A Matter of Magic Book

This book tried to be one thing too many, and as a consequence, didn't excel at the things it should have been doing. The best parallel I can draw is to some of Georgette Heyer's less successful works -- which are, in my opinion, her most farcical. Heyer could be sophisticated, charming, and romantic -- as can Patricia Wrede; but when she tries to put a dozen characters into a situation with all sorts of absurd things happening and lines that try a little too hard to be hilarious, then the work often ends up falling flat.

The first novella of the two in the collection A Matter of Magic is called Mairelon the Magician. In it, we meet nobleman Richard Merrill, aka Mairelon, who is in hiding as a traveling magician because he was framed for a crime. He is seeking a magical artifact (in a Regency England which is essentially real Regency England, plus magic) and teams up with a young thief named Kim to find it. Early on, I was enthusiastic about this book, as we learned about Kim's resourcefulness and as she and Mairelon got to know each other. Then the cast began to expand... and kept expanding to the point where you'd have to try a LOT harder than I was interested in trying to keep all of these absurd supporting characters straight. There are wanna-be druids, wastrel young nobles, doltish young nobles, crime lords, thugs, insipid ingenues, scheming women, a woman of mystery, a surly servant, and a very nasty wizard. All of these people are thrown together in situations where the funny ones say funny things and the scary ones say scary things, and the doltish ones say doltish things... and it's just too much. In addition to being not as funny as it wants to be and hard to follow at times, the bigger fault in my opinion is that all this nonsense with a supporting cast of dozens detracts from the heart of the story -- Mairelon and Kim. They simply don't get enough focus and development with all that other stuff going on.

The second novella, The Magician's Ward, is much more successful as an easily enjoyable read. The funny bits are actually funnier because they're not tying so hard, and they're not too absurd to seem at all possible. The plot is still relatively convoluted for this genre, but I found it interesting and not too difficult to follow. The supporting cast is still relatively large, but several of them are well enough developed to feel like worthwhile additions to Kim and Mairelon's world. I would say the weak point in this novella is the romantic dimension -- Kim and Mairelon fall in love, of course, but it's quite secondary (or tertiary, even) to all of the mystery and magic. This isn't necessarily a flaw, but if you're expecting (or seeking) a Regency Romance, I would say the romance in this is so secondary that this book would barely qualify. In a similar vein, there is a subplot in which Kim has another suitor, and that story is also shortchanged in relation to others. You see her with the young man a couple of times, and he apparently really likes her, but I don't think there are more than 500 words devoted to their conversations in the entire book. Certainly not more than 1000. It's supposed to be significant that she opts not to marry him even though she isn't certain of Mairelon's feelings, and you're supposed to care that she lets him go with dignity and self-awareness... but Wrede hasn't built him up enough for it to seem like a really significant part of her story when that happens.

Overall, this is a mild recommendation from me if you like Regencies, magic, and a little bit of comedy of errors. If any of those things is NOT to your liking, this is not really a book for you, but if you think all of that sounds nice, you'll likely enjoy this book (these two novellas) on a quiet day.