The Mislaid Magician: Or, Ten Years After

Written by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Narrated by Lucy Rayner

Family affairs don't stop cousins Cecelia and Kate from their magical duties in Regency England

It's been a decade since Kate and Cecelia foiled Napoleon's plot to reclaim the French crown. The cousins now have estates, children, and a place at the height of wizarding society.

It is 1828, and though magic remains at the heart of the British Empire, a new power has begun to make itself felt across England: the steam engine. As iron tracks crisscross the countryside, the shaking of the locomotives begins to disrupt the workings of English magic, threatening the very foundations of the Empire.

A foreign wizard on a diplomatic mission to England vanishes, and the Prime Minister sends Cecelia's husband to investigate. In order to accompany her husband to the north of England, Cecelia leaves her children in Kate's care. As Cecelia and James fight for the future of magic, Kate is left with a no less daunting problem: how to care for a gaggle of disobedient, spell-casting tots.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781977364289

Patricia C. Wrede

PATRICIA COLLINS WREDE was born in Chicago, the oldest of five children.  She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses.  She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic (1982), after graduation, though it took her five years to finish it.  Ms. Wrede enjoyed a successful career as a financial analyst, but she always made time to write.  Her published books now total more than a dozen.

Reviews for The Mislaid Magician

[ca8bookwyrm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the third in the series of "letter game" books written by the two authors. (The basic idea is that each writer has a character, and the book plot progresses in a series of letters that the authors write to each other in character. The result is a book with two different voices told in a very amusing fashion.) The first book is Sorcery and Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot.This book isn't quite as good as the first one, which had the element of novelty and budding romance to make it all the more enjoyable. However, it is quite fun, and I enjoy it better than the second book. (In book 2, the characters are traveling together and instead of letters they write journal entries. I prefer having them write letters. The plot is equally enjoyable in each of the books.)There isn't much that I can say about this book without ruining the plot of the first two for everyone, but I can say that the series is set in an alternate Regency England, where magic is an acceptable vocation. The two main characters are young ladies of quality, and while the books may be billed as young adult fiction, they have a freshness that adults will be able to enjoy just as much as teens. I really enjoy the series, and would love to see it continue.

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is the early nineteenth century and the age of steam is just getting underway. However, in this version of history magic exists and is recognized. There is a Royal Society of Magicians and Lord Wellington, now Prime Minister, employs wizards as well as generals to guard the realm. A German magician dispatched to investigate accidents on a railway line has gone missing. Ley lines appear to be involved, as well as a kidnapped child, a hysterical Dutchess and some very inventive children. Quite fun.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pleasant and light. I think I liked it better than the last one in the series.

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

None of the charm has worn off these books for me. Actually, I enjoyed this one more than I did the second. Cecelia and Kate are still as wonderful as they were in the beginning, only now their children (perhaps as mischievous and their mothers) get to play a part.

[mizpurplest · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Back to the style from the first book, which both authors seem much better at maintaining with success. Still fluffy but such fun.

[shimmin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another very enjoyable book in this series. Wrede and Stevermer maintain their tone well despite co-writing, and weave a story which is mysterious but not Byzantine. As usual, it's a fun and easy read.At the same time, two minor qualifications. The division between male and female characters is very clear from their writing, but despite reading this in a single session, I sometimes found myself unsure of which man or woman was writing. Their voices are rather similar, and I found I mostly used the content of the letters, or even the signatures, to confirm identities. This was particularly an issue once family members started shuffling around between the two! I suspect this is down to the books' origins, since on my reading, the women are essentially both Georgette Heyer Heroine and the men Georgette Heyer Hero, both of them a little generic as a result. They have their own distinguishing traits and interests, but don't feel especially different in personality or voice.The second is that, as I understand it, they write these plots by adding to each others' letters, as in some parlour games, and then edit it afterwards. As a result, the plot is generally creative, but does have a certain organic handwaviness to it, rather than the tight plot and internal consistency a single writer usually achieves. Disparate elements are woven together, and though mostly good, there's a lingering flavour of the parlour game left on it. I don't particularly feel this detracts, but more demanding readers may.

[yona-414000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maybe under a four but not by a lot. I've become quite attached to these characters, will miss them and would continue with these books in a heartbeat if they decided to write more of them.

[murphy4jacobs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The last book of this little trilogy. Again, a reasonably imaginative plot, time with favorite characters (now more mature and, surprisingly, less frustrating -- good work, authors!) and if the Regency wonder and romantic tensions are gone now, there is plenty of mild, smiling humor to replace them. This is the sort of book (these three, in fact) one tends to revisit when feeling worn down and not equal to something new or something with more depth. They are good examples of light fantasy, which is all they aspire to be. Cotton candy does not need to be Pâté de Foie Gras, but if it's very good Cotton Candy, it's just as wonderful.

[sriemann_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought that aging the main characters 10 years would detract from the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did not.

[the1butterfly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I admit that I had a lot more trouble getting into this one than the previous two (and sticking with it). It was an interesting story, and the go-between with the sisters was there, but I just had trouble connecting. Maybe it was that the sisters were more active/important or something in the others or the plot was more to my taste, but this one just didn't charm me the way the first two had.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not bad, not wonderful. The gimmick works a lot better here than it did in The Grand Tour - actually, a bit better than it did in Sorcery & Cecelia, even. Overlapping messages, two sets of voices (and it was nice to hear Thomas and James speak for themselves), and important information being passed in the letters. Now, the story being told wasn't much, and events depended far too strongly on coincidence, so overall the story was only moderately enjoyable. The whole thing with the ley lines and the trains is very contrived - if it were as important as it's portrayed, it should have been noticed sooner, and if it were minor enough to be overlooked it shouldn't have been such a crisis. Again, I enjoyed the domestic disasters rather more than the whole Plot storyline - though the 'domestic' disasters got to be rather major events in themselves. As I said, not bad but not wonderful. I'll probably reread as part of the series, I have no particular desire to reread the book for itself.

[emperatrix_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While not as enjoyable as Sorcery & Cecilia, I felt that The Mislaid Magician was a lot more engaging than The Grand Tour. This novel returns to the epistolary form, recounting the adventures of Cecilia and James, and Kate and Thomas as they become entangled in a mystery that has the power alter the fate of England. Where The Grand Tour dragged, the alternating journal entries becoming somewhat convoluted, The Mislaid Magician resumed the easy, fast pace of the original.

[rocalisa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline StevemerKate and Cecy, Book 3; YA Fantasty; 7/10Another light, fun read. I still think the first of these "books in letters", The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, was the best, but this was very enjoyable. What I found most interesting was the characters' reactions to the advent of the steam train. Trains being something that are so part of the landscape (especially if you have a four year old son and constantly need to call out, "Look Marcus, a train!") I found the reaction of them as a fad that wasn't going to catch on to be amusing. While not the strongest of stories, it was a lovely read and it was nice to see Kate and Cecy coping with being parents.

[pagemistress · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wrede and Stevermer's third Kate and Cecy book picks up, as the title implies, ten years after the end of The Grand Tour. Now established in pleasant (though not uneventful) domesticity, they still manage to become embroiled in magical mayhem and mysteries involving disappearing wizards, kidnapped children, and the potent clash of magic and machines. This third outing is not quite as effervescent as the previous two, and the addition of two more points of view seems to add to the length rather than the substance more often than not, but The Mislaid Magician is still well worth the read, especially for those who have had the good fortune to meet Kate, Cecy, and their companions in previous adventures.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While not as splendid as the first book, it is nice to return to the letters of Kate and Cecy, and this time, the lads get voices as well. Some amusement is to be had in the differing stories told by the husbands and wives. The mystery of the missing engineer was engaging, and the system of magic is very interesting indeed. The train's pull on the ley lines is excellent.The mystery of the silent girl is much more obvious, and the threads tying the two stories together were very weak.

[icedtea_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this more than the second book, The Grand Tour, but not as much as the first - Sorcery and Cecelia. This time we get added correspondence between James and Thomas, and a return to letters between the cousins.Nitpick: We never did find out what the story with the goat was...

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kate and Cecy may be ten years older and several children richer, but their adventures certainly don't suffer for it. When the new Prime Minister requests that James look into a the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a magician/surveyor for the newly constructed railway, he and Cecy pack the kids off to Kate and Thomas, and head north. Between the escapades of the combined brood Kate's coping with, the surprise arrival of her sister Georgy, who is suspiciously mum on the circumstances surrounding and proposed length of her stay, and the discovery that the missing magician has been -- no, I'm not going to spoil the discovery.Suffice it to say that this is a thoroughly satisfactory follow up to the Sorcery and Cecelia, and completely makes up for the somewhat disappointing Grand Tour.

[readinggeek451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good, although it starts off kind of slowly. It's good to see Kate and Cecy, Thomas and James, again, not to mention making the acquaintance of their kids.

[nikkles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great book by Patricia Wrede. A must for all lovers of correspondence and fun fantasy novels.

[amberwitch · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In this fantasy of manners set in regency England, a sequel to Sorcery and Cecelia and The Grand Tour, a Preussian magician surveyer of railroads has disappeared, and foul play is suspected.The story is told through a series of letters between cousins Kate and Cecy, and their husbands Thomas and James. James and Cecy are hunting all over the English country side for the missing magician, while trying to discover the connection between the new railways and ley lines. Their children are staying with Kate and Thomas who have their fair share of magical lurkers, unexpected events and houseguests to handle while keeping the combined brood safe.The story takes place ten years after The Grand Tour, the shared honeymoon of the two couples, and in the interim Kate and Cecy has grown up and have had children en masse.The epistolary style works better in this story than in The Grand Tour, especially since there is a reason for the use of letters.The story is interesting and wellpaced, although slightly unlikely at times. The amount of coincidences carrying it forward is staggering, and the way several storylines are tied up nicely in the end by the use of the same henchman in two unrelated schemes contrieved.