What do you think?
Rate this book
A College of Magics #2
A Scholar of Magics
Glasscastle. University of dreaming towers and distant bells, pompous dons and disputatious undergraduates, exquisite architecture and grass that can choke you to death if you walk on it without the proper escort. On the surface, it is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in England. But underneath, its magic is ancient and dangerous.
Samuel Lambert, sharpshooter, adventurer, late of the Wyoming plains and Kiowa Bob's Wild West Show, has been invited to Glasscastle to contribute his phemomenally accurate shooting eye to the top secret Agincourt Project. The only dangers he expects to face are British snobbery, heavy dinners, and tea with the Provost's pretty wife. But when the Provost's stylish sister Jane comes to town, things get much more exciting.
This sparkling sequel to A College of Magics is a whirlwind of secret weapons, motor cars, mysterious assaults and abductions, thugs in bowler hats, and a mild-mannered don who is heir to a magical power greater than all Glasscastle. The resulting tale is as funny as a Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian romp, with the wit and suspense of a Dorothy Sayers mystery and a dash of John Wayne thrown in for good measure.
Samuel Lambert, sharpshooter, adventurer, late of the Wyoming plains and Kiowa Bob's Wild West Show, has been invited to Glasscastle to contribute his phemomenally accurate shooting eye to the top secret Agincourt Project. The only dangers he expects to face are British snobbery, heavy dinners, and tea with the Provost's pretty wife. But when the Provost's stylish sister Jane comes to town, things get much more exciting.
This sparkling sequel to A College of Magics is a whirlwind of secret weapons, motor cars, mysterious assaults and abductions, thugs in bowler hats, and a mild-mannered don who is heir to a magical power greater than all Glasscastle. The resulting tale is as funny as a Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian romp, with the wit and suspense of a Dorothy Sayers mystery and a dash of John Wayne thrown in for good measure.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
41 people are currently reading
1104 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Stevermer
25 books287 followers(from website)
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She has a sister and two brothers. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good. Many were not even finished. She persisted.)
By the time she graduated from college, she knew she would need to earn money in other ways, but she kept on writing. Her first professional sale was published by Ace in 1980. In the years since, she has had a variety of jobs and kept on writing. She likes libraries and museums. Her favorite painter is Nicholas Hilliard. Her favorite writer is Mark Twain. She lives in Minnesota.
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She has a sister and two brothers. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good. Many were not even finished. She persisted.)
By the time she graduated from college, she knew she would need to earn money in other ways, but she kept on writing. Her first professional sale was published by Ace in 1980. In the years since, she has had a variety of jobs and kept on writing. She likes libraries and museums. Her favorite painter is Nicholas Hilliard. Her favorite writer is Mark Twain. She lives in Minnesota.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
Read
May 23, 2015I find it hard to articulate why certain books give me pleasure, without resorting to annoying superlatives (too much like the friend who, in trying to get you to love their favorite rock group, keeps turning up the volume, sure that that will suddenly convince you) or falling back on the helpless hand wave and "It's just, you know, like, really good."
Has anyone else that sense with some books, that it is their book? I can admire a variety of books. Some I'll never read again—one experience was enough—though I came away impressed by many aspects of what is highly regarded in most circles as a brilliant book. Some I reread all the time, and yet to characterize this one as a comfort book doesn't quite seem to fit, either. The emotional payoff of a comfort book is usually its highest charm, and the emotional payoff here is actually quite modest, deferring to the intellectual payoff, surrounded by, oh, sparks and sunlit shards of the numinous.
I love the characters, with their quiet observance of beauty, their appreciation of not just books and conversation but food and the sky and music and the passing absurdities of the world. I would love to spend time with these characters.
I love how the colleges evoke the complete life of the mind. I first noticed this when reading about Greenlaw, in A College of Magics. Stevermer reminded me of writings from medieval nuns, from various women who had found a complete community with only their gender. Sex isn't missed, or even compensated for, it's irrelevant: the life of the intellect, and the company of other women, makes up the good life. The counterpart is here in the men's Glasscastle College.
I love the witty asides, the references to books and music and events of the time—and the subtle ways in which some of these have changed. Like, the Titanic making yet another uneventful voyage across the ocean.
II love the magical discussions, as people work out changing paradigms, and mathematics, and how the universe works. I love the notion of the wardens, and I absolutely adored what the McGuffin of the story did. And how it was all resolved. And that the ending was not a conventional one at all, but deeply satisfying just the same.
Has anyone else that sense with some books, that it is their book? I can admire a variety of books. Some I'll never read again—one experience was enough—though I came away impressed by many aspects of what is highly regarded in most circles as a brilliant book. Some I reread all the time, and yet to characterize this one as a comfort book doesn't quite seem to fit, either. The emotional payoff of a comfort book is usually its highest charm, and the emotional payoff here is actually quite modest, deferring to the intellectual payoff, surrounded by, oh, sparks and sunlit shards of the numinous.
I love the characters, with their quiet observance of beauty, their appreciation of not just books and conversation but food and the sky and music and the passing absurdities of the world. I would love to spend time with these characters.
I love how the colleges evoke the complete life of the mind. I first noticed this when reading about Greenlaw, in A College of Magics. Stevermer reminded me of writings from medieval nuns, from various women who had found a complete community with only their gender. Sex isn't missed, or even compensated for, it's irrelevant: the life of the intellect, and the company of other women, makes up the good life. The counterpart is here in the men's Glasscastle College.
I love the witty asides, the references to books and music and events of the time—and the subtle ways in which some of these have changed. Like, the Titanic making yet another uneventful voyage across the ocean.
II love the magical discussions, as people work out changing paradigms, and mathematics, and how the universe works. I love the notion of the wardens, and I absolutely adored what the McGuffin of the story did. And how it was all resolved. And that the ending was not a conventional one at all, but deeply satisfying just the same.
December 27, 2022
A solid C of a book if you are looking for a young man’s adventure, with a few nice moments but too much exposition (particularly in the final chapters which go on endlessly with people explaining nuances of plot points and magical systems that we ceased to care about now that the adventure is over). And the hero is fairly dull with no depth of character besides being pleasant but prone to leaving employers in the lurch when he gets bored.
From the standpoint of the prior book in this series, which is a feminist classic fantasy, this is an F.
The heroine, who is one of the strongest, most capable people in the last book, is now hampered ceaselessly by men’s institutions, men’s rules about women and men’s magic. At the peak of the adventure, she is literally physically bound, unable even to raise a finger, for days.
Worst of all, as far as I was concerned, the author hints that there may be a romance in the offing for our dull young man and our exciting heroine. And the young man is told several times that he will have more than a half dozen children someday.
So, a woman who is most alive when she is not hampered by men, who admires but doesn’t want to be like her pregnant homebody sister-in-law, could wind up a wife with seven or eight children? What a come down from the first book where its heroine rejects formal marriage in favor of her own power.
In the end this is not only a middling book with an end that badly needs editing, it’s also a crushing disappointment for the series. We are told woman’s power matters and then we are told a mediocre white man is the partner who the most extraordinary woman should desire.
What terrible thing happened to our author in the long years between writing the first and second book in this series? Who doused her fire? It’s so sad.
From the standpoint of the prior book in this series, which is a feminist classic fantasy, this is an F.
The heroine, who is one of the strongest, most capable people in the last book, is now hampered ceaselessly by men’s institutions, men’s rules about women and men’s magic. At the peak of the adventure, she is literally physically bound, unable even to raise a finger, for days.
Worst of all, as far as I was concerned, the author hints that there may be a romance in the offing for our dull young man and our exciting heroine. And the young man is told several times that he will have more than a half dozen children someday.
So, a woman who is most alive when she is not hampered by men, who admires but doesn’t want to be like her pregnant homebody sister-in-law, could wind up a wife with seven or eight children? What a come down from the first book where its heroine rejects formal marriage in favor of her own power.
In the end this is not only a middling book with an end that badly needs editing, it’s also a crushing disappointment for the series. We are told woman’s power matters and then we are told a mediocre white man is the partner who the most extraordinary woman should desire.
What terrible thing happened to our author in the long years between writing the first and second book in this series? Who doused her fire? It’s so sad.
July 26, 2010
This book might well have been titled “Pride and Prejudice Goes to Hogwarts”. Set in Edwardian England, the action takes place mostly at Glasscastle University, a college of magic. Samuel Lambert, American lately of a Wild West show, is there temporarily as they do tests of accuracy with various guns as they develop a new weapon. Jane Brailsford (excuse me, *Miss* Jane Brailsford), graduate of Greenlaw university in France (which, gasp, is a magical school for women) is there, ostensibly visiting her brother, Robert, who works at the University. But Jane has ulterior motives, as do almost everyone else in the story. Things get complicated rapidly, as assailants walk unseen past guards, people are kidnapped right and left, a don of the university turns out to have the potential of vast magical power- and is resisting taking that power, and the universe has a rift in it. Things move along at a brisk pace, and the tale is told with humor.
This is a sequel tale (A College of Magics is the first volume) and it’s set to spin off more. I look forward to them.
This is a sequel tale (A College of Magics is the first volume) and it’s set to spin off more. I look forward to them.
April 25, 2019
Fantasy of manners at its best. In the second installment of the series, we visit yet another magic school, this time for men only, in England. Everything is very proper and cerebral, right before it goes into deligtfully silly direction.
Jane meets an American sharp-shooter in love with the magical world he'll seemingly never belong to, and they find themselves in the middle of a very notorious conspiracy.
Only thing this book lacked was more of Faris, my favorite warden.
Jane meets an American sharp-shooter in love with the magical world he'll seemingly never belong to, and they find themselves in the middle of a very notorious conspiracy.
Only thing this book lacked was more of Faris, my favorite warden.
July 1, 2018
I have never read a book which has captured so perfectly the conflicted feelings that come from being a student at an elite institution who does not come from the expected traditional background. This book engages somehow critically with the ways in which these instructions work while also, of course, buying into the romance, the longing you feel to be a student... and because of reasons it can’t properly engage with the fraught problems that arise once you become a student. But I don’t mind; there was plenty of that in the first book in the series, although the institution in that book is of a different kind. The model for the university in this one is Oxford or Cambridge, while in A College of Magics it’s more like a girls’ boarding school.
As ever, I love Stevermer’s prose and her characters. Lambert, in particular, is wonderful. And her dons, and the students, and Jane is pretty magnificent once more although she seems to slightly fade towards the end of the book...
But really what captures me most is the way she writes about magic. There is truly something of the numinous here, it’s mysterious without being vague or woolly. The way Lambert walks the labyrinth, the way magic here is to do with proportion and order... it’s compared to cricket, to the way time works, to the structure of the universe. And magic can be glimpsed in song, in architecture, in maths... yes, yes, give me more of this always. I’m also obsessed with a too-brief scene which takes place in a magical forest, and the way she builds on a very effective mythology. I would have eaten up much more of that.
I am heartbroken that there are no more books in this universe for me to read - I want more.
As ever, I love Stevermer’s prose and her characters. Lambert, in particular, is wonderful. And her dons, and the students, and Jane is pretty magnificent once more although she seems to slightly fade towards the end of the book...
But really what captures me most is the way she writes about magic. There is truly something of the numinous here, it’s mysterious without being vague or woolly. The way Lambert walks the labyrinth, the way magic here is to do with proportion and order... it’s compared to cricket, to the way time works, to the structure of the universe. And magic can be glimpsed in song, in architecture, in maths... yes, yes, give me more of this always. I’m also obsessed with a too-brief scene which takes place in a magical forest, and the way she builds on a very effective mythology. I would have eaten up much more of that.
I am heartbroken that there are no more books in this universe for me to read - I want more.
March 11, 2020
Очень много слов, очень мало сюжета, вообще ни капли сопереживания героям.
У меня сложилось ощущение, что обе книги серии написаны, по большей части, ради какого-то потерявшего контроль упражнения в изящной словесности. И за всей этой красотой, остротами, литературными отсылками и цитатами абсолютно потерялись персонажи и сюжет.
Хотя, казалось бы, вторая книга посвящена самому интересному персонажу из первой. Но не спасает, нет. Потому что сюжета и характеров тут примерно на половину от написанного объема.
Все это несколько бесит, особенно учитывая то, что я больше 10 лет хотела прочитать эту серия *рукалицо*
У меня сложилось ощущение, что обе книги серии написаны, по большей части, ради какого-то потерявшего контроль упражнения в изящной словесности. И за всей этой красотой, остротами, литературными отсылками и цитатами абсолютно потерялись персонажи и сюжет.
Хотя, казалось бы, вторая книга посвящена самому интересному персонажу из первой. Но не спасает, нет. Потому что сюжета и характеров тут примерно на половину от написанного объема.
Все это несколько бесит, особенно учитывая то, что я больше 10 лет хотела прочитать эту серия *рукалицо*
January 18, 2023
despite the excellent cowboy wizard vibes this book drags in the middle, but stevermer’s magic academia is as charming as ever.
August 10, 2025
A rather gentle story set in the University of Glastonbury which is of course a university for magic. Subtle enough characterisation and a stimulating plot.
July 9, 2007
This is a sequel to College of Magics. However, there is only one major character in common between the the two books(Jane Brailsford) and instead of being set at Greenlaw (a
college for women studying magic) it is set at Glasscastle University, which is apparently located at Glastonbury,
the university's three colleges, Holythorn, St. Joseph's
and Wearyall having names related to the legends about
Glastonbury, though those legends do not play a significant role in the story. Supposedly this university was founded in the 14th century, and it has the atmosphere of the older
Oxbridge colleges as described in British fiction. At this time, it is exclusively masculine (Jane is visiting her brother, who is a administrator in one of the colleges). The time, incidentally, can be fixed at 1912 by references to the Titanic (which did not sink in this alternate history)and the founsding of the Chinese Republic. Technically,this means the story takes place in the reign of George V though blurbs describe the setting as
"Victorian/Edwardian." The plot is effectively a modern
version of Milton's Comus --the author credits a friend
who gave her an article on the subject. As in the original,
the hero and heroine are tempted by an evil magician, and protected by their virginity, though there are more modern aspects -- the villains are seeking control of a superweapon to rule the world, as usual, but seeking government funding for the project. The hero is an American
sharpshooter from a Wild West Show called in originally
to assist with technical aspects of the project.
(more later)
college for women studying magic) it is set at Glasscastle University, which is apparently located at Glastonbury,
the university's three colleges, Holythorn, St. Joseph's
and Wearyall having names related to the legends about
Glastonbury, though those legends do not play a significant role in the story. Supposedly this university was founded in the 14th century, and it has the atmosphere of the older
Oxbridge colleges as described in British fiction. At this time, it is exclusively masculine (Jane is visiting her brother, who is a administrator in one of the colleges). The time, incidentally, can be fixed at 1912 by references to the Titanic (which did not sink in this alternate history)and the founsding of the Chinese Republic. Technically,this means the story takes place in the reign of George V though blurbs describe the setting as
"Victorian/Edwardian." The plot is effectively a modern
version of Milton's Comus --the author credits a friend
who gave her an article on the subject. As in the original,
the hero and heroine are tempted by an evil magician, and protected by their virginity, though there are more modern aspects -- the villains are seeking control of a superweapon to rule the world, as usual, but seeking government funding for the project. The hero is an American
sharpshooter from a Wild West Show called in originally
to assist with technical aspects of the project.
(more later)
September 6, 2009
This story took place in England and revolved around the further adventures of Jane Brailsford, Faris' classmate at Greenlaw and current mathematics professor at this same institution. She meets up with American gunslinger Samuel Lambert and adventure ensues.
I actually think I liked this book better than the first one. Jane was my favorite character in the previous novel and I was glad that the story revolved around her this time. It's interesting how in both books the author obviously wanted to entice the reader with romance, but as in the last book, only gave small hints. Compared to this book, however, Faris' antics with Tyrian were wild, why they embraced with abandoned and kissed more than once! In contrast, Jane, is a perfect lady and in her most passionate moments perhaps gives a shoulder squeeze. It was also quite amusing to discover the reason behind Jane and Lambert's immunity to the weapon.
The book was very sweet and silly at times, but also had a fairly serious plot, with many twists and turns, in fact, it occasionally got a bit confusing. There were so many different, yet similar, university chaps to remember that I would sometimes confuse them. Except for Fell, who was perhaps my favorite character in the story.
I also enjoyed the fact that there was an American character introduced. Unlike some authors (cough...J.K. Rowling...cough) Stevermer is not too narrow minded and petty to include people of any nationality in her stories.
I actually think I liked this book better than the first one. Jane was my favorite character in the previous novel and I was glad that the story revolved around her this time. It's interesting how in both books the author obviously wanted to entice the reader with romance, but as in the last book, only gave small hints. Compared to this book, however, Faris' antics with Tyrian were wild, why they embraced with abandoned and kissed more than once! In contrast, Jane, is a perfect lady and in her most passionate moments perhaps gives a shoulder squeeze. It was also quite amusing to discover the reason behind Jane and Lambert's immunity to the weapon.
The book was very sweet and silly at times, but also had a fairly serious plot, with many twists and turns, in fact, it occasionally got a bit confusing. There were so many different, yet similar, university chaps to remember that I would sometimes confuse them. Except for Fell, who was perhaps my favorite character in the story.
I also enjoyed the fact that there was an American character introduced. Unlike some authors (cough...J.K. Rowling...cough) Stevermer is not too narrow minded and petty to include people of any nationality in her stories.
June 6, 2012
Almost (but not quite) as much fun as A College of Magics. It may because, as much fun as Jane and Lambert are, they are quite as much fun (to me anyway) as Faris. Lambert was wonderful, but earnest almost to the point of painfulness, and his story arc was fairly predictably. (Enjoyably predictable, but predictable nonetheless.) Jane was fun and wonderful but, similarly, a bit bloodless. The story was enjoyable, but always a bit dry and remote, removed from immediacy and originality.
That does sound like faint praise, but it was a fun read, and I would recommend it. Especially if you're looking for something light or to recommend to a young adult or adolescent.
That does sound like faint praise, but it was a fun read, and I would recommend it. Especially if you're looking for something light or to recommend to a young adult or adolescent.
August 22, 2007
Stevermer is all about the Edwardian novel with a dash of magic, and this precursor to Sorcery and Cecelia delivers if you like that sort of thing. This deserves a 3.5 star rating, really--it was less diffuse than A College of Magics and the magical set-up of her universe just made more sense to me here. Also, this book has inspired within me a raging desire for stem ginger cake and strong tea.
August 25, 2018
February 2016: Love it!
August 2018: I like this book better every time I read it.
August 2018: I like this book better every time I read it.
March 19, 2023
This installment focuses on Jane! I love her prim efficiency and her dry wit. She’s also SO direct and yet so mannered that many times the poor man she’s talking to doesn’t even realize he’s been dealt a stunning blow in the verbal sparring. Jane makes a trip to visit her brother Robert, who happens to be a teacher and rather high up in the administration at Glasscastle, the British men’s only version of Greenlaw, where Jane teaches mathematics in France. It’s also a school infused with magic and the teaching of magic, but again, this is less about the instruction of magic. This time the focus is on the American, Samuel, a sharpshooter lured away from Kiowa Bob’s traveling show to help with a study on accuracy, aim, and concentration for a top secret new weapon being developed in coordination with the government. It’s all top secret and hush hush and Robert and Samuel don’t even have the full details of the project. Samuel just shows up when he’s supposed to and shoots the targets he’s provided with the guns he’s told to use.
Samuel and Jane meet at tea at Robert’s house and sparks fly! There’s a delightful slow burn, a true intellectual connection and friendship that builds over the course of their adventures.
Jane is interested in this top secret project only as a side note. She has her own agenda, sent by her dear friend Faris, the Warden of the North. All is not right. The new Warden of the West has yet to take on the role. Faris was able to repair the rift but the trouble is time. It doesn’t seem to be flowing smoothly. The new Warden of the West is both reluctant to take on the role AND has genuine concerns that he needs to fix the time issue before he steps into the role. Only troubles are that he doesn’t know how to define the problem, or how to fix it!
Through it all we get Stevermer’s lyrical descriptions of the English countryside, the college of Glasscastle and the mysterious chanting (reminded me of Evensong) that keeps the magic in place, the professors and politics, and even a plot twist involving old folklore, magic wands now used in top secret ammunition, another labyrinth, shapeshifters, booby trapped college lawns, bowler hats enchanted to make men invisible, and Jane setting new speed records in her brothers automobile!
My only complaint is that I loved the layout and design of the pages and the font - but it was like a six or eight point type and it was really a challenge to read in that way!
My wish for this book and the first in the series, A College of Magics, is for Tor Fantasy to re-publish these in honor of the 20th anniversary with cover artwork and design worthy of this incredible story! (And a larger font size!) These are each impressive books in their own right. Together they make a delightful, powerful fantasy series and I imagine there’s a whole new generation of young adult readers who would be enamored of these three volume novels. Certainly one of my new favorites.
Samuel and Jane meet at tea at Robert’s house and sparks fly! There’s a delightful slow burn, a true intellectual connection and friendship that builds over the course of their adventures.
Jane is interested in this top secret project only as a side note. She has her own agenda, sent by her dear friend Faris, the Warden of the North. All is not right. The new Warden of the West has yet to take on the role. Faris was able to repair the rift but the trouble is time. It doesn’t seem to be flowing smoothly. The new Warden of the West is both reluctant to take on the role AND has genuine concerns that he needs to fix the time issue before he steps into the role. Only troubles are that he doesn’t know how to define the problem, or how to fix it!
Through it all we get Stevermer’s lyrical descriptions of the English countryside, the college of Glasscastle and the mysterious chanting (reminded me of Evensong) that keeps the magic in place, the professors and politics, and even a plot twist involving old folklore, magic wands now used in top secret ammunition, another labyrinth, shapeshifters, booby trapped college lawns, bowler hats enchanted to make men invisible, and Jane setting new speed records in her brothers automobile!
My only complaint is that I loved the layout and design of the pages and the font - but it was like a six or eight point type and it was really a challenge to read in that way!
My wish for this book and the first in the series, A College of Magics, is for Tor Fantasy to re-publish these in honor of the 20th anniversary with cover artwork and design worthy of this incredible story! (And a larger font size!) These are each impressive books in their own right. Together they make a delightful, powerful fantasy series and I imagine there’s a whole new generation of young adult readers who would be enamored of these three volume novels. Certainly one of my new favorites.
May 29, 2017
Not quite as enjoyable as A College of Magics in my opinion -- mostly because of the lack of Faris. The book is still worth reading! I like Jane a lot, and Lambert was a good guy, but neither of them can fully make up for the lack of Faris. While Jane really shines and owns her starring role, Lambert, who takes Faris's place as the main POV character, just seemed flat somehow in comparison.
Also it seemed kind of interesting to me how for the first solid two thirds of the book, Glasscastle seems to be universally critiqued by the narrative as a flawed and limited institution. The only positive we are given is that Lambert really loves their magical singing. In every other way it is portrayed in a vaguely negative light, especially when the reader has memories of how Greenlaw was treated in contrast. But then... the end wraps up by handwaving the prejudice and insularity, with Lambert getting accepted as a student there for his happy ending.
I'm just a little confused. Were we not supposed to take all those conversations with Porteous, the condescension to outsiders, and both POV characters' constantly recurring frustration with Glasscastle as a negative? Is it just supposed to be "different" from Greenlaw, not worse? Because I definitely came away with an unflattering impression of Glasscastle that didn't seem to match with the tone of the book's ending.
Speaking of the ending, the other major disappointment I had in A Scholar of Magics besides the lack of Faris was the resolution (or more accurately NON-resolution) of whatever the hell Fell's problem was. I never fully understood his issue, honestly? Apparently """"something"""" had been thrown off-kilter by the Rift and hadn't gotten fixed when Faris fixed the Rift, and Fell didn't want to accept the wardenship until he'd fixed the Mystery Problem.
But... what... was the problem? It had something to do with time? And space, maybe?
Faris compared the Mystery Problem to an irritant like sand in an oyster, and I figured the problem would become more clear near the end when Fell was able to complete his calculations... but it never did. Even after he fixed the Mystery Problem, I'm still completely lost as to what it was. How did he even fix it? I know there was an "explanation" at the end, but it didn't really explain anything. What were the potential consequences of letting the Mystery Problem remain? What did Fell have to do, or understand, in order to fix it?
Here I sit, done with the book, and still with not a single clue.
Also it seemed kind of interesting to me how for the first solid two thirds of the book, Glasscastle seems to be universally critiqued by the narrative as a flawed and limited institution. The only positive we are given is that Lambert really loves their magical singing. In every other way it is portrayed in a vaguely negative light, especially when the reader has memories of how Greenlaw was treated in contrast. But then... the end wraps up by handwaving the prejudice and insularity, with Lambert getting accepted as a student there for his happy ending.
I'm just a little confused. Were we not supposed to take all those conversations with Porteous, the condescension to outsiders, and both POV characters' constantly recurring frustration with Glasscastle as a negative? Is it just supposed to be "different" from Greenlaw, not worse? Because I definitely came away with an unflattering impression of Glasscastle that didn't seem to match with the tone of the book's ending.
Speaking of the ending, the other major disappointment I had in A Scholar of Magics besides the lack of Faris was the resolution (or more accurately NON-resolution) of whatever the hell Fell's problem was. I never fully understood his issue, honestly? Apparently """"something"""" had been thrown off-kilter by the Rift and hadn't gotten fixed when Faris fixed the Rift, and Fell didn't want to accept the wardenship until he'd fixed the Mystery Problem.
But... what... was the problem? It had something to do with time? And space, maybe?
Faris compared the Mystery Problem to an irritant like sand in an oyster, and I figured the problem would become more clear near the end when Fell was able to complete his calculations... but it never did. Even after he fixed the Mystery Problem, I'm still completely lost as to what it was. How did he even fix it? I know there was an "explanation" at the end, but it didn't really explain anything. What were the potential consequences of letting the Mystery Problem remain? What did Fell have to do, or understand, in order to fix it?
Here I sit, done with the book, and still with not a single clue.
December 6, 2023
A sort-of sequel to "A College of Magics", in that it happens after the events of that book and shares some characters, but it doesn't grow out of the events of the first book and is really a very different type of novel. Though "A College of Magics" started out at the titular magical college, Greenlaw, it was mainly a Ruritanian adventure with some magic thrown in. "A Scholar of Magics" is set entirely in England, though Samuel Lambert, the hero (though not the titular scholar), is an American, a sharpshooter from Kiowa Bob's traveling Wild West show who is hired to work with some wizards from Glasscastle University on the development of a secret weapon. (The wizards are doing the heavy lifting, but it still doesn't really make sense that they would hire a foreigner to work on such a sensitive project.) The scholar of the title is Jane Brailsford, whom I vaguely remembered from the previous book: she is the sister-in-law of the Provost of Glasscastle, and comes to visit, but clearly with more on her mind than a social call. Naturally there's a mystery at the University, and the magical superweapon project turns out to be a bad idea, and of course there's a romance between Samuel and Jane, but somehow everything is a bit less interesting than in the previous book. Greenlaw was fun, but Glasscastle is just Oxbridge: it might even have worked better if it were part of Oxford or Cambridge, rather than being independent, because Stevermer doesn't add much to the basic template. And of course England has the handicap of being a real place, even in this magical alternative universe, which makes it hard for it to match up to Galazon. This might have been overcome if the characters were more interesting, but Lambert's aw-shucks fish-out-of-water affect didn't really do it for me, and Jane is fine but lacks Faris's dynamism. And the plot, also, is only fine: the story is an adequate but not amazing mystery -- you will guess who the bad guy is well ahead of any of the characters -- until things briefly pick up towards the end when a lot of magic starts happening. If you really liked "A College of Magics" you might want to give this a try, and if you really love the Edwardian era (with some magic mixed in) then it's for you, but otherwise you're not missing that much.
Read
November 9, 2018Updated review here: https://bysinginglight.wordpress.com/...
Samuel Lambert is an American sharpshooter who is hired by the Glasscastle College of Magic to conduct tests on a mysterious new weapon. Jane Brailsford is a witch of Greenlaw who arrives in Glasscastle to visit her brother and to call on the new warden of the west. When it becomes clear that someone means harm towards the college, Lambert and Jane must form an alliance to uncover the truth of what’s happening.
A Scholar of Magics (Tor, 2004) is a loosely tied sequel to A College of Magics, which I reread recently. So I thought I’d try rereading this one while the first book was still relatively fresh in my mind. It could probably be read as a standalone book, although it clearly happens after the events of A College of Magics and I think having the context of that book would probably be helpful.
Looking back over my reading history with this duology, I seem to have flip-flopped several times in my opinion about which of these books is better. I can’t say that I’ve made a final & forever choice, but I do know that I found myself significantly disappointed in A Scholar of Magics, mostly because of what it fails to think about or address.
First, and perhaps most importantly, this is a book that occurs at the beginning of the aeroplane, at the beginning of the automobile. Part of the plot is explicitly about the development of new and worse weapons. And not once does anyone stop to think that perhaps this is…a problem. There’s a steadfast looking-away from the results of the real weapons that were in development, in the fact that in a few years the real countries that are part of this world would be embroiled in World War I. It’s a weirdly regressive attitude that was very frustrating to encounter.
But it gets even worse, because the weapon that is being designed and tested (the mysterious “Agincourt Device”) is said to be necessary for the defense of the empire. And look, sure, I understand that Stevermer is to a certain extent replicating historical attitudes. But the British Empire was evil. Its effects were not benign. And the lack of any point of view characters to challenge that attitude, aside from a throw-away line at the very end about an excess of patriotism, is really troubling in a book that was published only fourteen years ago. We have no characters who push back on this, no characters who represent anything other than an upper-class British imperialistic view. Even Lambert, who supposedly acts as the underdog in this story (more on that later) is happy to go along with the whole idea. He never stops to ask who they’ll be using this weapon on.
So, that was all really frustrating and annoying and made me not really like any of the characters very much. And I don’t think this was an intentional choice. I think it was a flaw that historical fantasy often falls into: in attempting to recreate a time and place, the attitudes and prejudices that we associate with that time and place are also recreated, without thought or care for the readers.
Also, there are a lot of stereotypes of Native people in America which made me even more uncomfortable. It’s like Stevermer was writing in tropes and cliches in this book; although she theoretically makes gestures at subverting them, this never comes off. The whole treatment of America was a weird take, with Lambert feeling self-conscious simply because he is American, and Stevermer seeming to vacillate wildly between “we’re more cultured than you think” and “yes of course I should feel inferior to all of you civilized people.”
But also, this book really struggles under the weight of that sensitivity and self-consciousness of Lambert’s. The idea of that thread of the story–that an outsider comes to the college, feeling they don’t have a place and finding one for themself after all–is really lovely. But the fact that Lambert is a straight white man with education and marketable skills who keeps getting cast as the underdog sits uncomfortably with me. If Lambert had been in literally any other demographic, this could have been a lovely & empowering story. I don’t doubt that Americans were often looked down on, especially the non-millionaires. But really! There’s just so little self-awareness here that it made this storyline painful.
So, I think there are a lot of flaws with the parts of the story that go unsaid and operate underneath the surface of the plot (is there a term for this? It seems like there should be, other than subtext which is not exactly what I mean?). But I have to admit that I also just think this is not as well written as A College of Magics, which has truly beautiful passages of prose. I didn’t find that here, although it’s possible I simply wasn’t in sympathy enough with the book to feel them.
I guess it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t a book I’d necessarily recommend at this point. If you like the whole idea of being a scholar of magics but from a marginalized perspective, I highly recommend Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown.
________
I’ve been enjoying Stevermer’s Kate and Cecy books, which she wrote with Patricia C. Wrede, for several years. These two are quite similar in the mix of magic and a world that’s mostly like ours at an earlier time period. I have to say that, while I liked the characters and the story, the world building seemed a little odd to me. I felt very disoriented in the first book because the main character is from a country that doesn’t exist in our world but does in this world and then England showed up and I was confused. I was also confused as to their current location and the time period. But the second book retroactively cleared that all up: early 1900s, the first book is set in France, their world is quite like ours. I did wonder though, if things are different enough to have entire countries that don’t exist in our world, would Taft really be the president? I seem to remember one alternate-reality story I read where Adlai Stevenson got elected. It wasn’t a major plot point but it helped to point out that things were different there. Anyway, if you ignore the world-building and focus on the characters, these are fun stories which reminded me at times of Dorothy Sayers (especially the second).
----
A reread. I expected to enjoy it a lot, as I did the first time I read it. Apparently, though, my opinions have switched as this time I liked A College of Magics considerably more! [Nov. 2011]
Samuel Lambert is an American sharpshooter who is hired by the Glasscastle College of Magic to conduct tests on a mysterious new weapon. Jane Brailsford is a witch of Greenlaw who arrives in Glasscastle to visit her brother and to call on the new warden of the west. When it becomes clear that someone means harm towards the college, Lambert and Jane must form an alliance to uncover the truth of what’s happening.
A Scholar of Magics (Tor, 2004) is a loosely tied sequel to A College of Magics, which I reread recently. So I thought I’d try rereading this one while the first book was still relatively fresh in my mind. It could probably be read as a standalone book, although it clearly happens after the events of A College of Magics and I think having the context of that book would probably be helpful.
Looking back over my reading history with this duology, I seem to have flip-flopped several times in my opinion about which of these books is better. I can’t say that I’ve made a final & forever choice, but I do know that I found myself significantly disappointed in A Scholar of Magics, mostly because of what it fails to think about or address.
First, and perhaps most importantly, this is a book that occurs at the beginning of the aeroplane, at the beginning of the automobile. Part of the plot is explicitly about the development of new and worse weapons. And not once does anyone stop to think that perhaps this is…a problem. There’s a steadfast looking-away from the results of the real weapons that were in development, in the fact that in a few years the real countries that are part of this world would be embroiled in World War I. It’s a weirdly regressive attitude that was very frustrating to encounter.
But it gets even worse, because the weapon that is being designed and tested (the mysterious “Agincourt Device”) is said to be necessary for the defense of the empire. And look, sure, I understand that Stevermer is to a certain extent replicating historical attitudes. But the British Empire was evil. Its effects were not benign. And the lack of any point of view characters to challenge that attitude, aside from a throw-away line at the very end about an excess of patriotism, is really troubling in a book that was published only fourteen years ago. We have no characters who push back on this, no characters who represent anything other than an upper-class British imperialistic view. Even Lambert, who supposedly acts as the underdog in this story (more on that later) is happy to go along with the whole idea. He never stops to ask who they’ll be using this weapon on.
So, that was all really frustrating and annoying and made me not really like any of the characters very much. And I don’t think this was an intentional choice. I think it was a flaw that historical fantasy often falls into: in attempting to recreate a time and place, the attitudes and prejudices that we associate with that time and place are also recreated, without thought or care for the readers.
Also, there are a lot of stereotypes of Native people in America which made me even more uncomfortable. It’s like Stevermer was writing in tropes and cliches in this book; although she theoretically makes gestures at subverting them, this never comes off. The whole treatment of America was a weird take, with Lambert feeling self-conscious simply because he is American, and Stevermer seeming to vacillate wildly between “we’re more cultured than you think” and “yes of course I should feel inferior to all of you civilized people.”
But also, this book really struggles under the weight of that sensitivity and self-consciousness of Lambert’s. The idea of that thread of the story–that an outsider comes to the college, feeling they don’t have a place and finding one for themself after all–is really lovely. But the fact that Lambert is a straight white man with education and marketable skills who keeps getting cast as the underdog sits uncomfortably with me. If Lambert had been in literally any other demographic, this could have been a lovely & empowering story. I don’t doubt that Americans were often looked down on, especially the non-millionaires. But really! There’s just so little self-awareness here that it made this storyline painful.
So, I think there are a lot of flaws with the parts of the story that go unsaid and operate underneath the surface of the plot (is there a term for this? It seems like there should be, other than subtext which is not exactly what I mean?). But I have to admit that I also just think this is not as well written as A College of Magics, which has truly beautiful passages of prose. I didn’t find that here, although it’s possible I simply wasn’t in sympathy enough with the book to feel them.
I guess it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t a book I’d necessarily recommend at this point. If you like the whole idea of being a scholar of magics but from a marginalized perspective, I highly recommend Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown.
________
I’ve been enjoying Stevermer’s Kate and Cecy books, which she wrote with Patricia C. Wrede, for several years. These two are quite similar in the mix of magic and a world that’s mostly like ours at an earlier time period. I have to say that, while I liked the characters and the story, the world building seemed a little odd to me. I felt very disoriented in the first book because the main character is from a country that doesn’t exist in our world but does in this world and then England showed up and I was confused. I was also confused as to their current location and the time period. But the second book retroactively cleared that all up: early 1900s, the first book is set in France, their world is quite like ours. I did wonder though, if things are different enough to have entire countries that don’t exist in our world, would Taft really be the president? I seem to remember one alternate-reality story I read where Adlai Stevenson got elected. It wasn’t a major plot point but it helped to point out that things were different there. Anyway, if you ignore the world-building and focus on the characters, these are fun stories which reminded me at times of Dorothy Sayers (especially the second).
----
A reread. I expected to enjoy it a lot, as I did the first time I read it. Apparently, though, my opinions have switched as this time I liked A College of Magics considerably more! [Nov. 2011]
April 4, 2018
3.5 - not fully a 4, unfortunately less enjoyable than the first book in the series. Part of it is a matter of perspective - the book is told from a male perspective at a time when women's accomplishments and talents were not appreciated and were regularly underestimated and unlistened to - and that reflects in the text. Due to period and perspective, we are treated to some entirely abhorrent comments about women (ie: Jane). The overall effect being that in book 1, we see Jane as a powerful character, and in book 2, we see her struggling against a world which doesn't understand her and doesn't want to, and being much more ineffective. She is surrounded by people who don't respect her - and while Lambert does respect her and often scoffs at the opinions of those men around him, it is more often in a "well, maybe girls are like that, but not this particular girl" kind of way, which I don't necessarily appreciate, either.
Which is not to say this was a bad book, because it wasn't. It was an interesting mystery and a look at the wider world of magic than we got to see in the first book. I thought it took an amazingly accurate look at stuffy male academics who refuse to see the light of day in favor of convoluted logical conundrums.
Which is not to say this was a bad book, because it wasn't. It was an interesting mystery and a look at the wider world of magic than we got to see in the first book. I thought it took an amazingly accurate look at stuffy male academics who refuse to see the light of day in favor of convoluted logical conundrums.
April 18, 2020
Dnf. Thought this book might be more interesting than the first, but it’s still dead boring. The characters are cardboard cutouts painted to resemble characters with actual character. The wittiness is painful, as are the descriptions of every tiny detail. I’m one who loves detail, but not pages of it. I really don’t care either about the weeds growing in the pathways either.
I tried to stick through it to get to the actual story, since everything was promised me in the description is everything I like in a book, but I grew too weary of everything to continue.
Even the magic was disappointing, and magic by nature is not supposed to disappoint. I’m not sure why I keep running into books where I’m promised magic, but end up with the “scholarly” type where it’s basically just the idea of the thing, rather than the actual thing. The point of magic is to do it, not theorize about it to death.
I tried to stick through it to get to the actual story, since everything was promised me in the description is everything I like in a book, but I grew too weary of everything to continue.
Even the magic was disappointing, and magic by nature is not supposed to disappoint. I’m not sure why I keep running into books where I’m promised magic, but end up with the “scholarly” type where it’s basically just the idea of the thing, rather than the actual thing. The point of magic is to do it, not theorize about it to death.
May 10, 2021
Blew through this in a day, after having it for many many months as kind of a backup.
Such glorious puttings in their place of sexist pompous men! More Jane Brailsford! More time at a magical college! Albeit one full of men.
While I liked Lambert well enough, I really did want more time with Jane. And the plot suddenly seems to revolve around a lot of people disappearing... and guess what happens when our heroes go to find them? So... the mystery plot was a bit scattershot.
But just being in that world, with that language, was so much fun. I maybe should have read it more slowly? I also enjoyed how the hero had to put up with people thinking that every American has been to Laredo, etc. The pleasure in this book is in the small moments, rather in trying to figure out the plot.
Re-readable when I do a re-read of all the books, at some point in the future, but not quite an instant treasure like the first book.
Such glorious puttings in their place of sexist pompous men! More Jane Brailsford! More time at a magical college! Albeit one full of men.
While I liked Lambert well enough, I really did want more time with Jane. And the plot suddenly seems to revolve around a lot of people disappearing... and guess what happens when our heroes go to find them? So... the mystery plot was a bit scattershot.
But just being in that world, with that language, was so much fun. I maybe should have read it more slowly? I also enjoyed how the hero had to put up with people thinking that every American has been to Laredo, etc. The pleasure in this book is in the small moments, rather in trying to figure out the plot.
Re-readable when I do a re-read of all the books, at some point in the future, but not quite an instant treasure like the first book.
April 7, 2021
Lacks both the sparkle and the wild depths of College of Magics. I found this one dull and meandering. The protagonists and their struggles are weirdly irrelevant to the outcome. Instead, the real plot revolves around a maddening tertiary character whose seems to have no motivation other than being frustrating just long enough for the book to play out. I kept waiting for the action to move away from a staid English university in a staid English countryside, but this happens only briefly. If you really enjoyed the opening Shire chapters of Lord of the Rings, you might like this. Otherwise I'd suggest giving it a pass.
April 26, 2025
Reread this week, after enough years since the first round to have forgotten almost all of it. This is second in the duology starting with A College of Magics, which should be read first, both for the worldbuilding and for an ongoing secondary character who has a larger role in this volume. Samuel Lambert, the titular scholar (-to-be) is quite my favorite; a charming young American sharpshooter from Wyoming navigating the complexities of this alternate-magical-Edwardian England. Recommended.
Very glad to find the Kindle edition is readily available, with its enlargeable type. Speaking of many years. The story has aged better than I have, certainly.
Ta, L.
October 30, 2020
This was a decent book, if a little slow and meandering. I really liked Jane in the first book so I was excited to have a book somewhat focused on her story. We get to see her fun personality more. She is visiting her brother at his Magical College and meets an American Sharpshooter that is working on a secret project. There is a good bit of fun interchange between them. The book has a slow reveal of the motivations behind the various characters. It was good but not one I am likely to read again.
March 5, 2025
This smart, sweet fantasy brought me joy. I wish I'd realized it was the second in a two-part series! I'm going to go back and read the first one for sure.
It's a humorous historical fantasy set in an alternate 1908, where a stuffy British magical college has some interesting, and possibly dangerous projects. Fabulous Parisian hats mingle with American Sharpshooters, and the spector of a magical WW1 lingers in the themes, which include excess nationalism, women's rights, empire building, and class segregation.
Bonus: I can share it with my kids and we ALL like it!
It's a humorous historical fantasy set in an alternate 1908, where a stuffy British magical college has some interesting, and possibly dangerous projects. Fabulous Parisian hats mingle with American Sharpshooters, and the spector of a magical WW1 lingers in the themes, which include excess nationalism, women's rights, empire building, and class segregation.
Bonus: I can share it with my kids and we ALL like it!
October 24, 2022
I feel like there are 2 main characters: Samuel Lambert (the American sharpshooter) and Jane Brailsford.
The setting is the English male equivalent to Greenlaw.
And there's a should-be warden here, too, but first there's a mystery to be solved with disappearing people, offices that are broken into, and documents that appear to be planted.
Very very mild incidental romance.
The setting is the English male equivalent to Greenlaw.
And there's a should-be warden here, too, but first there's a mystery to be solved with disappearing people, offices that are broken into, and documents that appear to be planted.
Very very mild incidental romance.
December 25, 2022
2022 bk 390. A worthy sequel - with just enough commonalities to keep me interested. This look at a second school of magic, one for men only, is intriguing in that Stermer points out how genre-based or, by default, genre-heavy, schools provide only one 'real' point of view and that the true scholar should be open to multiple points of view. A good story.
November 27, 2018
3.5 stars.
I enjoyed this, but I didn't get swept away by it. It is delightful to see Jane again and to follow her adventures, but COLLEGE OF MAGICS just sparkles in a way that this... doesn't.
I'm still glad I read it, but I wish Lambert had a bit more life to him.
I enjoyed this, but I didn't get swept away by it. It is delightful to see Jane again and to follow her adventures, but COLLEGE OF MAGICS just sparkles in a way that this... doesn't.
I'm still glad I read it, but I wish Lambert had a bit more life to him.
June 17, 2022
A very nice fantasy story. Ineyersting characters and a good plot. Near the end a bit overdone in trying to close the loose ends.
I also would prefer to see less rah rah we're english and your not in the story.
Still a good read.
I also would prefer to see less rah rah we're english and your not in the story.
Still a good read.
June 8, 2023
the magical dark academic promise was intriguing but most of the exciting plot points and exposition happened off screen.
read if you enjoy an art historians long descriptions of architecture.
also our MC “Lambert” was pretty boring
read if you enjoy an art historians long descriptions of architecture.
also our MC “Lambert” was pretty boring
June 10, 2024
I can't make myself write anything about this book that makes sense, so all I'll say is that I loved it, it's beautiful, it's awesome, and I can't wait to reread it at some point down the road. Maybe then I'll have the words for it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews