Daja's Book

To survive an earthquake, Sandry wove her friends' magics together. At first, this just made them more powerful, but now, each of their magics are leaking into the others. After Sandry accidently lets fly a lightning bolt, Briar incinerates an entire field of saffron, and Daja's iron work starts growing like a plant, their magic teachers lay down the law. They have to detangle their magics, or far worse will come.

Daja's magical iron-wrought tree attracts the attention of a local Trader band. Although Daja is the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and thus shunned for fear of attracting bad luck, the iron tree is so unique that the Traders are willing to trade with her to get it. Daja is finally able to drink the tea of her childhood, and show more speak to people with the same cultural touchstones, and it makes her terribly homesick. More than ever, she's aware of how much she's lost. But in losing her family, she also found her magic--and that magic is what just might save the entire band. The bit when Daja stands between the Traders and the forest fire and digs in, unwilling to let the flame pass her? So goddamn badass.

I love this series, and I love Daja in particular, from her strong broad shoulders (rippling with the muscle of forge work) to her difficulty remembering&appreciating roots (from the physical ones of a plant to the metaphysical ones of magic). show less

Unlike the first two books, this book actually did focus heavily on the titular character, which was refreshing. The other three were also present and heavily involved in the plot, but at the heart of it, this story was Daja's.

I wished this hadn't been a children's book because there seemed to have been some absolutely fascinating political behind-the-scenes stuff going on with the Duke that was only touched on.

I liked this book better than the first two. For one, the characters have truly formed into a unit and there was less bickering and more actual working together. For another, I liked seeing part of Emelan that wasn't Winding Circle. And lastly, I just really liked Daja's story and her having to interact with Traders again.

Just delightful, once again--I think this might be my favorite of the series so far. It manages to build a broader world and take the consequences of the last two books very seriously, while also give the children agency in how they approach the problems. Daja's arc here is so compelling and interesting and it's (I think) a pretty beautiful conclusion to the narrative (though obviously her story continues!) I found the ending kind of predictable, but for me that didn't hamper the story at all, and in fact made it more satisfying than anything else.

In the third book of the Circle of Magic series, the four friends travel with Sandry's uncle to North Emelan, a town that has been suffering from a drought. The duke wants to see if there is anything he can do to help. Rosethorn, Lark, and Nico, the young mages' teachers, are even more concerned that the local mage has been keeping wildfires at bay, meaning that if any true forest fire were to start, the place is ripe for destruction.

At this point, if you've been reading the series all along you know exactly what to expect. We move between the points of view of Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar, who have now been at Winding Circle for five months. Their magic continues to tangle in interesting and new ways. This time, I was happy to see show more that what "normal" magic is supposed to be like is a little more fleshed out, though I'm not sure I really understand why their magic is supposed to be so surprising. I'm looking forward to reading Briar's Book, since he's my favorite character of the four. show less

I thought this was such a fun read. This was the first book, I read the physical copy for the first time in this series. I really loved Daja's world. I have always been fasciainted by her past and her being viewed as unlucky. I found this to be a super fast pace read. I really loved how he relationships between all the children grow in this novel. I also loved how their magic was changed in this series and super excited to see how his imapcts the future book in this series. I am super excited for briar book and I really want to read it soon!

I thought this was such a fun read. This was the first book, I read the physical copy for the first time in this series. I really loved Daja's world. I have always been fasciainted by her past and her being viewed as unlucky. I found this to be a super fast pace read. I really loved how he relationships between all the children grow in this novel. I also loved how their magic was changed in this series and super excited to see how his imapcts the future book in this series. I am super excited for briar book and I really want to read it soon!

I love any book by Tamora Pierce. This series (Circle of Magic) 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 characters are where it falls a bit flat for me as the story line I quite like.