Hello everyone!
I'm slowly chipping away at this series and making it through the books one by one - but that's the best way to do it, in my opinion.
If you rush anything, then the job's going to be botched no matter how much you want it not to be!
So here I am, with the continuation of His Name Was Augustin.
This one's a shorter story compared to the big books, and is actually a bonus to them all since it involves neither time travel nor Swanie, actually.
This one's about Vreni, Swanie's best friend in the whole world, and I have to say that I LOVE ME SOME VRENI. She's adorable, she has a heart of gold even though she could have been a total rich classicist, and she's got a really great story to boot.
Which means we'll stop wasting time and read it in Veiled Magic.
Now, Veiled Magic takes place within the timeline of Arcane Gateway as a bonus story, so it can't really be read as a standalone since you probably won't know what's what or who's who if you just pick it up at random, though you COULD, potentially. It's not too difficult - it just makes more sense to read it as part of a whole.
Anyway, Veiled Magic begins with a bullying incident at school that's stopped because Swanie has a bit of a temper, so she jumps to the magical plane and threatens the bullies (who apparently know what Vreni's mom does on the side and want to start teaching her daughter a lesson so she can be of the same use).
Then Vreni finds her encased in ice in the girls' bathroom, and Swanie takes off, since, you know, showing someone outside the Teutonic community you're a witch is a BIG no-no.
However, there's a bit of a catch: Vreni's not the usual outsider. Her family DOES have Teutonic blood, it's just so diluted that they can't use their elements and usually can't even feel them, though Vreni knows she has some sort of fire in her or something.
Her father also happens to be the head of the biggest pharmaceutical company in Germany, and her mother loves his deeply - but she helps him score his business contracts by doing some sexual favours to the side, something Vreni knows and isn't that keen on doing herself.
Both the parents are incesed on her behalf after what happened, and her father tells her to befriend Swanie, so that's exactly what she does, and the girls soon become closer than sisters.
Swanie then gets first-hand experience just how elitist and snobby her own community is, since anyone who hears about Vreni turns their nose up against her because of her low blood status, and this enrages her further.
She invites Vreni along to the May dances, and her mentor assures them both that he won't stand for bullying, which is exactly what happens, mind: some idiots from a backwater village try to tell tall tales and frighten her off, but another of Swanie's friends, Stefan, intervenes.
Aaand then he and Vreni start dating, which I think is absolutely beautiful.
The book comes to a close with Stefan approaching her father about how serious they are about their relationship, and also mentioning (though he's reluctant to because he doesn't like to bargain, he wants to be accepted for who he is) that he can elevate Vreni's blood status through their love.
This ends up sealing the deal, and I can't WAIT to read the culmination of this in the other short story that I know is in the collection I own!
I enjoyed having a look into Vreni's mind in her POVs. She has an interesting family with a loving dynamic, quite liberal for the times I should think, and while it was unfortunate to read about her bullying, her relationship with Stefan is absolutely worth it.
Swanie works really well as a supporting character here, which is interesting considering this novella is part of HER ongoing saga. But this only makes me more determined to forge on.
There were a few interesting stylistic choices regarding how the girls speak, ie not abbreviating anything (have not instead of haven't) which sometimes made it all sound archaic, but otherwise this was a nice little side-trip before continuing on with the main storyline.
I'll be interested to check in with Vreni later in the books!
Swanie works really well as a supporting character here, which is interesting considering this novella is part of HER ongoing saga. But this only makes me more determined to forge on.
There were a few interesting stylistic choices regarding how the girls speak, ie not abbreviating anything (have not instead of haven't) which sometimes made it all sound archaic, but otherwise this was a nice little side-trip before continuing on with the main storyline.
I'll be interested to check in with Vreni later in the books!
xx
*image not mine
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