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Patricia C. Wrede
MAIRELON THE MAGICIAN (YA)
book cover

Book 1


Who recommends: Edith, Lori, Catie, Rebekah, Shelley, Julie, Isabel, Suzanne, Tanya, Margaret
Who discommends: Linda

MARIELON is enjoyable, but IMO it has too many characters to keep straight. I got thoroughly confused, although I did like it. MAGICIAN'S WARD, now, I liked very much. MAIRELON THE MAGICIAN is about a sorcerer, Marielon,who's been accused of stealing a very valuable magic-filled set of "dishes". (Forgive me--it's been a while). After being in France for several years during the war (I think) he comes back undercover to clear his name. He meets up with a homeless young girl (dressed as a boy) and takes her on his adventures to recover the various parts of the magic whozits. At the end of the book he adopts her. MAGICIAN'S WARD continues their story and this is the book with the romance.--Edith

This was just an ok read for me. Felt very much like a YA. I don't recommend it. Though I just bought Magician's Ward anyway.<g> Hoping I'll enjoy it more since they are older.--Linda

I liked this one more on the second read, I guess because I knew what to expect. It's not like any of Wrede's other books (except for its sequel). In a lot of ways, this is a comedy of manners, ala P. G. Wodehouse or a Regency Romance minus (mostly) the romance.--Rebekah

I started rereading it immediately since it's been a few years since the last go around. Thoroughly enjoyed it! What did strike me was some of the (maybe a little too blatant) echoes of Heyer's work. The Freddy in MAIRELON was a little too reminiscent of the other Freddy without his redeeming qualities. He even managed to knock out our villain by sheer chance a la COTILLION. Then Renee's speech patterns reminded me irresistibly of Eustacie in THE TALISMAN RING and I haven't even been reading Heyers recently.--Isabel (09 Sep 99)


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