The Grand Tour: Book Review

The sequel to Sorcery and Cecelia, this book follows Cecelia and Kate as well as their husbands, James and Thomas, on their honeymoon journey across continental Europe. But it's not your usual romantic get-away when the newlyweds soon become embroiled in a mysterious plot where the freedom of all of Europe hangs in the balance.

I liked this book at least as much as the first one, (which I would give five out of five stars), and in some places I even liked this one better because I'm such a sucker for romance. I loved seeing the development of Kate and Thomas's relationship.

My biggest complaint for this book is that we see almost nothing of James and Cecy's relationship as a married couple. True, it made sense that Cecy wasn't about to put the intricacies of her relationship into a deposition, but I would have preferred if they were both diary entries if that was the only reason to withhold that part of the story. Aside from the romance, I also felt in many places that Cecy's deposition contained too much intimate information to believably be a witness statement. For instance, she makes particular reference to members of her family, like Aunt Elizabeth, as if the reader should know them. So, even if the writing was not changed, the deposition would have been far more credible as diary entries.

I just had to console myself by imagining that James and Cecy's private bedroom activities and conversation, unlike the sweet nothings and elliptical references from Kate, were deemed too adult to be included in a children's book. This actually seemed believable for the characters--Cecy being markedly less shy than Kate. Of course, there's also the fact that Kate's part is written by Caroline Stevermer who has written for adults, whereas Wrede is most notably a children's author.

I'm currently awaiting the third book, The Mislaid Magician, at the Sacramento Public Library. I was a little miffed that I couldn't get it from the Roseville Public Library, since it's so much closer. I could recommend they get it, but it's faster for me simply to stop being so lazy and go to the other library.

My one romantic quibble aside, the story itself is an excellent follow-up to the first. I highly recommend both the first and the second books of this series, and I only hope the third book is as good as the first two.

Sorcery and Cecelia: Book Review

This section does NOT contain spoilers or killer tableware.

Yesterday I finished reading Sorcery and Cecelia, and I ardently adored it! On a random side note, though, it seems I cannot hear the name Cecelia without thinking of this song, so it's been stuck in my head for weeks. Rather annoying as I don't know all the words. But I just thought I'd pass on the disease to someone else if they click the link.

This epistolary novel is a correspondence between two cousins: Cecelia Rushton (a.k.a. Cecy) and Katherine Talgarth (a.k.a Kate). Kate is in London for the Season while Cecelia is left to languish in boredom at home. Or so she thinks until both cousins are unexpectedly drawn into a vicious intrigue among three powerful wizards concerning a chocolate pot that can mean the difference between life and death.

Now, I've always loved Jane Austen and I've always loved fantasy, but before this book putting them together seemed as dubious to me as chocolate and onions. As I said before, the first few pages threw me off with their off-handed mention of wizards and the many names similar to Jane Austen's books. But I felt the novel soon took on it's own unique voice which is usually my primary concern whenever I read any type of Jane Austen spinoff. Though it helped immensely that this boook did not feature any actual Austen characters, particularly Mr. Darcy. The trouble with such spinoffs is it feels like all their possibilities have been played out to the fullest already and then some.

I was also relieved to find the language to be believable for regency times, but not too reminscient of Austen. A series of Jane Austen mysteries I've read before were enjoyable but often had the problem of stealing lines straight from Austen's novels. Rather than seeming like a clever homage, it got to be so common that it usually made it seem like the author couldn't think of any other regency turn of phrase.

The language in Sorcery and Cecelia, on the other hand, was either well researched or the authors at least read more than just Austen's books from that time period. There were many phrases I didn't recognize or was tempted to look up later, which is why I enjoyed Austen's books in the first place. I love being immersed in the language of a different time and Sorcery and Cecelia does this immensely well in my opinion. Regency scholars might disagree, but for the average layman like myself, the language was perfectly believable.

As for the fantasy element, I was admittedly skeptical of the idea of an enchanted chocolate pot but Wrede and Stevermer manged not to make it as ludicrous as it sounds and by the end I took it seriously enough. I suppose I could say it's the type of fantasy I've always preferred, character oriented and not epic. No orks invading the rectory. But I feel like the Regency romance aspect was only nicely flavored by the fantasy and not the other way around. I probably still would have liked the story even without the fantasy element, as amusing as it was, but I wouldn't without the regency element. Maybe that's just me.

As for the romance, I loved it. Parts of it were slightly perdictable but in a charming way and not an annoying one. I suspect this is when you know who likes who, but you're not sure how they'll get together and that's what makes it worth reading. It made me feel warm and gooey inside just like a good Austen book.

Now for a few spoilers and dangerous tea accesories. BEWARE!

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I mean it! This will be like reading the book's tea leaves! Go now if you don't won't to be spoiled. Yeah, that's right, you who haven't read the book, shoo! This is a huge spoiler!

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Okay, okay, so when Cecelia finally breaks the chocolate pot, I thought that was a bit too easy. The men really WERE being stupid if that's all that needed doing. But at least she got into a lot of trouble for it like getting sick and then trapped in the garden which led to kissing James Tarleton. So it's all good.