Circle of Magic
Sandry’s Book
Tris’s Book
Daja’s Book
Briar’s Book
By Tamora Pierce
Scholastic, 1999 & 2000, $4.99 each

Now that Harry Potter has introduced you to the wonders of fantasy written for children and his next book isn’t due out until July what do you do?

You might want to try the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce. Although they have little in common with Harry they are a very good read.

The first book introduces us to our four young mages in training. The series is set in a vaguely Mediterranean country, the time period roughly middle ages. There is no gunpowder, there are kings and peasants, but magic has smoothed some of the rough edges off the harsh reality.

Like Harry the four have no families, unlike him only three of them are orphans. Sandry is an orphan who lost her noble parents to a plague in a foreign country. To save her from angry natives her governess locked her in a storeroom and then was herself killed. She is eventually rescued by a mage, Nico, and taken, with her uncle the Duke’s permission to Winding Circle.

Winding Circle is similar to Hogwarts only in that it is a school for mages from all over the country. Sandry soon realizes she doesn’t fit in with the rest of the noble students. Her parents have raised her to believe that true nobility lies in the actions of a person, not the accident of birth.

Daja is also an orphan. She was a member of the Traders, a race of people who travel the seas or deserts buying or selling to the locals. Her entire family was lost at sea during a shipwreck. Only she survived. Once rescued her people turn her out so that her bad luck doesn’t attach itself to any of the other families. Nico takes her also to Winding Circle where the close knit ways of her people prevent her from forming bonds with others she considers outsiders.

Briar is an orphan, taking to the streets when he was about four. For the past eight years he’s made his living by theft and appeasing the thief lord. When he’s caught for the third time and about to be sentenced to hard punishment, Nico again appears and rescues the lad. After years of living in sewers and stealing just to live Briar too finds it difficult to adjust to civilized living.

The last of the circle is Tris, the only one who is not an orphan. Her parents have abandoned her to the mages saying they couldn’t handle her and wanted nothing more to do with her. When Tris gets upset, the winds blow harder and lightening strikes are closer. With her low self-image and inability to control the winds she creates she finds herself an outcast at Winding Circle as well.

Nico brings the four children, a noble, a Trader, a thief and a merchant’s daughter to live at Discipline. Lark, a master of weaving magic and Rosethorn, a master of plant magic, make Discipline their home.

Under the guidance of Nico, Lark, Rosethorn and Frostpine, smith-mage, the four learn not only that they have magic, but also how to control it. Sandry is a thread-mage; Daja, a smith-mage; Briar, a plant-mage and Tris, a weather-mage. Not only to the children learn about their magic, they also learn to trust themselves and each other. And, in between times, to help their fellow countrymen in times of danger, whether earthquake, fire, pirates or plague.

While I don’t believe this series can replace Harry Potter it does a nice job of easing the pain of the long wait until the next Potter book is out.

Lisa Dees is a freelance writer from Aberdeen. She is currently working for the Moore County Libraries as a storyteller.