A College of Magics
Literary Quality: 
Christian Morality: Dangerous
Age Appropriateness: Adult
Modified from E. Snyder's Amazon review.
While "Sorcery and Cecelia" is set in 1817 Regency England, "A College of Magics" catapults us a hundred years further, to approximately 1908 in Edwardian Europe. The story follows Faris, the young Dutchess of Galazon (which, one presumes, is supposed to be located somewhere east of Austria and west of Romania) as she spends three years at Greenlaw University before returning to reclaim her place in politics. The catch? She's just found out that she's the Warden of the North - and that she must mend the rift her grandmother made in the fabric of this reality.
Ms. Stevermer writes in a language much akin to the literature of the time (cf. E. M. Forster, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, etc.) - complete with random moments of insight, liberally strewn metaphysical poetry, snips and snatches of song and culture, and occasional forays into the world of subconscious or "sensation" writing. However, perhaps because of this attention to the time period, perhaps for some other reason, the story suffers several major flaws:
The plot is rather dreamlike and...strange. Often new plot lines will be introduced without explanation or reason - and then just as quickly dropped. The Wardens of the World are explained only in their existence but never fully in their capacity. Characters are introduced, given a place of prominence, and dropped after a few chapters. Places are never given an exact location except by general reference (with the exception of their time in Paris). And the ending debacle is so surrealistic that one can hardly make hide nor hair of how Faris ascended the stair, or how she closed the rift, or very much of anything. The closing is also unsatisfactory, with no "happily ever after" but a sort of vague continuing that feels as though it ought to be significant.
Again, one must commend Ms. Stevermer in her ability to so replicate the disjointedness of Eduardian literature - the attempt to show life as it is and not as it ought to be - however the result is a strangely concocted novel that never quite comes together as a whole.
Those interested in Eduardian Literature, or Historical Fantasy will find "A College of Magics" interesting. Those searching for an encore to "Sorcery and Cecelia" would do better investing in Patricia Wrede's Regency Fantasies.
The reason for the "Dangerous" morality rating lies less in plot than in outlook: the general tenor of the book is rather existentially depressing, and finishes with a ridiculous pro-feminazi non-conclusion. Men are shown as weak, the afterlife is nirvanaesque, and the dominant semi-divine powers are - at their core - merely human. Contrary to the title, there is very little studying of magic done in the book - unlike the above novels - however while the above have a generally harmless outlook on life, the universe and everything, A College of Magics tends to be entirely down-in-the-James-Joycian-dumps.
