[NB: This text has been edited since the initial review -- the number of stars has not changed. Spoilers abound.]The Magician's Ward follows Kim, the girl thief from Mairelon the Magician, as she enters her magical apprenticeship with Mairelon in London. She's in unfamiliar territory both in her training and in her new social setting. So based on the blurb, I'm psyched. In the first book of the series, Kim didn't have much to do ... in this one, she is the title character, and the premise is that she is going to learn to harness her magical talents.When the book opens, Kim is on her own. Mairelon has wandered off somewhere, not for the first time, abandoning Kim to a chaperone who is far more concerned with propriety and getting her married off than with her magical training. This is where I get my first inkling that the book is going to go wonky.Anyway, Mairelon has abandoned Kim for pretty much the entire year since she's gone proper. Her magical "training" is basically her sitting in a room, reading, and figuring everything out for herself. Fine, Mairelon's a jerk, whatever. Good thing she won't have to rely on him once she's a magician in her own right.Except ... then all of a sudden she's in love with him? He's a shiftless dick! And then ... he loves her too? Why did he wander off for a year? And also, she is sixteen, dude. And those were different times but ... ages aside, even, you are her guardian. NOT COOL.The magical adventure is fun in this one. Snip out the bits where Kim and Mairelon make out and I'd give it four stars.
Another one that I just jammed through - forgoing sleep as needed. It was just a fun read, different from what I usually go for. It's also something that I could recommend to a 12 year old, someone my age, or my mom. No graphic violence, no sex. That doesn't mean there isn't any danger, but it's not a kick-ass warrior-type book.Kim is now the ward and apprentice of Mairelon, living in London and enduring her first season. It was nice to see that Kim hadn't changed, she might speak more eloquently, on occasion, but she is still the same person. I also appreciated Kim's take on the high society marriage mart. In book one, she dressed as a boy because her greatest fear was being forced into prostitution. In this book, when she is introduced to "polite society", she feels that marrying someone just because they have money is pretty much the same thing she had been running from in the first place. Of course, many people would say its not the same, but for the character, its 100% true, and living a year in society hasn't changed her.Mairelon's mother and aunt are involved, and there is another magical mystery, only this time it's Mairelon who is in danger.There's a very sweet and believable romance, too. Altogether a fun read.
What do You think about Magician's Ward (1997)?
I'm not really one to use the phrase "delightful romp" and mean it, but I feel it's rather the case in this book. Unlike some of her other novels, this book is more of a story of gentry and Society - and, of course, Kim's coming out- than one of magic and mayhem, though there's a bit of that thrown in, too. If you're looking for mystical adventures, you should look somewhere else. If you'd like instead a sort of coming of age story of a female magician in Society, then you're rather in the right place (and I recommend the Enchanted Chocolate Pot as a next step).No, there's not much character development. The focus is more on the relationships and courtings of a Londoner debutante than on character development... The first in the Mairelon series can tell you how they got here. This book is what happens after.Also, if you're looking to find out what happened to the other pieces of the set from the first novel, you won't find them here. Save yourself the disappointment if that's all you want and find
—Margaret
Mairelon's ward Kim must navigate the shoals of Society and learn spell-casting. Even minor roles are vividly drawn, with warm humor. "He only looked short because he was so round." p40 "Lord Stanton tried to look intelligent. Failing, he took another drink of brandy instead." p224 Kim returns to her old haunts, but local magickers have been threatened and taken. "The smell of coal smoke and uncollected horse dung, the sounds of drunken revelry from the public house on the corner, and most of all the penetrating chill of the fog brought back the constant undercurrent of fear" p69 forgotten in the last safe year. Suspense builds, clues trickle in, to an explosive finale.
—An Odd1
I enjoyed the first book in this series - Mairelon the Magician. This book is even better. There is no happily ever after for Kim after her victim turned teacher takes her in as his ward. Kim must struggle to learn to read and write, to do magic, and even worse, to learn to behave like an upper class young woman at the hands of the formidable Aunt Lowe.The character development is better in this book, the plot better crafted. Wrede does a fabulous job of portraying the social life of 19th century London.
—Jonathan
