This book is what jump started my obsession with the author, Tamora Pierce. I first encountered her books when I was in Middle School. I read this book, but didn't fully come to love her series until I was in High School when I re-read her books. I loved the worlds that she created with words.
The story starts with Sandry and describes where she is and what she is doing. She is in a spelled storage room after her parents died from illness that was sweeping through the country. During a riot, the people entered the castle where Sandry and her family stayed at. Her nurse put her into the storage room in order to keep her safe. The book continues on to introduce the reader to three other people who will become main characters alongside Sandry. Each of them are found by one person who brings them to Winding Circle. It is a community for people with magic and those who don't. It is a religious community. Sandry along with the others don't fit into the community the way that they are supposed to, so they end up in the same house called, Discipline. It is a house run by two women, who help children who have a hard time fitting in. The four children include Sandry, Tris, Briar and Daja.
Each child has their own unique background that you learn about over the course of the series. Each book, has a conflict that they have to work through together. They learn how to harness their own power and to work together as a team despite the differences in background, culture and economic history.
Sandry is a daughter of a noble family and the great-niece of a Duke. She has all the training to be a lady and has traveled extensively with her parents. So, she has been introduced to many different cultures, religions, and languages. She adapts to change easily compared to some of the others in the house.
Tris is the daughter of a merchant. She has a stubborn but curious nature. Her temper and sharp tongue makes it difficult for her to make friends. Her power showed more and was more over looked by others. Her family didn't understand her, so they passed her along from one family member to the next without bothering to get to know her at all. It is this traumatic past that makes it difficult for her to trust people and to believe that they will continue to care for her in the future, because nobody has before.
Briar is a former street kid, who became a thief and worked for a gang in order to survive. When the readers are first introduced to him, he calls himself Roach. It was the name that the gang leader gave him, because his mother died when he was little. He changes his name to Briar after he was caught stealing a third time. He was offered a choice of hard labor or Winding Circle.
Daja comes from a clan of Traders. Her family was lost after a storm at sea, and she was the lone survivor. Her people have superstitions surrounding lone survivors of disasters, so they made her an outcast. Traders would not be able to talk to her or trade with her while she remained an outcast. This at a young age impacts her psyche and her actions throughout the series. Daja has never known a life outside the Traders and never thought about leaving them. She no longer has a family. Over the course of the series, she realizes that there is more than one kind of family.
The first chapter shows how each character uses magic in ways that they don't realize to help them in various ways. Sandry uses thread to capture light when she was running out of oil in the lantern. Tris uses her connection to the weather to scare the girls in her dorm or lighting to strike a tree out of frustration. Briar uses his way with plants to create a pillow of moss while in jail and he got a scar from a briar vine while robbing a house. Daja uses her power with metal to get a box with life saving water and food to float to her.
The book creates a complex and vivid world for the reader to explore. Each book is told by a different character. This series will continue to grow and change as the characters grow up. I look forward to reading more that Tamora Pierce has to give.
The series goes as the following:
The Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book and Briar's Book
The Circle Opens: Magic Steps (Sandry), Street Magic (Briar), Cold Fire (Daja) and Shatterglass (Tris)
The Will of the Empress
Battle Magic
Melting Stones
Tamora Pierce has many more books but that is for another time.
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