Sandry’s Book

by Tamora Pierce

Series: Circle of Magic

Rating: 5 Stars

This is actually not something I read recently, but I wanted to review something, and since I have multiple books on the go right now, and none of them are that great, the only book I’ve finished in the past couple weeks was The Wrath and the Dawn (this is NOT normal for me), which I already reviewed.

This is one of my all time favourite books, and I’ve probably read it three or four times.

I was hooked from the first page, but it’s really more driven by the characters than by the plot. They are all really complex, and they develop as the book goes on. There’s four main characters, Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar, each of them has their own book, but all the books are really about all four of them. All of the characters are very different, and when they first end up living together none of them particularly like leach other. Except for Sandry, she’s trying to get them all to stop fighting, with very little success, as none of them like her any more than the others.

The secondary characters are really well developed as well, I love their teachers, Rosethorn is my favourite, but I also love Frostpine. And Niko. And Lark. Hahaha, I just named all of them… Like I said, the characters are all amazing.

The world building is also really good, though it was developed more in the later books, it felt really real. The magic also felt very real, yes, I know it’s magic, but it still felt real, because it was so well done. It had limitations. It was dangerous if not used properly. I could just really believe it.

It was also really funny, the banter between the characters (even when they were genuinely fighting) was just so hilarious. Even on their own they’re funny, Sandry was a noble, and though she rarely acts like one, when she does, It. Is. So. Funny.

And Tris is a grumpy bookworm, who just generally makes me laugh, and although I can totally relate to her annoyance at being interrupted when she’s reading, it’s still very funny. Briar’s just funny, almost all the time. Also Rosethorn, she absolutely terrified them when they first met her, and honestly I think she scared them a little even once they were used to her, but she is so funny. She cares about them all a lot, but she just shows it a little differently, like, by threatening to hang them in the well if they touch her plants.

I love it so much that I decided that it was necessary to learn the calendar they use in their world, and throw words from Tradertalk (the language Daja speaks) into my conversations whenever possible. Basically, I love this book a lot. It’s absolutely amazing. And you should go read it. Right now.