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''[[A Wizard in Rhyme]]'' is a fantasy series by Christopher Stasheff, combining [[Medieval European Fantasy]] with [[Deconstruction]], historical accuracy and a lot of troping. It is currently eight books long.
Our protagonist is Matthew Mantrell, [[Ordinary High School Student|Ordinary Graduate Student]], English major and general intellectual, working on his doctorate during [[The Present Day]] (presumably [[The Eighties]], as that's when the first book was published). During his researches he comes across a piece of parchment covered in a language unknown to man. It turns out to be a [[Summon Everyman Hero]] spell that whisks him to "Merovence," the France of an [[Alternate History]] Europe still in [[The High Middle Ages]]. Once there, he makes a number of discoveries.
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* Saint Moncaire, patron of Merovence, brought Matthew here to restore the [[Balance of Good and Evil]]. All the other nations of Europe--Ibile, Allustria, Latruria, etc--have fallen under the reign of evil men, and a usurper, Astaulf, now threatens the throne of Merovence, aided by his [[Evil Chancellor]] Malingo. Matthew's job is to find [[Everything's Better with Princesses|Princess Alisande]] and help her reclaim her throne, thus preventing all of Europe from falling to the clutches of evil.
The series is relatively obscure--and, if truth be told, deservedly so.
The ''real'' reason tropers will want to check it out anyhow is that it is decidedly, deliberately, unabashedly [[Troperiffic]]. The [[Theory of Narrative Causality]] is in full force, and characters are [[Genre Savvy]] enough to actively ''[[Invoked Trope|invoke]]'' tropes if they stand to benefit from them (in the first book alone Princess Alisande calls upon "[[Underdogs Never Lose]]" and "[[The Good Guys Always Win]]"). The result is a [[Post Modern]] series in the trappings of an [[Historical Fantasy]] (complete with [[Ye Olde
A not-especially-complete wiki on the series can be found [http://christopher.stasheff.com/wiki/tiki-print.php?page=A%20Wizard%20In%20Rhyme at the author's website]{{Dead link}}.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Matthew conjures up a sword [[Sharpened to a Single Atom]].
* [[Acrophobic Bird]]: Stegoman, the dragon, who is afraid of heights.
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* [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]]: Matthew. It's in his favor, though, and other characters are willing to overlook his 20th-century eccentricities [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|for the sake of his brilliant wizardry]].
* [[Guardian Angel]]: Saul summons one, though, as an agnostic, he can't fully accept its existence.
* [[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)]]: many names are traceable to influences in our history. Merovence, for instance, takes its name from the same [[wikipedia:Merovingian dynasty|dynasty of French kings]] that [[The Matrix|The Merovingian]] is named after.
* [[Literal Genie]]
* [[Mix-and-Match Critters]]: Matthew meets a "dracogriff" during the second book. The necessary [[Improbable Species Compatibility]] is [[Deconstructed]].
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[[Category:A Wizard in Rhyme]]
[[Category:Literature]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wizard in Rhyme, A}}
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