The Grand Tour : Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance,...

The Grand Tour : Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including ... | Caroline Stevermer, Patricia C. Wrede | Kate & Cecy take on Europe and treachery

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The Grand Tour : B...

	The Grand Tour : Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including ... Caroline Stevermer, Patricia C. Wrede, 2004 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and--of course--purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes.

But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe.

Now the four newlyweds must embark on a daring chase to thwart the evil conspiracy. And there's no telling the trouble they'll get into along the way. For when you mix Kate and Cecy and magic, you never know what's going to happen next!

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Another 4 1/2 for this fun sequel

"The Grand Tour" is a sequel. But wait! Before you fall back hopelessly upset and disappointed, read on. Because "The Grand Tour" is just as fun as its predecessor. It's still witty, charming, and enjoyable. But in a slightly different way.

Unlike "Sorcery and Cecelia", "The Grand Tour" has one complete story. It is not the casually fun back-and-forth between our two now-beloved cousins, but rather two separate accounts of the same trip, the grand tour of Europe. Rather than the somewhat predictable yet adorable previous book, here we've got a mysterious setting and another grand adventure. But of an entirely different sort.

"The Grand Tour" has much more mystery/intrigue/history than magic (though fear not - there are still wacky and oddball spells to wonder at). It's got a charming mix of history and magic, as well as a fun road-trip feel. At times the descriptions of dreary carriage rides through mud may seem like a bit much, but on the whole, they're just so much fun.

Because once again, Wrede and Stevermer have created a fun and charming novel that will delight readers. It is clearly a sequel (one MUST have read the previous book to understand this - I'd also recommend rereading the charming original to refresh your memory before delving into this one), but not a failed one. Perhaps it won't lure quite as many people as "Sorcery and Cecelia" did, with its flair and charm. But "The Grand Tour" is still a grand read - fun, exciting, and delightful all the way along. Less predictable, but still a sequel.

Another solid 4 1/2 recommendation.

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Kate & Cecy take on Europe and treachery

This is a direct sequel to the authors' Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, told alternately through Cecy Tarleton's "deposition to the joint representatives of the British Ministry of Magic" and entries in Kate Schofield's "commonplace book," or journal. The two cousins have just married their gentlemen and are setting off on the Grand Tour of Europe. Before they've done more than land in France, a mysterious "Lady in Blue" bestows on them a small vial of unknown provenance--and someone immediately attempts to steal it. Gradually the two couples learn that various items of traditional coronation regalia from countries all over Europe have been disappearing without a trace, and that their vial is one of them. And their old foe Sir Hilary Bedrick has turned up dead in Paris. Ultimately they discover that an Italian magician, in an effort to forestall Bonaparte several years earlier, has created a spell to apply "modern theories of magic" to the ancient traditional coronation rituals and legitimize a pan-European ruler. Unfortunately unscrupulous people have found out about it and are taking steps to crown a puppet ruler--a young Englishman who has no idea what's in store for him. The quest of the Tarletons and Schofields to forestall them leads from Paris to Venice and across the Alps to Nemi, with intrigue, narrow escapes, and magic aplenty; in fact, this volume in the series begins to explicate more clearly the way in which magic works in this alternate Universe, and although longer than its predecessor is at least as quick-moving and, in my opinion, more exciting and suspenseful, while retaining the wry humor of the first book. And, since the quartet are already safely married, there's less of the romantic entanglements that characterized the latter. For those who enjoy light fantasy with a strong leaven of political suspense, "The Grand Tour" should make a perfect read.

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Who's up for round two?

I was shocked to find this book on my weekly bookstore wanderings. I had no idea these imaginitive writers planned on another adventure and I immediately snatched it to see what Kate and Cecy were up to now. I confess this book was not as good as the first, but well worth the time to read. The first book interested me to the point that I could not put it down however, the second seemed to lag on a bit. Despite its minor flaws, I loved it. The character development and the Grand Tour in general was magical. After reading Grand Tour I did not expect a third, but there was one. I could not help myself. It is like going to a highschool reunion every time I see another of Wrede and Stevermer's books on the shelves.

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first-rate characters in a first-rate sequel

Originally published in 1988, I first read Sorcery and Cecelia after its re-release in 2004. Happily, that meant I didn't have quite as long a wait for a sequel as Kate and Cecy's original fans. Released in 2006, The Grand Tour or The Purloined Coronation Regalia picks up shortly after the end of Sorcery and Cecelia with both cousins newly married and beginning their honeymoons with an English tradition known aptly as the grand tour during which they plan to travel through the great cities of Europe. Like its prequel, this novel also has an extended title to offer further enlightenment as to what the story will actually relate. That title is: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality.

While the plot of this novel does stand alone, I don't recommend reading this book before the first in the series because it just isn't as fun that way. Part of the great thing about these books is watching the girls grow and tracing the relationships between the characters--things that are harder to do without reading the books in order.

(That said, a quick recap: The happily married couples are Kate and Thomas Schofield, Cecy and James Tarleton. My favorite couple is Cecelia and James. Thomas is a wizard, and Cecy is just realizing that she also has a magical aptitude. These novels are written with a variation of the Letter Game. Patricia C. Wrede is Cecelia and Caroline Stevermer is Kate.)

Instead of being written in alternating letters, this volume alternates between excerpts from Cecelia's deposition to the Joint Representatives of the British Ministry of Magic, the War Office, and the Foreign office; and excerpts from Kate's . Joining the couples on part of their wedding(s) journey is Lady Sylvia, another wizard of note in England (and Thomas' mother).

Expecting a leisurely honeymoon, and the chance to purchase proper bride clothes and secure the services of maids, both Cecelia and Kate are dismayed when their quiet grand tour turns into nothing less than a race to prevent an international conspiracy of Napoleanic proportions. As the couples tour Europe's great antiquities--and meet their fair share of unique tourists--the young women, and their husbands, begin to piece together a plot the likes of which no one could have previously imagined.

Like Sorcery and Cecelia this novel once again serves as a lovely homage to Jane Austen. The pacing and tone of The Grand Tour is again reminiscent of Austen's work (or George Eliot's for that matter). Nonetheless, some of the plot did seem more difficult to follow than, say, the first book in this series though the problem was remedied with back-reading. I love these characters unconditionally, in a way I rarely love book characters. Artless, charming, and profoundly entertaining, both Cecelia and Kate are first-rate characters in a first-rate fantasy series.

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Change in style and mystery...

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot told the story via letters exchanged between Cecy and Kate. In The Grad Tour the story is told by entries in Kate's (now Lady Schofield) commonplace book and Cecy's (now Mrs. James Tarleton) deposition to the Joint Representatives of the British Ministry of Magic, the War Office, and the Foreign Office. Cecy and Kate are on their honeymoon with their husbands (Cecy's James and Kate's Thomas), Lady Sylvia, and assorted servants. Of course Lady Sylvia will be staying in Paris where she makes her home. But as soon as they land in France, they are involved in mysterious events: the delivery of a strange bottle of scent, a robbery, a servant who is missing, and the news from the British representative that coronation regalia is being stolen throughout Europe and that two couples on their Grand Tour are just the ones to solve the case.

The story is cleverly written in diary entries and depositions. Cecy and Kate are very independent women of their times. They know the rules and follow them but within that they stand their own ground and their husbands have come to understand that there is no way to protect them when they decide to act.

If you enjoy the period following the Napoleonic Wars and comedies of manners, you'll enjoy these books. The characters are well drawn and the mystery is convoluted and in some ways simple. You think you have it all figured out quite handily and then in the end it takes a weird but logical turn. The characters are all so of their times that only the addition of magic takes it from being a historical to a fantasy mystery.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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