Subject: Caroline Stevermer, _A College of Magics_

From: [email-masked] ("Rebecca Leann Smit Crowley")
Date: 18 Jan 1995 20:24:09 GMT

I read Stevermer's _Serpent's Egg_ last year, and the first section
of this book, which was/is on Tor's home page.  While _Serpent's
Egg_ had a lot in it to appeal to me (strong female characters,
a limited amount of comic relief/sense of humor, several
intertwining subplots, a lot of stuff about manners, and so on
and so forth), it didn't (I'm thinking because it didn't have
enough humor and had a bit too much angst or something).  I
was told by a variety of people (including Christina Schulman)
that this Stevermer's most recent book is far superior and I
really should run right out and read it.

So I did, once it came out in paperback.  And it is, much better,
and in fact, I liked it a lot.  The first third has some of the
same problems _Serpent's Egg_ had, but this book has what I
consider all important in genre fiction:  style.  People
doing slightly outrageous things quite calmly, for very
good reasons, and other people reacting with. . .outrage.
Bujold's Cordelia returning from her "shopping" expedition with
a present for Aral is, of course, an example of this without
parallel, but Stevermer's Faris similarly beats the crap out
of a variety of people in the course of the book, for good
reason, and to good effect.

I quite liked it.  The vague familiarty of some of the character
names (notably Villette and Brinker) kind of got to me; I wonder
how many I don't recognize that have stepped out of a 19th century
novel.

Good stuff.  It looks like it would be possible for Stevermer
to write more in this universe, but if she decides to do it, I
hope she chooses to focus on other characters.  The magic in this
fantasy is low-profile and has infiltrated an otherwise similar
early 20th century alternate earth rather thoroughly.

Good stuff; I strongly recommend it.
--
Rebecca Crowley		standard disclaimers apply	[email-masked]
       You don't really own anything you aren't carrying at a dead run.