A Wizard in Rhyme: Difference between revisions
Content added Content deleted
m (update links) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (defaultsort, tropelist) |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{work}} |
{{work}} |
||
''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. |
''[[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. |
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. |
||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
* 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. |
* 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 series is relatively obscure--and, if truth be told, deservedly so. The books are a [[Cliché Storm]]: Matthew is set a task involving setting to rights another European country. He collects a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] as he travels, often supplementing them with [[Public Domain Character|Public Domain Characters]] created through [[Summon Magic]]; most of them fade back into obscurity, though two from the first book, the [[Black Knight]], Sir Guy de [[Bilingual Bonus|Toutarien]], and the dragon Stegoman, make repeat appearances. Matthew makes more study into the fabric of magic and Stasheff gets to soapbox about morality and virtue, whether in a Christian context or no. Main characters are flat, with secondaries having more interesting moments. So on. |
||
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 Butchered English]], even though technically they are speaking French), a flood of classic poetry, and a series of [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshade Hangings]] which can only be described as loving. |
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 Butchered English]], even though technically they are speaking French), a flood of classic poetry, and a series of [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshade Hangings]] which can only be described as loving. |
||
Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
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]. |
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]. |
||
{{tropelist}} |
|||
=== Tropes displayed in this series include === |
|||
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Matthew conjures up a sword [[Sharpened to a Single Atom]]. |
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Matthew conjures up a sword [[Sharpened to a Single Atom]]. |
||
* [[Acrophobic Bird]]: Stegoman, the dragon, who is afraid of heights. |
* [[Acrophobic Bird]]: Stegoman, the dragon, who is afraid of heights. |
||
Line 55: | Line 55: | ||
[[Category:A Wizard in Rhyme]] |
[[Category:A Wizard in Rhyme]] |
||
[[Category:Literature]] |
[[Category:Literature]] |
||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wizard in Rhyme, A}} |