was about halfway through reading, and thoroughly enjoying, Galen Beckett's The Magicians and Mrs. Quent when I decided to pop online to check out the reviews. It's a rather irritating habit (irritating to me; I can't imagine that anyone else cares), but I like see if every one else agrees with my own assessment. The first review I read (I tried to find it again to link, but alas, it seems to have vanished) offered this critique: "nothing new." For the record, that doesn't seem to be the majority opinion, but frankly, I can't say I disagree. None of the ingredients, or few of them, anyway, are what you'd call groundbreaking. But then, it's not always the ingredients that make the stew; it's how they're mixed. Sure, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is pastiche. But it's very good pastiche. Outstanding, even. My wife and I too turns reading it aloud to one another, and we had an absolute blast.