Wild Magic was my absolute favourite book as a teen. I read that thing over and over. I recently managed to pick up my remaining as-yet-unread Tamora Pierce books on a road trip, and this was the first I read. At first I thought I must have picked the wrong one to start with, but after looking at some of the reviews here, this one did actually come before Battle Magic after all.

So, we join Evvy as she heads off with Rosethorn to the Battle Islands to investigate a mystery that is not even worth spoiler-tagging, it is so obvious. I'm kinda baffled as to why they even needed to call in the Dedicates for this one, seeing as the whole archipelago is volcanic and the residents must be familiar with this sort of thing by now.

The book is written from Evvy's voice, I suppose due to the fact that it was audio first. I kind of have a theory about Tamora Pierce's work. She started off writing to her full ability with the Immortals and Alanna quartets, but when she got slotted into the kids' section she started writing down. Things got a bit more simplistic, a bit more moralising, and the overall quality of work dropped. At least, I feel like it did. It could be that I just grew up.

Anyway, Evvy is supposed to be fourteen but her voice sounds more like a ten year old. Granted, she lived on the streets and has been through a lot of trauma, so perhaps she's suffering from some sort of learning or emotional development delay or regression.

The scenes with the volcano "kids" were cool, I actually really enjoyed their personalities and Evvy's interactions with them, although I wish the language were not quite so childish. "Volcano children" actually sounds like something I might get concerned about.

I also enjoyed seeing Evvy and Myrhtide develop a mutual respect for each other. At the beginning I thought he was just going to be some sort of straw asshole, so it was a nice surprise to see he was actually a pretty good guy. Most of the other characters are unfortunately one-dimensional. Oswin is such a great guy, the inkeep lady is super regal, some random unnamed ex-pirates are cowardly jerks.

All said and done, this was an easy and pleasant read, if a bit shallow. I just wish I could see Tamora stop holding back and start writing again to the full extent of her abilities. ( )

Pierce has been one of my favorite authors since I was a child. There has been a lot of conversation about representation and strong female characters for young adults to look up for, but the whole time, Tamora Pierce has been writing those books. This book was written for a child's level, and the moral is simple; this does not mean it is useless.
I thoroughly enjoyed what Pierce did with connecting lines of power to tectonic plates/earth magics. It was very neatly woven, though her chapters full of nothing but Evvy's magical body and the spirits did feel like something of a conceit. ( )

I love any book by Tamora Pierce. This series is good and if it was by any other author I would call it great. However, since I have such high expectations for Tamora Pierce I cannot call it truly wonderful. ( )

The perspective shift was a bit odd, but a fun read all the same. ( )

I love the Circle of Magic so much. I haven't read them in a long time but I decided to pick up Melting Stones anyway to read about Evvy. I know people are complaining that she wasn't likeable but I actually liked her plenty. By the end she had changed and come to realise that she actually did care about people. Yeah she's rude and needs to work on it but she is only fourteen and is making strides. I also like that she's an East Asian based character. I love that the Circle of Magic has a diverse cast in all different ways.

The story was pretty interesting. I loved the way Evvy's stone magic worked and how she came to save everyone in fantastic style but with help because we all need help sometimes, don't we?

All in all a fun read. Not the absolute best of Tamora Pierce but solid enough to keep you interested. ( )