A College of Magics
Caroline Stevermer
380 pages
published in 1994

A College of Magics is a very cozy book, one of those books where you know the heroine is never in any real danger, as the author is quite clearly on her side. This is only a bad thing if you judge a book solely by the unpredictability of its plot, ignoring any other qualities it may have. In this case it's quite clear Caroline Stevermer did not intent this to be a heavily plot driven book anyway, so the lack of any major surprises may be forgiven. The real attraction (supposedly) lies elsewhere.

Because this is something of a cult book, a favourite of quite a few people, one of those books that comes up in conversations in rec.arts.science-fiction.written when the subject turns to underappreciated fantasy novels. In that regard it's a bit like Tam Lin, the Pamela Dean fantasy novel set at an idealised American liberal arts college, a book I also descovered through rec.arts.science-fiction.written and quite enjoyed. A College of Magics was not only recommended by the same people who recommended Tam Lin, but was also similar in that it also featured a young woman going to college to discover magic. The difference being, that this book is set in 1908, in a fictionalised Europe where magic though rare, is readily acknowledged to exist.

That young woman is Faris Nallaneen, heiress to a small Ruritarian dukedom called Galazon, who was sent to the college of Greenlaw by her evil(ish) uncle the regent as a way to get her out of the country for a while. She doesn't want to be there, even if they do teach magic. At first she reckons she'll be snet home within the year and looks forward to annoy her uncle again, but to her own surprise she starts to like Greenlaw, especially after she makes friends with Jane Brailsford, a superfluous daughter of a respectable English family and stops being desperately homesick. She also makes an enemy, Menary Paganell, who cames from an important family in Aravill, which claims Galazon as a subject state. Menary herself is somewhat objectable as well.

The first third of A College of Magics then is an unremarkable but entertaining example of the magical school genre. And then it all changes. Faris has her vigil and discovers her magical talents at the same time as her wicked uncle orders her back to the duchy. More trouble occurs as things come to a head between Faris and Menary, as the latter tries to enchant a friend of Faris. The upshot is that Faris is expelled from Greenlaw, but also that she discovers that her magical talents are greater and more important than she could ever suspect, that concerns in the world are no longer concern just one duchy...

As I said, A College of Magics is cozy entertainment of no great importance, a book intended to be read on a dreary winter's evening. Caoline Stevermer's writing is witty and sharp but somewhat flat, her characters are engaging but shallow and in the end this remains a novel that's fun to read, but not one you would miss not reading.

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