Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede

There’s not so much swoon here as a faint, twinkling promise of swoon. She’s also rather resourceful with a spare bit of wire and just about any lock, and I bet would be a lot of fun in a rowdy gambling hall. Although Mairelon tries to pull a Henry Higgins and teach her how to talk like a proper lady, she’s full of excellent gutter expressions.

Ok, I’ll fess up here - I’m giving Kim a bff charm mainly so she can teach me some of her flash lingo. Anyhoo, a bunch of magical silver’s been nicked, and Mairelon framed for it, and he’s on the hunt to recover it and clear his name with the Ministry of Wizardry (for this is a Regency England like Susannah Clarke’s, where wizards and real magicians exist and move in the highest social and government circles), and they end up getting tangled with a tamey-lamey version of the Hellfire Club, some nasty underworld types and - worst of all for Kim - the gentry. Kim has been posing as a boy to avoid being snatched and used as a prostitute by the local gang bosses, and although Mairelon wants her to continue the charade, Hunch is all kinds of uneasy about the proprieties. When Mairelon catches her, he decides to take her in his employ instead of punishing her, much to Mairelon’s assistant Hunch’s chagrin. What Kim doesn’t expect is for the street magician to be a real magician, and for the contents of his locked trunk to have a powerful spell on them that knocks her out. London street urchin Kim gets what sounds like an easy job - case a traveling magician’s wagon, keeping her eyes open for a distinctive silver bowl, and earn five pounds.

With that artwork, it looks like those great illustrated classics hawked in the 80s - the abridged versions of Treasure Island and Ivanhoe. Luckily it’s on my Kindle, so I don’t have to get a concealing cover for it, but jeezycreezy. Seriously, even as adamant as I am about YAngelism, I don’t think I could manage to read this book in public without defending myself to everyone who saw me and quirked an eyebrow. Relationship Status: A Friendship That Grew Into So Much More Heyerīonus Factors: Rum Coves, Magic, Jeeves and Wooster

Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede