It's getting so I can't read a Regency novel without becoming irritated by the author's attempt at thieves' cant, fake French accents, and high-class drawls. Most of the authors seem to borrow from Georgette Heyer and Joan Aiken, so we have Regency toffs, coves, sharps, and trulls as filtered through at least three generations of authors (I'm assuming Heyer and Aiken got most of their patois from authors like Jane Austen, who actually lived during England's Regency period). It's hard on the ear and should be as dead as a Vaudeville sketch of some beleaguered minority.
Americans are particularly bad at trying to fake English speech patterns two hundred years dead. I wish they'd stop trying, especially the good ones like Patricia Wrede who can actually tell a story.
So, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
"Mairelon the Magician" is an amusing comedy of manners--more dialogue than magic, and you have to memorize long lists of characters who keep showing up at the most inconvenient moments, such as in the midst of a burglary or an attempted elopement. The two main characters, Mairelon the magician and the street waif, Kim are sharply drawn and likeable. Everyone else is distinguished by a funny accent, or some sort of annoying habit such as chewing on the ends of their mustache. I was minded to lean across the campfire and club Hutch with a piece of firewood the next time he put his mustache in his mouth.
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln....
Well, I did actually enjoy reading this confection and now I'm reading the sequel. What can I say? It's cute and there is a modicum of plot, plus a happy ending. I love happy endings, but I do hope that Hutch shaves off his mustache for the sequel.
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Mairelon the Magician (The Magician) Books In Print, Audio Books.