Damn you, Neil Gaiman. A Review of "Mairelon the Magician" by Patricia C. Wrede

I loved the premise of this one, and  I generally adore Patricia C. Wrede's writing.  I loved the Pygmalion-esque feel of Kim's lessons with Mairelon.  I have a soft spot for Regency era novels, which is all Jane Austen's fault, and a marked penchant for fantasy for which I blame C.S. Lewis and Neil Gaiman. So you can imagine my joy when I stumbled across this one--a Regency-era fantasy.  Unfortunately, the book just fell flat for several reasons.

I liked that Kim came from nothing, but she was such a milquetoast for someone who supposedly grew up an orphan on the mean streets of Regency London.  One would definitely expect her to have more spine. 

The ending just annoyed the bejeezus out of me.  It felt like a French farce except it wasn't that funny.  I half expected someone to pop out of a closet and whack people over the head with a rubber chicken--it was that silly.  It was good enough to lure me into reading the second, but I give this one three stars with some trepidation.