TP throwbacks: Circle of Magic

[Kypriotha]

Welcome to the first of our TP throwbacks, Emelan edition. This week we will be focusing on all things Circle of Magic!

This is the place to share all your thoughts, questions and headcanons about Sandry, Tris, Daja, Briar and co.

[devilinthedetails]

I'll break down my thoughts by book since that seems the best way for me to approach this:

Sandry's Book (or the Magic in the Weaving)

-Sandry's opening predicament is the stuff of nightmares: being trapped alone in the dark with no real hope of rescue. No wonder she is traumatized and sleeps with a light after this harrowing experience.

-Briar's opening with his street gang of thieves and experience in the courts feels very Dickensian to me (like something out of Oliver Twist) and it just works for me.

-Daja being shipwrecked again plays to some powerful, primal fears many people have just like Sandry's plight does.

-Tris's experience of being passed from family member to family member and being rejected by them all might in some ways be the most "human" and relatable of the four children's.

-It did annoy me how fast the settings shifted and time passed in the beginning, though. I felt like we didn't really get a chance to know the places and characters before we were swept off to the next one. It made the beginning of the book feel rushed to me. I might even have put it down if I hadn't read other Tamora Pierce books and decided to keep giving Emelan a chance, which I'm glad I did.

-Love the scene where Sandry sticks up for Daja when some other ladies are picking on her. Great to see how there can be a power in being ladylike.

-The part where Tris gets kicked out of her dormitory because her magic freaks everyone out and then is sent to Discipline really works well for me.

-I do love a lot of the family atmosphere this book creates with Rosethorn and Lark assigning the kids chores and everything. Rosethorn and Lark also complement each other nicely. Together they provide the right mixture of support and sarcasm.

-The book kind of feels very slow-paced to me, though, until we get to the ending with the earthquake, where the bond between the kids and their magic is finally forged. That is a great scene when it happens, however.

-The emotional heart of the story is definitely that developing bond between the children who have to learn to overcome their mistrust and prejudices against one another as well as between their mentors. That's what really holds this book together and makes it work despite some of the pacing issues I identified.

Tris's Book (or the Power in the Storm)

-The pirate plot provides a stronger structure with less pacing issues than the first book I think.

-It was interesting to see Tris interact with a relative even though I knew from the moment he was introduced that he was part of the pirate plot because of the voices on the wind Tris heard in the beginning.

-Normally I don't like magic that involves time travel but the magic Niko and Tris do works for me since it seems so draining for them and they can't change the past so much as they can observe it. Most of the problems time travel creates for me comes from people being able to change the past I think.

- I enjoyed the increased focus on student-teacher bonds in this story. The relationships between Niko and Tris as well as Daja and Frostpine were my favorites in this book.

Daja's Book (or the Fire in the Forging)

-This is my favorite book in the Circle of Magic quartet.

-The chance to explore the world beyond Summersea is awesome, and the landscape with the droughts and fires is a very vivid setting for me.

-The focus on Trader culture, which fascinates me, and Daja's own complex feelings about the Traders whom she on some level wants to be a part of but who have rejected her are poignant and well-done in my opinion.

-I like learning more about Frostpine's backstory, and his relationship with Daja continues to be perfect for me.

-Polyam is a complicated and engaging character. Refreshing to see a character with a disability play a prominent role and not be treated in a simplistic fashion.

-The portrayal of the mage whose job it was to put out the fires resonated with me. I could understand where his jealousy came from even while I disapproved of his bitterness so while he was a villain, he was a not all together unsympathetic one. I like it when villains have believable, human motivations.

-The climax where Daja and the other children have to save the caravan of Traders is epic and edge of the seat reading. Tamora Pierce nailed this book for me in a way she didn't with the first two of this series. The series is coming into its own now.

Briar's Book (or the Healing in the Vine)

-My second favorite book of the Circle of Magic quartet because the plague plot is well-developed and engaging.

-Briar's friend dying early on is sad but I do think this loss would have more resonance with readers if we had known Briar's friend and gotten a deeper sense of their relationship. It feels more like we are told that a meaningful relationship exists between these characters rather than shown it, and that diminishes the sense of loss I as a reader can feel over the death of Briar's friend.

-The quarantine aspect of the plague is dealt with believably and movingly. I think it would be horrible to be quarantined and this book handles that feeling of fear, isolation, and entrapment so well.

-The focus on the research showed a nice blending of the scientific and the fantastic that fit in well with the Emelan universe.

-The bond between Briar and Rosethorn feels very deep in this book.

-Rosethorn and Crane's relationship is a complex mix of professional respect and rivalry. Love it.

-Rosethorn being basically brought back from the dead is powerful and made even more so by the fact that she has to deal with long-term consequences to her health from this experience. So often an experience like this doesn't have a discernible impact on a character. I really enjoy seeing that trend broken here. Adds complexity to the story and to Rosethorn as a character.

-How the plague started does show the banality of human evil in the sense that it is often selfishness and negligence that does more damage than an outright desire to inflict awful harm and death on others.

-All in all, I liked this book and thought the series ended a lot stronger than it started. Made me eager to read the next series in the Emelan universe.

[mistrali]

Apologies for the slightly disorganised post.

Magic in the Weaving:

Devil, Dickensian is a good word for it! Particularly, I think, because of the ‘little boy in poverty’ vibes with Briar, and even Tris.

There’s something truly magical about the first scene in MitW. Sandry, like many a fairytale heroine (Cinderella, the miller’s daughter in Rumpelstiltzkin) has to sew to save her life. The simple setting and the vivid imagery (particularly visual imagery) make this work for me. It’s a very powerful opening scene because it’s eerie, macabre, horror-movie - the flashback to the abandoned castle, all the inhabitants dead of plague. I always imagine the “Drink to Lord Death” part in sepia. I think that’s why it works so much better for me as an opening than Daja’s introductory scene.

(Speaking of, if you haven’t read Kris Eleven’s Falls the Shadow yet, you should.)

The foreshadowing in Scene 1 cements this book for me.

In S1, when Sandry draws on the threads (red-green-grey for Daja, Briar and Tris respectively, and the light to symbolise her own “honey colour”), she is drawing on her own inner power but also on her potential for making and keeping friends, and bringing people together.

It’s significant, too, that all four of them keep the roof from collapsing on top of them during the quake. Before WC, none of the kids came from environments which placed value on a solid home life/a literal roof over their heads. Even Daja, who had the most stable home life pre-series, never actually had a physical land to call home.

(Can’t remember who pointed out that the thread colours resemble Sandry’s friends’ magic, but it’s a good point.)

I really liked the quick cuts introducing the kids. They served to accentuate the life-or-death situations that most of the trio were in. If you’re referring to the short introductory scenes at WC after they were rescued and before they went to Discipline, then I’ve got to defend those as well. devilinthedetails

It’s quite a feat to write four distinct characters, and to do so in a semi-slice-of-life, semi-action format is even harder.

There is a real structure to these scenes:

1. Establishing shots: Daja and Sandry in mortal peril; Briar in jail, about to have his fate decided (he’s not in danger for his life, but jail is a pretty serious situation for anyone, never mind a child). Tris isn’t in physical danger, but she is the perennial outsider, which puts her in a different, ‘spiritual’ or mental, sort of danger (she’s not one of the group). As you say, they play on fears most of us have.
2. Rescue, then the journey to Emelan/WC
3. Scenes where the kids, although physically safe, end up being attacked by their peers at Winding Circle due to their background (well, Daja and Briar do. Tris and Sandry, not so much).

I think that having anything other than quick cuts, so to speak, would not only have dragged on too long, it would have created a very different atmosphere.

These are all very filmic books, aren’t they? I find that with TP in general. Just look at SotL: purple eyes, red hair, white horse and gold sword, black city and burning desert. There’s something extremely cinematic about that series.

That said, it definitely does take a while to get started!

So many favourite scenes in this book! I love practically all of them, but highlights are: Briar and Tris watching clouds, their meditation lesson in the Hub, Sandry meeting Daja, Sandry giving Tris the wall hanging, the kids’ first lessons with their teachers (well, Rosethorn’s isn’t so much a lesson).

Would’ve liked to see some more Sandry and Daja (and Sandry/Tris, and Daja/Tris, for that matter) throughout the series.

Interesting how Sandry - especially at the outset - is forced to trust non-nobles, whereas Daja is actively discouraged from making friends with non-Traders (and justifiably so, if the other kids’ treatment of her is anything to go by).

Power in the Storm:

Don’t have much to say about this one. I liked it, particularly the introduction of new tech and new characters (Gorse! And Aymery, I suppose). I really wanted more Niko and Tris in this one, or just more Niko in general.

PitS has a much darker palette, and a much less pastoral feel, than MitW. Things are getting real. I loved the plot of this one — fake storm clouds, very clever. Favourite scene would have to be Tris drinking in the lightning, or maybe the battle with the pirates (grisly though it is). And, obviously, great subplot with the kids’ powers leaking into each other.

I also liked how much Sandry and Lark we get here. Yeah, could you tell I’m a Sandry fan?

Fire in the Forging:

Ah, man, this is my least favourite in the quartet (by a whisker). I’m not entirely sure why.

This feels a lot like a transition book to me - by which I mean, well, it repeats the motif of the kids’ powers coming together, albeit in more destructive ways than before (yes, I know it intensifies it and then ties it up, but still). There’s also not as much emphasis on student-teacher relationships, and they do a lot of hanging around and waiting in Lady Inoulia’s castle.

That said, I do like the scenes with Polyam and the worldbuilding. And once things kick up a notch with Daja and Briar finding the glacier, man, do they amp up! The climax of this book is probably one of the most impressive in the Emelan-verse for sheer cinematic potential. It’s terrifying, action-packed and (visually) spectacular.

‘Favourite’ scene: The mchowni scene. There’s an emotional heft to it. Not only does it have very dark overtones of slavery and abuse/paedophilia, it develops Frostpine as a character.

I know that’s an odd scene to pick, but it’s always stuck with me.

Other thoughts: The older I get, the more I sympathise with Yarrun. Tammy did very well at making Daja, child that she is, blithely unaware of his headspace. Again this is another layer to the darkness of this book.

The Healing in the Vine:

Whoever came up with the title, there are no vines in this book, mate. I guess it sounds catchier than ‘The Healing in the Slum’.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: High-Octane Nightmare Fuel. It’s pervaded by this sense of urgency and claustrophobia that is absolutely convincing. These days, epidemics in fiction are mostly the stuff of horror movies (Contagion, zombie virus, post-apocalyptic fiction). I would venture that it’s relatively rare, particularly in children’s fiction, to see this sort of careful treatment of disease. We see it from the perspective of two people who are not only quarantined, but doggedly pursuing a cure against very high stakes. One of whom is an eleven-year-old child.

The insidious (treatment-resistant) nature of the plague mimics real-life contagious epidemics very well. It’s an absolutely perfect book, and a very strong finish to the series.

Like devil, I liked the innovative/scientific take on research in this book (more Crane, in his element this time!). I also liked learning more about Lark, Rosethorn and Crane’s backstories.

[devilinthedetails]

mistrali , I definitely thought of Dickens in relation to Briar because of that “boy in poverty” vibe you described, but I can also see it applying to Tris now that you mention it.

It’s funny to say, but I never thought of Sandry’s opening scene in the castle as relating to the miller’s daughter in Rumpelstiltzkin but you’re absolutely right that both girls are locked in a castle room, sewing for their survival. The parallels seem so clear now that you point them out. This is why I like talking about books with people. I get to see all the things staring me in the face that I missed.

I love your comments on the threads and the roof over the kids’ heads. I think your symbolic analysis is spot-on.

I appreciate your comments on the similar structure of the introductory scenes of the kids, and I think you are right that every one of them is facing some mortal peril (with Sandry and Daja, it is obviously imminent and horrible death; with Briar, it is if I recall correctly life imprisonment/labor in harsh conditions which I could definitely interpret as death of a sorts, and with Tris it may be a subtler sort of spiritual death). Then they are rescued and taken to Emelan, where they find that they still don’t fit in, so in a way they are rescued but not quite saved. Introducing a lot of characters and settings (especially settings we won’t really be visiting again) early on in a book or series can definitely be hard especially with the page constraints of a YA book.

I think I’m just the sort of fantasy reader who craves that immediate “in” to the world and the characters so it can be hard for me when character perspectives change a lot or we shift from place to place quickly, but I understand that other readers enjoy different things. The world building or character development that I like early on in a fantasy book can feel like a pacing issue to someone else. Eventually the characters and the world did cluck more for me once the story settled in Emelan, though.

I do agree that TP’s books as a whole seem like they could translate on screen really easily. There’s a film-making sensibility to a lot of the action and the details that we get in her writing.

You do highlight some of the sweeter friendship moments in the first book that I sort of overlooked in my post. This book does a great job of building a bond through those little moments of doing simple things like watching clouds. Many of the deepest bonds are made by doing simple things like that, but many stories neglect developing those sorts of bonds and focus just on the bonds that can form in moments of extreme tension and action such as life or death situations. We obviously get those moments and bonds in this book, but we also get the simpler bonds that are sometimes harder to write. I think that Tamora Pierce has a real gift for writing believable friendships (her friendships never ring false to me and always feel deep and complicated) and sometimes I just take that for granted when discussing her work but really so many authors lack her skill in creating these friendships that feel so real. She absolutely deserves credit for writing about those moments that build friendship. I’ve never actually read the Circle of Magic books backward (in reverse chronological order) but this makes me think I should give that a shot on my next re-read. I might appreciate those quiet moments of friendship even more that way. Sometimes you appreciate the foundation more once you see the whole building the foundation supports.

We do seem to have lots of similar thoughts on the second and third books (even if the third book was your least favorite of the series while it was my favorite, which just shows how differently people respond to the same things in books) but I really appreciate what you have to say about how epidemics are treated in this book. You’re right that the trend in most fiction is to treat epidemics as the stuff of horror movies rather than to deal with the issue in the careful way that it is here. That is probably why this book works so well.

[mistrali]

Apr 24, 2019 23:51:18 GMT 10 devilinthedetails said:

every one of them is facing some mortal peril.[...]

I think I’m just the sort of fantasy reader who craves that immediate “in” to the world and the characters so it can be hard for me when character perspectives change a lot or we shift from place to place quickly, but I understand that other readers enjoy different things. The world building or character development that I like early on in a fantasy book can feel like a pacing issue to someone else.

Good point about Briar; he says the docks are as good as a death sentence. The courtroom scene is such a short scene, but it’s got this great potential for an AU (what if Briar had gone to the docks?) and it’s a good example of worldbuilding. In that one scene, we learn that Sotat has exploitative (by modern standards) labour laws in addition to its draconian penalties for theft, and that children are no more exempt than adults are.

In fact, all the scenes with Briar pre-WC are dense. They very elegantly give us a lot of information about his character and his personality (trying to be tough but actually ‘moss-soft), but also the wider Emelan!verse.

You’re right about one POV immersing the reader more deeply into a book/character/setting. I personally love multiple POVs and would’ve liked to see Dove and Sarai’s POVs in Trickster as well.

But it can feel choppy, as well. Battle Magic was one example where I felt it really didn’t fit, but then again, I had a lot of issues with BM.

[devilinthedetails]

mistrali , I think the harshness of the court scene was part of what gave me a Dickensian feeling to Briar's early story probably because of the exploitative labor practices and draconian justice system that you mentioned. It felt a bit like a nineteenth century society in that perhaps there was the beginning of hope for criminal justice system reform (there is an effort to give people second chances to some extent) and fairer labor practices, but life is still very hard for the disadvantaged orphans and outcasts like Briar.

I do agree that the Trickster's series would have benefited from more of Sarai and Dove's perspectives (more perspective from people who are actually native to the Copper Isles in general would have been welcome in my opinion, but that risks getting off topic...), and that Battle Magic felt quite choppy. Battle Magic was an overall weaker book than any book in the Circle of Magic quartet, in my opinion. The only Emelan book I found weaker was Melting Stones, and even that is mainly based on the strength of the ideas of what is was trying to be more than how those ideas are executed.