History Literature / AWizardInRhyme

Our protagonist is Matthew Mantrell, [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Ordinary Graduate Student]], English major and general intellectual, working on his doctorate during ThePresentDay (presumably TheEighties, 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 SummonEverymanHero spell that whisks him to "Merovence," the France of an AlternateHistory Europe still in TheHighMiddleAges. Once there, he makes a number of discoveries.

* HornyDevils: Succubi appear but the book doesn't do a good job at explaining what they actually are.

* RescueRomance: Matthew breaks himself and Alisande out of Malingo's prison and from there it's obvious they will end up together... But not without some entertaining {{BST}} along the way.

The series is relatively obscure. Books are a ClicheStorm: Matthew is set a task involving setting to rights another European country. He collects a RagTagBunchOfMisfits as he travels, often supplementing them with {{Public Domain Character}}s created through SummonMagic; most of them fade back into obscurity, though two from the first book, the BlackKnight, Sir Guy de [[BilingualBonus 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.

* OrphanedSeries: Downplayed. This franchise is relatively episodic, without much in the way of continuity aside from the addition of characters who will occasionally receive {{Call Back}}s. That said, no GrandFinale was ever released before Stasheff's AuthorExistenceFailure in 2018.

''A Wizard in Rhyme'' is a fantasy series by Christopher Stasheff, combining MedievalEuropeanFantasy with {{deconstruction}}, historical accuracy and a lot of troping. It is currently eight books long.

It is decidedly, deliberately, unabashedly {{Troperiffic}}. The TheoryOfNarrativeCausality is in full force, and characters are GenreSavvy enough to actively ''{{invoke|dTrope}}'' tropes if they stand to benefit from them (in the first book alone Princess Alisande calls upon "UnderdogsNeverLose" and "TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin"). The result is a PostModern series in the trappings of an HistoricalFantasy (complete with YeOldeButcheredEnglish, even though technically they are speaking French), a flood of classic poetry, and a series of {{Lampshade Hanging}}s which can only be described as loving.

A [[TheWikiRule 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]].

* AlternateHistory: The timeline split when Romulus and Remus fought. In this version Remus won and Reme became famous for it's peacemaking and negotiation prowess.

%%* BareFistedMonk: Saul Bremener.

%%* NormalFishInATinyPond

* ActionGirl: Alisande for starters; more later.
* AdiposeRex: Astaulf, [[MightyGlacier tall as he is.]]
* ADayInTheLimelight: After Matthew disappears from our world, his friend Saul Bremener tries to figure out where he went. He travels to Merovence just in time to be the star of the third book, and becomes the series' only first-person narrator.

* PublicDomainCharacter: RobinHood and his Merry Men, Literature/DonQuixote, [[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream Puck]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon Maxwell's demon]] and more.
* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: OnceAnEpisode.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Because magic in this setting is controlled by ExactWords, Matt has to be very careful with his phrasing. Otherwise, a spell to conjure fire can summon a [[BreathWeapon fire]]''[[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons breather]]'', and a [[HybridMonster Dracogriff]]-sized saddle can come out big enough for the ''Dracogriff'' to ride.

* Saint Moncaire, patron of Merovence, brought Matthew here to restore the BalanceOfGoodAndEvil. 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 EvilChancellor Malingo. Matthew's job is to find [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Alisande]] and help her reclaim her throne, thus preventing all of Europe from falling to the clutches of evil.

* RightfulKingReturns: Subverted. There's stories of a descendent of Emperor Hardishane, a KingInTheMountain who will return to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong if evil manages to overwhelm all of Europe. AllMythsAreTrue, and such a man does exist, but he's striving with all his might to ''prevent'' his own crowning, as it can only take place AfterTheEnd. ([[spoiler:It's Sir Guy.]])

* {{Succubus}}: Sayeesa from the first novel is a variation, in the form of a Lust Witch. It takes Alisande to break her hold over Matthew.
** True [[{{Succubus}} succubi]] do appear but the book doesn't do a good job at explaining what they actually are; demon, illusion or if they're just other people like Sayeesa.

!!Tropes displayed in this series include

* BareFistedMonk: Saul Bremener.

* NormalFishInATinyPond

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Stegoman.

* SummonEverymanHero

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor

* TrappedInAnotherWorld

* WickedCultured: Fadecourt the cyclops.

* FantasticRacism

* RealityWarper: any wizard would count, but special mention goes to Frisson, a genius-savant who comes up with brilliant poetry as easily as breathing... which, given the setting's FunctionalMagic, can go OffTheRails ''real'' fast.

* RightfulKingReturns: subverted. There's stories of a descendent of Emperor Hardishane, a KingInTheMountain who will return to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong if evil manages to overwhelm all of Europe. AllMythsAreTrue, and such a man does exist, but he's striving with all his might to ''prevent'' his own crowning, as it can only take place AfterTheEnd. ([[spoiler:It's Sir Guy.]])

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: all over the place. Whether villainous or virtuous, there's one thing to be said for the royals of this alternate Europe: they work for their crowns.
* SuccessionCrisis: not only is this how some evil rulers take charge, but there's a genuine one at the end of the second book. Of the two people competing for their grandfather's throne, one is the eldest son's daughter, the other the younger son's son. (Solved when the lady [[PairTheSpares marries a third party]], removing herself from the line of succession.)

** True {{Succubus}} do appear but the book doesn't do a good job at explaining what they actually are; demon, illusion or if they're just other people like Sayeesa.

* TheAtoner: Father Brunel became a priest to find forgiveness for his curse and resist temptation. (He is cursed to transform into a werewolf if he starts feeling lust)

* OneOfUs: Matthew Mantrell definitely is, and by extension Stasheff as well.

The series is relatively obscure--and, if truth be told, deservedly so. Books are a ClicheStorm: Matthew is set a task involving setting to rights another European country. He collects a RagTagBunchOfMisfits as he travels, often supplementing them with {{Public Domain Character}}s created through SummonMagic; most of them fade back into obscurity, though two from the first book, the BlackKnight, Sir Guy de [[BilingualBonus 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 TheoryOfNarrativeCausality is in full force, and characters are GenreSavvy enough to actively ''[[InvokedTrope invoke]]'' tropes if they stand to benefit from them (in the first book alone Princess Alisande calls upon "UnderdogsNeverLose" and "TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin"). The result is a PostModern series in the trappings of an HistoricalFantasy (complete with YeOldeButcheredEnglish, even though technically they are speaking French), a flood of classic poetry, and a series of {{Lampshade Hanging}}s which can only be described as loving.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Because magic in this setting is controlled by ExactWords, Matt has to be very careful with his phrasing. Otherwise, a spell to conjure fire can summon a [[BreathWeapon fire]]''[[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons breather]]'', and and a [[HybridMonster Dracogriff]]-sized saddle can come out big enough for the ''Dracogriff'' to ride.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Matt and Alisande. They bicker and argue almost like an old married couple, call each other out on moments of weakness, and even after all is said and done in the first novel [[spoiler: [[CanNotSpitItOut Matt still has trouble admitting his feelings for her]]]].

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: many names are traceable to influences in our history. Merovence, for instance, takes its name from the same [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty dynasty of French kings]] that [[Film/TheMatrix The Merovingian]] is named after.

* MeaningfulName: Sir Guy introduces himself in ''Her Majesty's Wizard'' as "Sir Guy Losobal," which Matt works out as the Merovencian equivalent to "Sir Guy, the Black Knight." Later on in the book, it's revealed that his real name is [[spoiler:Sir Guy de Toutarien. Toutarien = 'toute ou rien' (all or nothing); if evil completely takes over, it'll be his cue to rebuild Hardishane's empire.]]

* AlternateHistory: The timeline split when Romulus and Remus fought, in this version Remus won and Reme became famous for it's peacemaking and negotiation prowess.

* YearInsideHourOutside: at one point, Matthew returns to "our" dimension after five years in Merovence, to discover that it's been three days since he left.

* RecycledScript: A weirdly blatant example, the Grendel scene from the second book is repeated verbatim in the third with the names changed to the closest equivalent in the new party even though it means the characters refer to and use abilities they don't actually have and ignore the ones they do.

* PublicDomainCharacter: RobinHood and his Merry Men, Literature/DonQuixote, [[AMidsummerNightsDream Puck]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon Maxwell's demon]] and more.

* TrueNeutral: InvokedTrope. Saul is a major ally for the good guys and a hero in his own right, but he refuses to accept their religion or belief system in favor of systematically studying how magic ''really'' works in this setting, and makes sure to commit a "technical sin" (like eating meat on Friday) for every good deed he does.

* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Matthew and Saul. ([[spoiler:Later, Matt brings his parents over as well. They are just as proficient at magic as he is.]]) Having access to centuries of advances and examples in the art of poetry gives them a major advantage.