established in pleasant (though not uneventful) domesticity, they still manage to become embroiled in magical mayhem and mysteries involving disappearing wizards, kidnapped children, and the potent clash of magic and machines. This third outing is not quite as effervescent as the previous two, and the addition of two more points of view seems to add to the length rather than the substance more often than not, but The Mislaid Magician is still well worth the read, especially for those who have had the good fortune to meet Kate, Cecy, and their companions in previous adventures. ( )