The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

It's been a long time since I'ver read a book that was so good that nothing else was done until I finished it- this is really an amazing book. Loved it!

First, a bit about what this book is NOT: it is not just a Jane Austen pastiche. It is not set in the same vaguely medieval world that far too many fantasies have been set in. It is also NOT set on our Earth plus the addition of magic, although the many mentions of Austen and Dickens in other reviews might lead you to think that. It is not so overwhelmingly dedicated to romance that it would turn off those who don't read the romance genre; at the same time, it is not yet another elves-and-dragons fantasy, so that those who are not interesting in reading yet another pale imitation of Tolkein would not be turned off by this book. I know this is the first thing some readers would want to know; some guys, especially, might see the cover and the woman in a Regency-style dress and think that meant it wasn't worth reading as a fantasy; some people might see the word "magicians" in the title and think, ewww, I don't want to read another book about dwarves and swords and ogres. (Note to readers of dwarves-swords-ogres: nothing wrong with that, I read those too, I'm just trying to address those people who think all fantasy is the same and think that they automatically don't like it.) Since other reviewers have extensively given you the information about Austen, Dickens, and Bronte, I won't repeat that. (Read SF author Orson Scott Card's review of this book to get the absolute best discussion of those authors!) I will mention that there are many people who enjoy Regency romances without necessarily having read Jane Austen, and I think that this book is aimed at those readers, too - don't feel like you have to have read Austen herself. If you are at all familiar with the conventions of the Regency subgenre of romance, then you will know enough to be able to look forward to the plot and characters here. That said, I should also say again: this isn't our earth, and the setting is not our Regency period (1810-1820) or the early Victorian era of Dickens and Bronte; it is an entirely different world. Many of the characters and pieces of history are reflections of things similar to our earth, but you're not going to find the Napoleonic Wars here, nor the French, nor the Crimea. What you will see is a world where, for the most part, technology is similar to 19th-century England; people ride horses and carriages to get around, for example. In the history of the island of Altania (similar to Albion) there is a queen named Elsaphore who remains unmarried (similar to Elizabeth I). There are other bits of history similar to the Roman occupation of England. So, if you do happen to be familiar with England, through the study of history or the reading of romance novels, you get some extra fun out of the book looking for the resemblences. Some of the characters' names are, to those who are familiar with English history, little clues to what will happen: the character Eldyn Garritt, for example - David Garrick was a famous actor in the 18th century, and if you know that,

This book is not typical. It's not a typical fantasy novel, although it has great elements of magic, and intriguing alternate world, and a fantasy style plot. It's not a typical Bronte or Austen novel, although making the characters operate in the constraints of that type of world adds a new and interesting social element to the story. It's not a typical romance, although relationships build nicely and characters are well developed. It is almost it's own genre, and as such definitely worth a read!

I have to disagree with other reviewers who did not like the books shifts in view and separation into parts. The shifts in point-of-view acutally added to the book and by setting it off into its own part made it easy to handle. I looked at this book on 3 different times before buying because I have many times observed that books over 400 pages would be much better if they received a severe pruning. However, this author, manages to write a book where it all ties up neatly in the end and there are no extra characters or events that weren't important to the plot. The book manages to do Jane Austen style but has enough action to satisfy moderen readers, is partly a Gothic without the exceedingly dumb heroine, and is of course a fantasy with magicians and werewolves but in such a refined way it isn't in the least violent. Really quite a feat. Oh, and don't forget a satisfying romance for us romance fans that as another review mentions one could read to your Mom.

I love the work of Jane Austen; the Bronte sisters not so much. I was well warned by the cover that this was an Austen pastiche, so I could hardly be disappointed to find that it does, indeed, echo motifs from all of Austen's books. (Falling ill in someone else's house; fetching the mother; intense concentration on marriage proposals; the entailed house; couples avoiding the "inappropriate" marriage.) And let's not forget the echoes of Dickens in the story of the young man of good family fallen on hard times and working as a scrivener in a counting house while trying to protect his sister ... The middle of the book is an epistolary - the main character, Ivy, is off to be a governess in an ancient, half-unused mansion with a locked room, an aloof, mysterious master, and a hostile housekeeper (Rebecca and Mrs Danvers? Not quite; not even The Sound of Music ). Ivy has charge of children who see ghosts (The Turn of the Screw!), and seemingly hostile villagers are suspicious of all green-eyed women. The letters about the ensuing events are written to Ivy's father, who has been driven mad by some magical thing he did years before. It could not be more gothic. All along, however, this is also a fascinating magical-18th-century fantasy. The world is as richly invented as any fantasy should be, with soul-eating aliens from a wandering planet poised to invade even as the ancient forests are staging a perilous uprising and magicians are few at a time when they are much needed. Taking on Austen is a very hard thing to do, but most of the time Galen Beckett gets the language and the manners right. Most especially, the wit, while not up to Oscar Wilde (nothing is), is certainly credible for an Austenesque society. For diehard fantasy fans, perhaps too much time is taken with the early portions of the book before the fantasy really shows itself and takes over the storyline. But since I'm a fan of both fantasy AND Austen's comedies of manners, for me the combination worked very well. I stayed up all night to finish it and am giving it away to friends and family. And for those who care, I must say it's nice to see, once again, proof that a story can be sexually charged and full of danger and violence without ever having to resort to foul language or scenes I'd be embarrassed to read aloud to my mother. - Orson Scott Card