Title: The Power in the Storm
Author: Tamora Pierce
Series: The Circle of Magic #2, Emelan #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Fantasy, Mages
Format: Novel
Publisher: Omnibus Books
Year: 1998
5th sentence, 74th page: She blinked at her teacher.

Earthquake damage leaves Winding Circle vulnerable to pirate attack. Soon two things become terribly clear: the pirates have a powerful new weapon, and they have an accomplice within Winding Circle. It is up to Tris and her loyal friends Sandry, Daja and Briar, to discover the traitor and weave their magic together to defend their home.

Tris’ story is difficult to envisage from the very beginning, but in The Power in the Storm, her feelings of insecurity, loss and confusion about everything that is going on around her truly come to the fore. But honestly, mostly I love this story because Tris is a character I can completely relate to – the feeling of isolation and not quite belonging is something that everyone feels. Especially when they are a teenager trying to figure out just who they are.

The Circle of Magic series is a great reminder that our family is (and can be) who we choose, not who we are born into. Although Sandry, Briar and Daja are orphans, Tris has been turned away by those who are supposed to love her unconditionally. Yet, she is able to find her true family within Winding Circle and Discipline. And, when crisis hits her home, she is able to find a way to not only harness her own emotions, but save that which she has finally found. Ultimately, it almost costs her everything, but it is this risk and the courage with which she faces that which terrifies her that shows how she has grown.

Although Tris’ story and power is amazing (especially when in combination with her foster-siblings), her control over her emotions and powers need a lot of work. The idea of discipline is such a foreign concept to a child who has been handed from family member to family member. And the consequences of Tris’ actions are only felt at the very end of the story – in a way that is completely unpredictable, and a great ending to a story all about finding a place to belong.

<- The Magic in the Weaving

The Fire in the Forging ->

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Title: The Magic in the Weaving
Author: Tamora Pierce
Series: The Circle of Magic #1, Emelan #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Fantasy, Mages
Format: Novel
Publisher: Omnibus Books
Year: 1997
5th sentence, 74th page: He looked at Daja as he set his burdens down.

Sandry has a gift for weaving silk thread and creating light. At Winding Circle she meets Briar, a former thief, Daja, a Trader outcast and Tris, who has been exiled from her family. Each has a magical talent and when disaster strikes the Winding Circle community the four children must weave their powers together and to try and save the place they have begun to think of as home.

The Circle of Magic was the first Tamora Pierce series that I had the privilege of reading. And it began an obsession that has spanned over a decade. Yet, every time I revisit Sandry, Daja, Briar and Tris, I am enchanted all over again. Especially when I’m in the middle of studies, and I just want to spend ten minutes drifting off to another, fascinating world.

I’m fascinated by the idea of the four elements and the different ways in which this is displayed in day-to-day life. Pierce’s subtle use of these in the four young mages just heightens my fascination with the series. And the more I read these books, the more little hints to their elemental alliances I pick up on. The circular structure of the Winding Circle University and the idea of the wheel of time are also beautifully and fascinatingly symbolic throughout the story. I love, love, love that these subtle designs within the story are slowly bought to the fore with the realisation of the four young mages’ inner powers and abilities.

Although the main, and obvious theme of this story is four misfits finding a place in their life, and a way to come to terms with themselves, I enjoyed the idea that you don’t mess with nature even more. Throughout the small earthquakes that categorise the eventual discovery of the mages magic, a greater catastrophe is brewing. And yet, it is only when people try to mess with this that the true danger strikes and the four are forced to really find out what they are made of.

<- More Tamora Pierce

The Power in the Storm ->

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