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Happy in her new life as an apprentice to the powerful magician Mairelon, 16-year-old Kim is horrified when a nosy relative determines to turn Kim - a former street urchin - into. . .a lady! But real trouble begins when several wizards of Kim's acquaintance disappear. Then Mairelon's magic disappears!It's up to Kim to unravel the mystery. And to do that she will have to return to her old life back in the dark and dirty streets of London.
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Title: Magician's Ward
Series: Magic and Malice #2
Author: Patricia Wrede
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 77K
Synopsis:
Kim is swamped. Between studying magic and learning a whole new life as a monied lady, her life is full, maybe too full! When a particularly inept burglar tries to steal several books from Mairelon's library, it's up to Kim and Mairelon to figure out why.
At the same time, several magician's from Kim's street life show more have disappeared and a Russian Magician shows up. When on the track of the thief, Mairelon loses his magic, it's all up to Kim to deal with the rogue magician, who isn't a magician at all!
And if that all isn't enough, Kim has to have her coming out ceremony as a Magician's Ward, where she realizes she's in love with Mairelon.
By the end of the book, Kim has stopped the rogue magician, completed her ceremony and gotten Mairelon to propose to her. Now her life as a magician is going to get really busy!
My Thoughts:
If you happen to remember That Book, where I told Romance to get the heck out of my Action Stories, you might have gotten the impression that Bookstooge is a stone cold, heartless killer with no time for the softer things in life. And you would be wrong, dead wrong! (because I'd stone you coldly!) I like romance, in small doses and in its proper place. Jane Austen is the example that made me realize I could like romances.
Anyway, this book is as much a young adult/middle grade romance as a fantasy story. The obstacles that Kim needs to overcome are simplified, the villain appropriately stupid and even Mairelon takes side stage as he loses his magic, thus giving Kim the spotlight from all directions. She shines well too.
I didn't think the story was quite as “fun” as the first but it felt more satisfying, hence the half-star bump. While I read this way back in 2000 and I have no real review, I remember liking this then and it seems I liked it just as much this time around too. I'm going to call this a Complete Success then.
★★★★✬ show less
Title: Magician's Ward
Series: Magic and Malice #2
Author: Patricia Wrede
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 77K
Synopsis:
Kim is swamped. Between studying magic and learning a whole new life as a monied lady, her life is full, maybe too full! When a particularly inept burglar tries to steal several books from Mairelon's library, it's up to Kim and Mairelon to figure out why.
At the same time, several magician's from Kim's street life show more have disappeared and a Russian Magician shows up. When on the track of the thief, Mairelon loses his magic, it's all up to Kim to deal with the rogue magician, who isn't a magician at all!
And if that all isn't enough, Kim has to have her coming out ceremony as a Magician's Ward, where she realizes she's in love with Mairelon.
By the end of the book, Kim has stopped the rogue magician, completed her ceremony and gotten Mairelon to propose to her. Now her life as a magician is going to get really busy!
My Thoughts:
If you happen to remember That Book, where I told Romance to get the heck out of my Action Stories, you might have gotten the impression that Bookstooge is a stone cold, heartless killer with no time for the softer things in life. And you would be wrong, dead wrong! (because I'd stone you coldly!) I like romance, in small doses and in its proper place. Jane Austen is the example that made me realize I could like romances.
Anyway, this book is as much a young adult/middle grade romance as a fantasy story. The obstacles that Kim needs to overcome are simplified, the villain appropriately stupid and even Mairelon takes side stage as he loses his magic, thus giving Kim the spotlight from all directions. She shines well too.
I didn't think the story was quite as “fun” as the first but it felt more satisfying, hence the half-star bump. While I read this way back in 2000 and I have no real review, I remember liking this then and it seems I liked it just as much this time around too. I'm going to call this a Complete Success then.
★★★★✬ show less
It was bound to happen eventually, but that doesn't make it any less annoyingly predictable that Kim and Mairelon would fall in love. I really enjoyed the novel regardless of that because the magical mystery was so well crafted. Wrede brought in a whole bunch of new characters and lots of arcane magical theory, and she offset these main topics nicely with the underlying plotline which focuses on Kim's presentation to society. Mairelon's aunt was SO conventional in exactly the way that I despise it was a good distraction for most of the story as well - and she even became useful when facing down the villain of the story.
Summary: Now that Mairelon has taken Kim on as his apprentice, the determination and quick intelligence that she developed as a common pickpocket and street thief are proving surprisingly useful in the study of magic. However, nothing could have prepared her for the terrors she will have to face as a young lady about to come out into polite society. Now Kim must not only learn the laws of magic and the equally unforgiving rules of society, she must also deal with an attempted burglary of Mairelon's library, which is only the tip of an international plot decades in the making.
Review: Wrede's done it again: blended genres effortlessly, telling a interesting story with strong characters, a flair for snappy dialogue, and more than enough show more humor to round things out. It's not quite of a piece with Mairelon the Magician - while the first book felt primarily like a farce, Magician's Ward feels more like a comedy of manners - but it's equally enjoyable. In fact, I think it's actually better: the plot is less convoluted and flows more smoothly, and the supporting cast is smaller and more easy to keep straight. I also liked the touch of Regency Romance (which would admittedly have been out of place in the first book), and the addition of Mairelon's mother, who is a proper (if somewhat quirky) Lady *and* a practicing magician, is absolutely brilliant. I tore through this book in a single evening, and now definitely need to find my own copy, because I can easily see this joining Wrede's other books as a perennial comfort read. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: This book could probably be read and understood independently of Mairelon the Magician, but they're both so much fun that I can't see why you'd want to. Fans of Wrede's Sorcery & Cecelia will like this for sure, as will anyone who likes historical fantasy, Regency romance with a little magic thrown in (a la Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but less magic-y and much lighter), or who is just looking for a fun, funny, and engaging read. show less
Review: Wrede's done it again: blended genres effortlessly, telling a interesting story with strong characters, a flair for snappy dialogue, and more than enough show more humor to round things out. It's not quite of a piece with Mairelon the Magician - while the first book felt primarily like a farce, Magician's Ward feels more like a comedy of manners - but it's equally enjoyable. In fact, I think it's actually better: the plot is less convoluted and flows more smoothly, and the supporting cast is smaller and more easy to keep straight. I also liked the touch of Regency Romance (which would admittedly have been out of place in the first book), and the addition of Mairelon's mother, who is a proper (if somewhat quirky) Lady *and* a practicing magician, is absolutely brilliant. I tore through this book in a single evening, and now definitely need to find my own copy, because I can easily see this joining Wrede's other books as a perennial comfort read. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: This book could probably be read and understood independently of Mairelon the Magician, but they're both so much fun that I can't see why you'd want to. Fans of Wrede's Sorcery & Cecelia will like this for sure, as will anyone who likes historical fantasy, Regency romance with a little magic thrown in (a la Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but less magic-y and much lighter), or who is just looking for a fun, funny, and engaging read. show less
Fun. While still being clearly Kim's and Mairelon's story, it's also a near-standard Regency romance. The young lady who does not fit the standard Society mold, who none-the-less becomes a success - and rejects a rich marriage for more important things... And then the magic and the adventures entwined with the romance. The scare Mairelon gets, that only gets worse right up to the climax; Aunt Leticia, showing unexpected depths only in the crisis; the people from her former life that Kim encounters and deals with... It's a great story, with a happy ending and a lovely (funny) last scene. I do wish she'd written more - I'd love to see what Kim gets up to as a full wizard. But these two stories are great as is.
I can't believe I've missed this book all these years, along with its predecessor [Mairelon the Magician], which I used to see in bookstores and somehow never picked up. I have Wrede's Alkyra novels and have greatly enjoyed them as light, fluffy young adult derivative fantasy that does a good job portraying the discomforts of both travel and growing up. I stumbled across [Sorcery and Cecilia] only last year, which I greatly enjoyed. I have not yet found the rest of that trilogy, which is set in the same time period as this book.
The novel is set in Regency London, which is about the only genre of romance novels that I read (though not much anymore, since the modern works are not to my taste). The author does a good job portraying the show more language, manners, attitudes, and general ambiance of the time, but with magic too. In this case, our heroine Kim has been elevated from street urchin to rich man's ward and apprentice. The class distinctions of the day are nicely sidestepped by the author's convention that magicians (at least those trained and effectively certified by the Royal College of Magicians) are always socially acceptable, whatever their background may have been. As far as I can tell, this story effectively takes up where [Mairelon the Magician] left off. In that case, Mairelon was traveling incognito and using his skills to uncover some sort of plot during the Napoleonic War. Kim got entangled in the shenanigans and doubtless helped save the day and is rewarded for her efforts. In this novel, she struggles to become acceptable and study magic, learning to read and speak properly and so on, while once again working with Mairelon to foil a mysterious plot after she interrupts a burglar in the library.
This is another classic Wrede send-up, a sweet, simple, straightforward story of a young girl struggling to find her place in a society where she doesn't quite fit. show less
The novel is set in Regency London, which is about the only genre of romance novels that I read (though not much anymore, since the modern works are not to my taste). The author does a good job portraying the show more language, manners, attitudes, and general ambiance of the time, but with magic too. In this case, our heroine Kim has been elevated from street urchin to rich man's ward and apprentice. The class distinctions of the day are nicely sidestepped by the author's convention that magicians (at least those trained and effectively certified by the Royal College of Magicians) are always socially acceptable, whatever their background may have been. As far as I can tell, this story effectively takes up where [Mairelon the Magician] left off. In that case, Mairelon was traveling incognito and using his skills to uncover some sort of plot during the Napoleonic War. Kim got entangled in the shenanigans and doubtless helped save the day and is rewarded for her efforts. In this novel, she struggles to become acceptable and study magic, learning to read and speak properly and so on, while once again working with Mairelon to foil a mysterious plot after she interrupts a burglar in the library.
This is another classic Wrede send-up, a sweet, simple, straightforward story of a young girl struggling to find her place in a society where she doesn't quite fit. show less
Aug09: Loses a little from Mairelon, gains a little from Mairelon. Have to read them both none-the-less.
Characters: Loved them. Had just enough development and delightful personalities.
Plot: Just enough humor to mix with the not-really dangerous danger.
Style: So very awesome. I know it's not really 'Old London', but it still makes you feel like it :)
Characters: Loved them. Had just enough development and delightful personalities.
Plot: Just enough humor to mix with the not-really dangerous danger.
Style: So very awesome. I know it's not really 'Old London', but it still makes you feel like it :)
A more straight-up Regency romance (plus magic, of course) than the first Kim/Mairelon book. Great fun and extremely light; I wish there were more in the series.
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Author Information
42+ Works 41,491 Members
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer, born 1953 in Chicago, Illinois; she is the eldest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology. She earned an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977. She finished her first book in 1978. She is a full-time writer. She is a vegetarian and lives in show more Minneapolis, Minnesota with her three cats. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Magician's Ward
- Original publication date
- 1997
- People/Characters
- Kim; Elizabeth Wendall; Richard "Mairelon" Merrill; Annabel Andrews; Henri d'Armand (Les Griffonais); Renée D'Auber (show all 24); Jacques de Cambriol (Sieur); Marie de Cambriol (Les Griffonais); Madame Chandelaine (dressmaker); Tom Correy; Duchesse Delagardie (Les Griffonais); Alexei Nicholaiovitch Durmontov); Lord Franton (Marquis of Harsfeld); Henry Fulton; Mrs. Hardcastle; Hunch; Lord Kerring; Agatha Lowe (Mrs. Lowe); Mannering (moneylender); Lord Shoreham; Lord Gideon Starnes; Letitia Tarnower; Wilson (Kim's abigail); Ma Yanger
- Important places
- England, UK; London, England, UK
- Dedication
- For Lois Bujold, without whom this would still be stuck in Chapter 7. Twice.
- First words
- Cold rain drizzled on the dark London streets--at least, it looked cold.
- Quotations
- "Don't these coves know how to say anything straight out in English?" Kim demanded after Mairelon had finished explaining a particularly convoluted paragraph written in Greek, which boiled down to Don't try this; it doesn'... (show all)t work.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Better you than me," said her unsympathetic bridegroom, and offered her his arm to escort her down to dinner.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 927
- Popularity
- 28,658
- Reviews
- 20
- Rating
- (4.01)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
