Circle of Magic Quartet by Tamora Pierce

Series Title: The Circle of Magic Quartet



Author: Tamora Pierce (American, 1954- )



Originally published: 1997-1999



Read my other Tamora Pierce book reviews.
Read my other book reviews for my 2020 goal HERE.



Tamora Pierce was one of my favorite authors growing up. For a while now, I've wanted to read through all her books. I have decided to start doing so by reading through her Circle Universe, which consists of 3 (incomplete) quartets. The Circle of Magic Quartet is the first in the whole series. An overall review of the quartet is included in this blog post. If you're interested in a more in-depth review of a specific book within the quartet, the links are below.

Quartet Includes:
#1 Sandry's Book - The Magic in the Weaving
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8.3 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 Tris's Book - The Power in the Storm
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.1 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Daja's Book - The Fire in the Forging
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8.7 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#4 Briar's Book - The Healing in the Vine
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.3 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

As you can tell from the ratings above, Tris's book was my least favorite narrative. I think this was mainly because I was over the nostalgia of reading the first book and was suddenly more critical. I think the book I actively like even less than Tris's book is Briar's book. There wasn't much depth and there wasn't the same use of magic as in the other books, which was disappointing. I enjoyed Sandry's book if for no other reason than the nostalgia of reading Tamora Pierce again and entering into her magical world for the first time since (probably) middle school. Daja's book is by far my favorite in the quartet. Though the story itself was simple, I greatly enjoyed the depth of the characters and the inclusion/representation of various cultures.

Overall... these aren't great books. The stories are simple and predictable, and the characters don't have much depth and tend to be petty... but they're children's books. I have to remind myself of that - often. As children's books (and as books of nostalgia for me) they're pretty good. What I love is the atmosphere and the magic of craft - weaving, metalworking, gardening, and... weather (which isn't a craft, but whatever). I hope as I read more books in the series, Pierce's writing will improve and give more depth to both the characters and narratives. I look forward to the next quartet!

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Tamora Pierce have the last words:

"There is never a point at which we stop learning, or needing to learn."
-Briar's Book