(no subject)

[skygiants]

I spent many years inexplicably convinced that I had read Caroline Stevermer's A College of Magics as a kid and hadn't much liked it, which explains why it actually took me so long to get around to reading it despite the fact that it is relevant to my interests in a number of ways. Comedy of manners, awesome ladies with an extravance of style, gentle mockery of the Ruritanian romance - and let's face it, the entire thing would have been worth it solely for the passage where Jane solemnly excuses her presence in the plot by explaining the inexplicable English passion for rushing off places to restore long-lost kings while on holiday.

- but that does not do much to describe the actual plot, so okay. The title is actually kind of misleading; it takes the form of a three-volume novel (another bit of gentle mockery), and the bits are actually somewhat disconnected in tone.

Part the First: Our Heroine, Faris, who will be the duchess of a small European country once she come of age, gets sent off to school by her Wicked Guardian Uncle. There she Makes School Chums And Rivals, Gets Into Scrapes, Fails to Attend Class, Reads Three-Volume Novels, and sort of possibly maybe hints at the potential of learning magic. This is a fairly classic fantasy girl's college novel in short form and reminded me quite a bit in places of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin.

Part the Second: Victorian road trip adventures! Faris, her extremely awesome school bff Jane (now graduated and a full-fledged magician-professor who is fully capable of not only transforming a bomb into a hat, but making sure it is a very stylish hat while she's at it), Hot Valet-Bodyguard 1 (Tyrian, notable mostly for extreme quiet competence at everything, such as pouring tea and picking locks) and Hot Valet-Bodyguard 2 (Reed, who fills the function of being The Sane One) jaunt around Europe avoiding assassins and complaining about terrible carriage rides. Faris also discovers a Destiny. Tyrian gets sulky because Faris saved his life, but every time he tries to save hers someone else gets there first. Jane goes shopping and continues to be extremely awesome.

Part the Third: RURITANIAN ROMANCE. Faris gets home to her duchy and all of a sudden everything gets significantly more dramatic. All the political schemes come to a head; there are kidnappings and doomed romances and revolutionary plots and dramatic magical disguises and Great Sacrifices. Also, lions. I will admit I found myself somewhat startled by just how dramatic/bittersweet the ending was, because my brain kept persisting in reading the whole thing as light and clever comedy of manners even though it patently was not that anymore.

If I remember rightly there is a sequel that centers on Jane! I AM EXCITED FOR THIS. Has anyone read it?

Comments

[sophistry]

THE SEQUEL CENTERS ON JANE?

BRB AMAZON-ING

[skygiants]

A Scholar of Magics, I think it is called! I can only assume it is about Jane sailing into places and calmly pwning everyone with extreme awesomeness.

[enleve.livejournal.com]

I think it's more about Oxford university, if I recall correctly.

[skygiants]

AU fantasy Oxford, surely?

[enleve.livejournal.com]

Yes, it had another name, and had magic.

[skygiants]

These are always a bonuses for fantasy college!

[kate_nepveu]

Lurker delurks to say yes and it's charming: http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2004/07/stevermer_carol_3.php

[skygiants]

Hello, lurker! I think I have seen you around genarti and silveraspen's journals so you are not entirely a stranger to me. And thanks for the link to your review, which fills me with yet more excitement for Scholar - would I be right in suspecting it will be even more Tam Lin-ish than this one?

[kate_nepveu]

Well, they aren't students, so I think that diminishes it somewhat, but honestly I am not a big fan of _Tam Lin_ so I'm not the best person to ask.

[skygiants]

Fair enough. Thanks! :D

[deutscheami.livejournal.com]

I've read it, and I remember liking it very much--more than the first book, even-- but I don't remember very many details about the plot other than the wonderfulness of Jane and the American cowboy-type (?)

I also seem to remember another Magical Mystery Road Trip, but I could be getting the two books confused.

[skygiants]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure Jane's wonderfulness would easily make a whole book worthwhile in and of itself. (Though I will be sorry to miss more Jane-Faris lady-bffery, too.)

I am always down with Magical Mystery Road Trips.

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

Fun fact: Caroline Stevermer is a Bryn Mawr grad and the college (and the hijinks therein) are based on her undergrad years there. Also, she's on LJ as 1crowdedhour

[skygiants]

Hah! That is a fun and, now that I think about it, completely unsurprising fact. Next time I'm back home I'll have to go wander around Bryn Mawr a bit and see if the geography matches up at all.

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

I have! There are people who get turned into deer, and MORE COLLEGE, and cricket, and Janet Being Awesome. I should read it again sometime, I hardly remember it. :D

[skygiants]

Caroline Stevermer clearly enjoys turning people into animals for the lulz! I have to admit, I know it was an extremely traumatic experience for Tyrian, but I did giggle a little when the super-competent bodyguard was transformed into a tiny kitten.

[lacewood]

I don't remember a lot from the second book (definitely not as clearly as the first, which to be fair I have reread more often), but I did think it was less awesomely ridiculous and insane. But this is quite likely because she was no longer cramming a 3 volume novel into 1 book, and anyway, the first has a really special place in my heart. XD; Jane is indeed hilarious and awesome in it, and the main character was a sweetheart too. XD (The romance is also a lot less ODD, but then it's hard to out-weird Faris and Tyrian, oh guys, what the hell lolol)

I also heard she might be writing a THIRD book, but man, no idea when that'll actually happen

[skygiants]

From the summaries and so forth I have read, it seems the plot is a little more compact, so I am curious to see how that works out! (HAHAHAHA YEAH. Their romance: starts with magical transformation into a kitten, ends with magical transformation into a [spoiler]?)

Iiiinteresting! I wonder who it would be about :O

[lacewood]

As a note, there is indeed a brief road trip in the book, and it's set in Glasscastle, the dudely equivalent of Greenlaw, though with less academic hijinks

(YES. And their entire relationship consisted of Tyrian's competency being thwarted on every front because Faris is the WORST bodyguardee. By the time you get there she has already BROKEN SOMEONE'S ARM WITH A POKER. And that ending, oh my god. XD And then she still refused to marry him)

I kind of secretly hope she makes it a quartet, with a book for each Guardian, and that one of them is Asian, but perhaps I hope for TOO much... XD;

[skygiants]

(HAHAHA IT'S SO TRUE. I love how calmly murderous Faris often is. My favorite though is when her uncle saves her and Tyrian angsts for like weeeeeeeks. ALL HE ASKS FOR IS TO GET TO SAVE HER LIFE ONCE. IS THAT SO HARD. And hah, I also loved that she refused to marry him! It would make her uncle too happy. *solemn* Also, oh my god, the body image/self-esteem issues Tyrian is going to have. FOREVER.)

Oh man, a book about an Asian Guardian would be AWESOME. Fantasy of manners in Singapore! I mean as long as she actually does her research . . .

[lacewood]

(And then the one time he finally manages it, HE DIES - but no, Hilarion won't even let him stay dead. It's so hard to be Tyrian. *rolling, FOREVER* And I love how Faris' super mature reaction to being goaded on Tyrian was to PUSH HER UNCLE OFF THE SLED. And that the entire CASTLE had clearly been taking bets on when she'd finally snap and off him)

It would take so much research I can't even imagine she'd ever write it, but if she did! *____*

[skygiants]

(YES HIS LIFE IS VERY DIFFICULT. *dying* Also his death. Also his afterlife sort of. He gets all the trauma, and NONE OF THE DIGNITY. Also hahaha I loved that toooooo. I kind of love Faris' uncle? I mean he is terrible. But kind of hilarious?)

If she did it right, then that would be GLORIOUS.

[lacewood]

(The moral of Tyrian's story appears to be "competence: sometimes it really doesn't pay". It's AMAZING. XD And oh man, YES. Faris and her uncle were SO HILARIOUS AND GREAT. Faris broods around Greenlaw plotting his grisly death and then she gets back and you realise that he is even worse, and yet somehow awesome? than she'd led you to expect! I'm sorry, Faris, but I'm too busy laughing at the two of you to hate him)

So glorious! *_*

[skygiants]

(IT'S TRUE. If only you'd been a little less competent, Tyrian! Or a little less obsessed with being competent, idk. ALSO YES. He is so hilarious! I am kind of sad that he will be stuck in Iceland with a grumpy wife forever. He deserves more scope for his snark talents and his secret tiny reluctance to see Faris actually die.)

[lacewood]

(Maybe he'll find a way to weasel out of Iceland and make himself useful somewhere else eventually. It would keep Faris on her toes, figuring out where he's gotten himself to and what's he doing there THIS TIME. Is he plotting against Galazon? Is he RESCUING Galazon from political peril? NOBODY IS EVER SURE.)

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

OH, this is one of my favorite books, and I love your description of it!

My favorite things about A College of Magics are the three-volume-yness (yes, complete with the disconnected tone), the friendship between Faris and Jane, and the bittersweet ending. The sequel lacks all those things, though it's still a fun book and Jane is as wonderful as you would expect.

[skygiants]

Hee, thank you!

Yeah, the one thing I am really sad about regarding the sequel is that there will be no Faris-and-Jane! Because I LOVE their friendship.