Patricia C. Wrede
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Patricia C. Wrede is an American fantasy writer whose works include the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.
Her other works include two series of Regency Fantasy (one beginning with Mairelon the Magician and the other, co-written with Caroline Stevermer, with Sorcery and Cecelia), and a series set in the world of Lyra, as well as a number of stand-alone novels (including The Seven Towers) and numerous short stories.
Works by Patricia C. Wrede with their own trope pages include:
- Enchanted Forest Chronicles
- Sorcery and Cecelia series
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - She wrote a Novelization of it, a "junior novelization" essentially, though not specifically labeled as such.
Patricia C. Wrede provides examples of the following tropes:
- Baleful Polymorph is invoked in the Mairelon the Magician series, with the "thieves' cant" slang term for a wizard being "frogmaker." It's not clear if they actually can turn people into frogs, although one wizard threatens to transform a friend of hers who's not explaining the situation clearly enough.
- Beam-O-War (in The Seven Towers, with a twist)
- Blue Blood (several)
- Burn the Witch (in Daughter of Witches)
- Cloudcuckoolander: Amberglas in The Seven Towers, although this is at least partly Obfuscating Stupidity. Her spells always do what she wants them to -- unlikely if she were really as ditzy as she seems.
- Cool Old Lady: In the sequel to Mairelon the Magician, Mairelon's mother is, as the back-cover blurb (accurately!) states, "charmingly eccentric." His father's sister is also cool, although it takes longer to show, because she's "formidably correct," which comes out as stuffiness with a touch of Mean Brit. When facing a real crisis, though, she's basically unflappable, practical, and quite clever. Her Crowning Moment of Awesome comes when, realizing a certain spell will only harm wizards — which she isn't — she doesn't hesitate to act as a human shield for the wizard she's with. The very formal way she tells off the bad guy is hilariously awesome, too.
- Culture Clash
- Curse
- Family-Unfriendly Death (in "Cruel Sisters")
- Fractured Fairy Tale (several)
- A Friend in Need
- Friend or Foe
- Historical Fantasy (several)
- Instant Runes (averted)
- It Was a Gift
- Language of Magic (in the Mairelon series)
- Lucky Seven
- Magic A Is Magic A
- Malicious Slander
- Maybe Ever After (The Raven Ring)
- Mentor Ship: In the sequel to Mairelon. And Everyone Can See It — none of Mairelon's friends or relatives are surprised ... or disapproving.
- Regency England (several)
- Retired Badass (in Caught in Crystal)
- Sense Freak (in "The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd")
- Shotgun Wedding
- Snowball Fight
- So Proud of You
- Street Urchin (in Mairelon the Magician)
- They Call Me Mister Tibbs
- Thirteen Is Unlucky
- Twice-Told Tale (contributed a version of "Snow-White and Rose-Red" to a series of fairy tale retellings overseen by Terri Windling)
- Widow Witch (in Snow White and Rose Red)
- Wild Hair
- Wizard Duel (in The Seven Towers)