The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After

by Patricia C. Wrede

Other authorsCaroline Stevermer (Author)

Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

Harcourt Children's Books (2006), Edition: 1, 336 pages

Description

In 1828, English cousins Cecelia and Kate and their husbands search for a missing German railway engineer and with the help of their wizardry skills, uncover a plot that could endanger the unity of England.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Shimmin

Another very enjoyable book in this series. Wrede and Stevermer maintain their tone well despite co-writing, and weave a story which is mysterious but not Byzantine. As usual, it's a fun and easy read.

At the same time, two minor qualifications. The division between male and female characters is

very clear from their writing, but despite reading this in a single session, I sometimes found myself unsure of which man or woman was writing. Their voices are rather similar, and I found I mostly used the content of the letters, or even the signatures, to confirm identities. This was particularly an issue once family members started shuffling around between the two! I suspect this is down to the books' origins, since on my reading, the women are essentially both Georgette Heyer Heroine and the men Georgette Heyer Hero, both of them a little generic as a result. They have their own distinguishing traits and interests, but don't feel especially different in personality or voice.

The second is that, as I understand it, they write these plots by adding to each others' letters, as in some parlour games, and then edit it afterwards. As a result, the plot is generally creative, but does have a certain organic handwaviness to it, rather than the tight plot and internal consistency a single writer usually achieves. Disparate elements are woven together, and though mostly good, there's a lingering flavour of the parlour game left on it. I don't particularly feel this detracts, but more demanding readers may.

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LibraryThing member emperatrix

While not as enjoyable as Sorcery & Cecilia, I felt that The Mislaid Magician was a lot more engaging than The Grand Tour. This novel returns to the epistolary form, recounting the adventures of Cecilia and James, and Kate and Thomas as they become entangled in a mystery that has the power alter

the fate of England. Where The Grand Tour dragged, the alternating journal entries becoming somewhat convoluted, The Mislaid Magician resumed the easy, fast pace of the original.

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LibraryThing member tiff18

Many people felt this installment in the "Sorcery and Cecilia" series to be the worst one in the series. I suppose that's true, but more because the other two were fantastic and this one is just a bit less so. Personally I would have liked a bit more romance, but then, we do finally get to see

letters between Thomas and James, which really adds a lot, in my opinion. The mystery is engaging, the children are entertaining, and Kate turns into a dog. Really, what more could you want?

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LibraryThing member readinggeek451

Good, although it starts off kind of slowly. It's good to see Kate and Cecy, Thomas and James, again, not to mention making the acquaintance of their kids.

LibraryThing member Nikkles

Another great book by Patricia Wrede. A must for all lovers of correspondence and fun fantasy novels.

LibraryThing member icedtea

I liked this more than the second book, The Grand Tour, but not as much as the first - Sorcery and Cecelia. This time we get added correspondence between James and Thomas, and a return to letters between the cousins.

Nitpick: We never did find out what the story with the goat was...

LibraryThing member SunnySD

Kate and Cecy may be ten years older and several children richer, but their adventures certainly don't suffer for it. When the new Prime Minister requests that James look into a the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a magician/surveyor for the newly constructed railway, he and Cecy

pack the kids off to Kate and Thomas, and head north. Between the escapades of the combined brood Kate's coping with, the surprise arrival of her sister Georgy, who is suspiciously mum on the circumstances surrounding and proposed length of her stay, and the discovery that the missing magician has been -- no, I'm not going to spoil the discovery.

Suffice it to say that this is a thoroughly satisfactory follow up to the Sorcery and Cecelia, and completely makes up for the somewhat disappointing Grand Tour.

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LibraryThing member rocalisa

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevemer
Kate and Cecy, Book 3; YA Fantasty; 7/10
Another light, fun read. I still think the first of these "books in letters", The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, was the best, but this was very enjoyable. What I found most

interesting was the characters' reactions to the advent of the steam train. Trains being something that are so part of the landscape (especially if you have a four year old son and constantly need to call out, "Look Marcus, a train!") I found the reaction of them as a fad that wasn't going to catch on to be amusing. While not the strongest of stories, it was a lovely read and it was nice to see Kate and Cecy coping with being parents.

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LibraryThing member Pagemistress

Wrede and Stevermer's third Kate and Cecy book picks up, as the title implies, ten years after the end of The Grand Tour. Now established in pleasant (though not uneventful) domesticity, they still manage to become embroiled in magical mayhem and mysteries involving disappearing wizards, kidnapped

children, and the potent clash of magic and machines. This third outing is not quite as effervescent as the previous two, and the addition of two more points of view seems to add to the length rather than the substance more often than not, but The Mislaid Magician is still well worth the read, especially for those who have had the good fortune to meet Kate, Cecy, and their companions in previous adventures.

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LibraryThing member amberwitch

In this fantasy of manners set in regency England, a sequel to Sorcery and Cecelia and The Grand Tour, a Preussian magician surveyer of railroads has disappeared, and foul play is suspected.
The story is told through a series of letters between cousins Kate and Cecy, and their husbands Thomas and

James.
James and Cecy are hunting all over the English country side for the missing magician, while trying to discover the connection between the new railways and ley lines. Their children are staying with Kate and Thomas who have their fair share of magical lurkers, unexpected events and houseguests to handle while keeping the combined brood safe.
The story takes place ten years after The Grand Tour, the shared honeymoon of the two couples, and in the interim Kate and Cecy has grown up and have had children en masse.
The epistolary style works better in this story than in The Grand Tour, especially since there is a reason for the use of letters.
The story is interesting and wellpaced, although slightly unlikely at times. The amount of coincidences carrying it forward is staggering, and the way several storylines are tied up nicely in the end by the use of the same henchman in two unrelated schemes contrieved.

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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

Not bad, not wonderful. The gimmick works a lot better here than it did in The Grand Tour - actually, a bit better than it did in Sorcery & Cecelia, even. Overlapping messages, two sets of voices (and it was nice to hear Thomas and James speak for themselves), and important information being passed

in the letters. Now, the story being told wasn't much, and events depended far too strongly on coincidence, so overall the story was only moderately enjoyable. The whole thing with the ley lines and the trains is very contrived - if it were as important as it's portrayed, it should have been noticed sooner, and if it were minor enough to be overlooked it shouldn't have been such a crisis. Again, I enjoyed the domestic disasters rather more than the whole Plot storyline - though the 'domestic' disasters got to be rather major events in themselves. As I said, not bad but not wonderful. I'll probably reread as part of the series, I have no particular desire to reread the book for itself.

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LibraryThing member the1butterfly

I admit that I had a lot more trouble getting into this one than the previous two (and sticking with it). It was an interesting story, and the go-between with the sisters was there, but I just had trouble connecting. Maybe it was that the sisters were more active/important or something in the

others or the plot was more to my taste, but this one just didn't charm me the way the first two had.

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LibraryThing member sriemann

I thought that aging the main characters 10 years would detract from the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did not.

LibraryThing member Yona

Maybe under a four but not by a lot. I've become quite attached to these characters, will miss them and would continue with these books in a heartbeat if they decided to write more of them.

LibraryThing member MizPurplest

Back to the style from the first book, which both authors seem much better at maintaining with success. Still fluffy but such fun.

LibraryThing member cindywho

Pleasant and light. I think I liked it better than the last one in the series.

LibraryThing member tldegray

None of the charm has worn off these books for me. Actually, I enjoyed this one more than I did the second. Cecelia and Kate are still as wonderful as they were in the beginning, only now their children (perhaps as mischievous and their mothers) get to play a part.

LibraryThing member Murphy-Jacobs

The last book of this little trilogy. Again, a reasonably imaginative plot, time with favorite characters (now more mature and, surprisingly, less frustrating -- good work, authors!) and if the Regency wonder and romantic tensions are gone now, there is plenty of mild, smiling humor to replace

them. This is the sort of book (these three, in fact) one tends to revisit when feeling worn down and not equal to something new or something with more depth. They are good examples of light fantasy, which is all they aspire to be. Cotton candy does not need to be Pâté de Foie Gras, but if it's very good Cotton Candy, it's just as wonderful.

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LibraryThing member francescadefreitas

While not as splendid as the first book, it is nice to return to the letters of Kate and Cecy, and this time, the lads get voices as well. Some amusement is to be had in the differing stories told by the husbands and wives. The mystery of the missing engineer was engaging, and the system of magic

is very interesting indeed. The train's pull on the ley lines is excellent.
The mystery of the silent girl is much more obvious, and the threads tying the two stories together were very weak.

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LibraryThing member ritaer

It is the early nineteenth century and the age of steam is just getting underway. However, in this version of history magic exists and is recognized. There is a Royal Society of Magicians and Lord Wellington, now Prime Minister, employs wizards as well as generals to guard the realm. A German

magician dispatched to investigate accidents on a railway line has gone missing. Ley lines appear to be involved, as well as a kidnapped child, a hysterical Dutchess and some very inventive children. Quite fun.

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