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Sandry's Book

The Circle of Magic series, Book 1

Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Diversity, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Plants, Thieves
*****

Description

Sandry is the last of her noble family left alive after a plague, left in a hidden room by a dying servant. Daja, the sole survivor of the shipwreck that claimed the rest of her Trader kin, has been cast out of her kind as bad luck. Briar, a thief, has lived his life in squalor, destined for a life of cruel imprisonment. Tris is a stubborn girl whom none of her relatives want, bounced from one to the other until nobody is left to take her in. All four share one thing: a rare yet powerful gift for magic that has gone undetected by traditional mages. The strange wanderer Master Niklaren gathers them all from where Fate has washed them and brings them to the famed Winding Circle temple. Here, among some of the greatest mages the world has ever known, they must learn to accept and control their unusual powers... but first, they must learn to trust each other.

Review

The title of this story is inaccurate. This book is about all four children, not just Sandry. In fact, I didn't consider her to even have a prominent role in the story. Her character doesn't undergo as severe a transformation as the others, so, aside from er assistance at the story's climax, I have no idea why this book was named for her specifically, except to create symmetry in the series. Seemingly random title aside, however, this is well-written and interesting story set in a different world than her Tortall books. The protagonists are different than Pierce's previous heroes and heroines, and their adventures have a more introspective and subtle feel. This isn't so much a book about strong-willed girls blazing trails in male-dominated circles (like the Tortall books) as it is about learning to accept one's gifts and the gifts of others, and to carry on despite great losses. I enjoyed this new world, and look forward to future adventures here.

 

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Tris's Book

The Circle of Magic series, Book 2

Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Diversity, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Pirates, Plants, Thieves
****

Description

After the devastating quake that rocked Winding Circle Temple, the countryside is still struggling to pull itself from the rubble when a new danger arrives: pirates. Pirates are nothing new to the lands around Summersea Harbor, but they are usually scattered ships preying on isolated ships and settlements. A new pirate queen has risen to unite a great fleet, and with her stands a great mage. That alone makes them a force to be reckoned with, but they also bear a new weapon, one that blasts and destroys whatever it touches. These pirates may do what no other invaders have: throw down the walls and magical defenses of Winding Circle. Tris and the young mages of the House Discipline must again test their untrained talents against a great enemy... but Tris herself has personal troubles to tend to, as a relative's arrival brings back dark memories of the days when she was an unwanted family burden.

Review

This actually centered around Tris more than Sandry's book centered around Sandry, but I wound up docking it a point for being more predictable. Pierce isn't usually so predictable. I also get a bit tired of the old gunpowder cliché - no spoiler here, as it's no real surprise to most fantasy readers what this "new" weapon is. I'm sure that the arrival of gunpowder on the scene of battle was a traumatic thing for those who didn't know of it, but as a reader I'm very much aware of the stuff, just as I'm aware that the introduction of gunpowder to a quasi-medieval society (usually from a source outside the local timeline, but in this case simply from a distant land) is a very old plot device. The characters handled it more realistically than many authors have their locals handle gunpowder, and that helped make up for it, but I still find it wearisome. This is a magical world, after all. Couldn't Pierce have come up with an equally devastating magical gunpowder substitute? Other than that, it's a good book, and I enjoyed reading it.

 

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Daja's Book

The Circle of Magic series, Book 3

Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Diversity, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Plants, Thieves
*****

Description

Daja was cast out of the Trader kind as the worst kind of bad luck, invisible to her former people, after being the sole survivor of the shipwreck that claimed her clan. Though she has found a new life at Winding Circle with her friends and teachers, finally able to explore her gifts and interests in metalwork that Trader folk considered beneath them, Daja has never truly lost her longing to redeem herself to the Traders. Now, on a journey to the drought- and wildfire-plagued Gold Valley, Daja finds herself once again sharply reminded of her status as outcast when a Trader caravan comes to the castle where she is staying. An accident of magic may provide her with a chance to reclaim her status as a Trader; but first, she and her friends must survive their inexplicably melding powers and the wildfires that ravage the land.

Review

This wasn't as obvious as Tris's story, and I liked it better as a result. Daja really struggles with her life, and her magic, here. Additionally, more comes of earlier suggestions that the bond between the four young mages runs deeper and more complicated than their masters understand.
On a side note, I have to wonder if the artist who did the cover for this edition had ever seen an actual horse, or if, like their predecessors in history, they merely rendered the animal based on descriptions passed through multiple mouths and languages.

 

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Briar's Book

The Circle of Magic series, Book 4

Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Diversity, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Plants, Plagues, Thieves
*****

Description

It has been nearly a year since his old life as the thief Roach ended, and Briar Moss of Winding Circle temple has come to love his new life. Working with the strict teacher Rosethorn and learning plant lore, living in Discipline House with his mage-friends Sandry, Daja, and Tris, it seems as if his old life on the streets was just a dream. Then, in the town of Summersea, an old associate calls on Briar to help an ailing friend. Suddenly, the town is engulfed by a mysterious plague that defies even the wizards of Winding Circle. From noble to street rat, nobody is immune. It will take all the resources of Briar and his friends to find a cure and be sure all their loved ones survive.

Review

Another great book from Pierce, reading like a conclusion to the quartet. Briar's transformation from untrusting street rat to respectable plant mage completes the transformation of all of the students of Discipline House. On its own, it also makes an interesting, tension-filled examination of an epidemic, albeit one with magical overtones.

 

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Magic Steps

The Circle Opens series, Book 1

Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Diversity, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers
****

Description

Four years ago, Sandry's unusual talent for weaving magic like cloth was discovered. Since then, she has learned from the great mages of Winding Circle temple, and from three young mage friends with equally unusual talents, how to use her peculiar magic. Though her friends and their teachers have departed for their own lessons, she thought she would always live in the little cottage called Discipline at the temple, under the eye of her kindly teacher Lark... until the day her beloved great uncle, Duke Vedris, suffered a heart attack. Now living in the duke's castle and helping him run his lands as he recovers, she needs no more complications in her young life. Then, she spies a most unusual new talent, on the very day a dangerous assassin force marks its first kill in the city.
Pasco's family has been Provost Guards for generations, but his nature is quite unlike the disciplined soldiers of the guard. Always a daydreamer and clearly the least adept in his family at guard training, he has a gift for dance. Though he tries to deny it, the gift runs far deeper than a mere physical talent. Like Sandry, who works magic with woven thread, Pasco works power with his body as he dances. An untrained talent is a danger to himself and others, and, as the one who found him, fourteen-year-old Sandry must teach the reluctant mage Pasco to use his skills, though he is only two years her junior. She may have found him not a moment too soon, for it will take a combination of their gifts to bring the assassins to justice.

Review

This quartet is a followup to Pierce's Circle of Magic books, following Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris as they leave Winding Circle and begin to make their own ways in the world beyond Discipline House and the Winding Circle temple. Since so much of the earlier books focused on the bonds of magic and friendship among Sandry and her fellow mages, this book seems lonely and empty by comparison, as Tris, Briar, and Daja were only mentioned in passing. Unlike the previous quartet, where more was made of how the children learned to meld craft and magic, the bonds of dance and power are only touched on now and again. I felt a distinct struggle for story time, as part of the book wanted to follow Sandry's growth and another part wanted to follow Pasco's struggles to deal with his gift. Since I already knew Sandry from the earlier books, I found myself paying more attention to her and less to Pasco, which didn't seem like the author's intent. (If it was, Pierce might want to consider a break from writing. Pasco seemed short-changed here, and would have been better used in a story without ties to previous books.) The story itself was more predictable than I have come to expect from Pierce, and the climax had one character acting with what pushed dangerously close to plot-extending stupidity; that is, doing something that the character really should know better than doing just to further the action. It's not a completely disappointing followup, but I think I preferred the earlier books. Unlike her Tortall series, each quartet of which may be read without ever having heard of the ones before or after, I doubt that The Circle Opens will be able to stand alone from its preceding quartet. That said, I wouldn't rule out reading the next books in this quartet someday; if nothing else, I'd like to catch up with Sandry's friends.

 

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Alanna: The First Adventure

The Tortall universe: The Song of the Lioness series, Book 1

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Classics, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Thieves
*****

Description

Alanna and her twin brother Thom are about to be shipped away from home for training in the fields chosen by their father, a man more enamored with his books than his barely-noted children. Alanna is destined to learn the art of magic in a convent, while Thom is to go to the royal court and become a knight of Tortall. Neither is happy with their destinies. Thom dreams of becoming a master wizard, while Alanna fears her magical gifts, longing instead for the glory of knighthood that her gender deprives her of. Just before leaving, the twins decide to switch places. Thom goes to the convent and Alanna, pretending to be the boy Alain, goes to court to fulfill her dream of being a knight. Keeping her gender a secret is but one of the challenges she faces in the capital, as she has encounters with dark magic, the King of Thieves, and ancient powers harnessed by a greedy noble out to seize the throne.

Review

A fun, fast read for older children and adults, the first installment of the Song of the Lioness quartet establishes a magical yet real fantasy world of Tortall, populates it with interesting characters both good and bad, and fills it with adventure and intrigue. Alanna is a great protagonist, being neither perfect nor pathetic in her efforts to compete with the other boys. A very promising start to a series.

 

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In the Hand of the Goddess

The Tortall universe: The Song of the Lioness series, Book 2

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Classics, Epics, Ghosts and Spirits, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Thieves
*****

Description

Now a squire to Prince Jonathan, one of a select few who knows her secret, Alanna is visited by the Goddess herself, who tells her that she has three fears to face: the scheming Duke Roger, the Chamber of the Ordeal, and love. She knows she must face the Duke's plans to take over the crown, and the Chamber must be endured by all squires in order to become a full knight, but can she conquer the third and greatest challenge set before her?

Review

A worthy sequel, this book continues events started in the first book and weaves its own adventures for the young lady knight-to-be. Great fun and great action. Alanna's relationship with Jonathan grows more complicated than she intended - but, then, the same could be said for her whole life since she made the decision to pursue her forbidden dream of knighthood.

 

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The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

The Tortall universe: The Song of the Lioness series, Book 3

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Creative Power, Classics, Epics, Girl Power, Magic Workers
****

Description

Prince Jonathan and his champion, Alanna, travel to the hostile deserts that cover the southern portion of Tortall. Here, they encounter more dark magic and threats as they attempt to make peace with the wild tribes of this unforgiving region. The Bahzir tribe of the Bloody Hawk, whom they end up living with for some time, is almost as much of a threat to Alanna and her companions as the tribe's enemies, with many an ancient tradition and rule set up against the outsiders.

Review

I felt that this book lacked something. It wasn't quite as involving as the previous two installments, but maybe it was simply a victim of "middle book syndrome," that somewhat listless and incomplete feeling a book gets when it's in the middle of a series. Still, it had plenty of action and character development, and was pretty good overall. It certainly didn't discourage me from finishing off the quartet.

 

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Lioness Rampant

The Tortall universe: The Song of the Lioness series, Book 4

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Classics, Epics, Ghosts and Spirits, Girl Power, Magic Workers
*****

Description

In the final installment of the Song of the Lioness quartet, the knight Alanna and a select group of companions set out in search of the lost Dominion Jewel, a powerful gemstone which could help save Tortall from the dark forces that are tearing at its foundation. With Prince Jonathan's coronation looming, she races to procure the jewel before it falls into the wrong hands. Meanwhile, her brother Thom is ailing from corrupted magic, and an old enemy returns from the grave to exact revenge on the Lioness Alanna.

Review

A fantastic conclusion to a fantastic series. Almost everything is wrapped up in a great climax, where everyone pulls their weight and wins their own battles. Pierce returns to Tortall in multiple future volumes, introducing new characters and exploring new parts of the magical realm, though readers can walk away here with a sense of satisfaction.

 

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First Test

The Tortall universe: The Protector of the Small series, Book 1

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Epics, Equines, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Soldier Stories
*****

Description

Eleven years ago, the kingdom of Tortall officially declared that girls could train for knighthood. Aside from Alanna the Lioness, King's Champion and the first-ever female to sneak through the ranks and train as a "boy," however, no girl has shown any interest in taking up arms as a knight...until now. Keladry, or Kel, has lived six of her eleven years on the island nation of Yamani, where it is common for noblewomen to learn combat skills. Now, she wants to be a knight, but first she must prove to the trainers and other boys that she's capable.

Review

This is Tamora Pierce's third series set in Tortall, taking place after Song of the Lioness and The Immortals (not reviewed here), but it's not necessary to have read the previous books to enjoy this one. Characters and events from the previous two series are mentioned, but you won't miss anything integral to the plot. Kel is more than just a young Alanna revisited, facing entirely different challenges and tackling them with a different attitude. I'm looking forward to the day my budget allows me to purchase the next books in the quartet.

 

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Page

The Tortall universe: The Protector of the Small series, Book 2

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Epics, Equines, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Soldier Stories
*****

Description

Keladry of Mindalen has endured her first year of probation, and is now an official page, training to be a knight for the kingdom of Tortall. There are still those who, despite the successes of the famed Alanna the Lioness, believe that knighthood is not a woman's occupation. They still believe they can break Kel's determination, and do their level best to discourage her through increasingly cruel words and tricks. She thought she had seen the worst of it last year, but as a page she will face greater troubles from her peers and outsiders alike. In addition to her old allies, she picks up a homely mutt named Jump and a new servant girl who needs protection as much as she needs wages. Even as Kel struggles to become a knight, she must also deal with her own inevitable growth from girl to woman, and its attendant complications.

Review

Another great installment in what looks to be another great quartet by Pierce. I'm waiting eagerly for my budget to recover sufficiently to allow me to purchase the next book... and the last one, if it's out in paperback yet.

 

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Squire

The Tortall universe: The Protector of the Small series, Book 3

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Epics, Equines, Girl Power, Gryphons, Magic Workers, Soldier Stories
*****

Description

Keladry has beaten the naysayers and the odds, and is now a squire. Now, she must contend with continued prejudice and opposition without her page friends to help. Many are surprised when Lord Raoul, Knight Commander of the King's Own, selects the only female squire in Tortall as his own, but she is determined to prove herself worthy of the honor. Bandits, raiders, a stolen griffin hatchling, and other dangers - not to mention the treacheries of her own heart - await her in her quest to earn her own shield.

Review

Another excellent installment in the quartet, this serves also as a setup for what promised to be a spectacular conclusion. Like Alanna before her, Kel must learn to balance the demands of her profession with the demands of her heart, in addition to her other challenges. Once more, she handles her problems in her own fashion, avoiding a simple retread of the Lioness's footprints.

 

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Lady Knight

The Tortall universe: The Protector of the Small series, Book 4

Random House
Fiction, MG Fantasy
Themes: Epics, Equines, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Soldier Stories
*****

Description

After eight years as page and squire and a passage through the perilous Chamber of the Ordeal, Keladry of Mindelan has at last earned her own shield and the rank of Lady Knight. Tortall is in great need of knights, as the northern barbarian clans of Scanran have been united for war. Raiders alone the soldiers can handle, but the Scanrans have a devastating new weapon: great metal-boned killing machines, powered by black necromantic arts. Before leaving the Chamber of the Ordeal, the force within that room told young Keladry that she would face down the foe that created these monstrosities... but her king has ordered her to a place away from the front lines of battle, as head of a camp for war refugees. Torn between duty to the crown and duty to the Chamber, Keladry must risk everything to fulfill her destiny.

Review

I couldn't wait for the paperback version, so I broke down and got the hardcover book. This is an excellent, spellbinding conclusion to Kel's story. Plenty of action and conflict, both internal and external, await the lady knight on her journey. It rivals, perhaps even tops Pierce's finale to the Song of the Lioness.

 

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