THE SERPENT'S EGG
This is a tale of courtly intrigue and magic set in an Elizabethan/Jacobean age with a goodly dash of sonnets and lines added. The plot is rather disjointed; one part (the less interesting section) revolves around the magic of the serpent's egg, and the other around the treasonous Duke, who killed the kingdom's greatest hero. It's up his protege Christopher and his fiance to convince the queen of the duke's villainy...before her nephew is convicted of treachery. The characters are delightfully idiosyncratic, but I would have enjoyed the story just as well if there hadn't been a serpent's egg. Several rousing duels, an overbearing sister, generally excellent prose, and sailboating all crowd its pages. Too bad it's so demmed hard to find.
A COLLEGE OF MAGICS
This is an odd alternate Edwardian tale which starts off extremely promisingly with a special magical college for girls, but ends up in a bit of a tangle, what with Guardians, magic guardians, kings, etc. I think I also would have preferred a more traditional ending. However, it has one quote I love-- "I'm not ignorant, just English."
Stevermer also co-wrote Sorcery and Cecelia with Patricia C. Wrede. WHEN THE KING COMES HOME
This is her latest novel, and I'm sorry to say that I couldn't even really finish it. It had all the elements of novels I really like-- idiosyncratic characters, witty prose, an imaginative set up, but nothing really pulled it all together to create characters I loved, and it all seemed a bit perfunctory.
