The circle is a powerful symbol, one that can unite or isolate. The wedding ring is a symbol of infinity, a never-ending circle. The bracelet or necklace also symbolizes the ever-turning wheel of birth, death and rebirth. In many magickal traditions, the circle defines the sacred space which becomes a place between the worlds. Tamora Pierce has named this quartet of books Circle of Magic for the friendship and working relationship between her four protagonists, and a wonderful quartet it is.

Book one, Sandry's Book, introduces us to the world of Winding Circle, a temple community for study and worship. Four children, misfits and bereft of family, arrive by various means, escorted by Niklaren Goldeneye, an established mage whose hazy precognitive ability has led him to them. Unable to settle into the standard dormitories for social or cultural reasons, they are all four assigned to a place called Discipline Cottage, under the guidance of two dedicates by the names of Rosethorn and Lark. There, they settle awkwardly in, learning to cope with one another, and how to deal with their burgeoning abilities that contradict established magickal practice.

The four protagonists are the Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, survivor of a plague and social revolution in her homeland, known as Sandry for short; Daja Kisubo, the sole survivor of a shipwreck which claimed her Trader family, exiled from her people for bearing bad luck to her ship; Trisana Chandler, merchant's daughter and rebellious academic; and Briar Moss, a street thief caught one too many times and rescued from a work sentence by the mage. Sandry's magickal abilities lie in spinning and weaving, both physical cloth and magick. Daja's strengths lie in foundry work with the smith, her sense of metal and fire equaled only by his. Tris senses weather patterns and air shifting, and carries the unfortunate ability to influence the weather with her emotions before she is taught to control herself. Briar has an affinity with plants, a talent he shares with the prickly Rosethorn.

In this first book, the four grow into a tentative friendship, cemented by a crisis wherein they find themselves underground during an earthquake, and the only way for them to survive is by co-operating magickally. To strengthen this co-operation, they each make a knot in a piece of thread Sandry has in her pocket, pouring their energies into the string as they knot it. Sandry wills it to become a circle, unbroken, united, and it does; so too do their magicks, they discover after the crisis, in the second and third books. When their magickal awarenesses and abilities begin to leak into one another's, their teachers discover that the children have accomplished the impossible: melding four mage-powers. Sandry studies with Lark, another weaver; Tris is taught by Niko Goldeneye himself; Briar works with the gruff Rosethorn, and Daja works with the smith Frostpine. When the danger of the four powers running uncontrolled through each young mage, is called to their teachers' attention, the wrong - however innocently committed, and however beneficial at the time - must be righted. But in order to do so, each child must surrender his or her power to Sandry so that she may weave all four wholly separate again.

The lessons throughout the series are excellent ones. While this is the main storyline, it all takes place against a backdrop of natural disasters and setbacks, attacks on the city of Summersea, and finally a plague that is of magickal origin. Through each event, the children learn their own inner strengths, how they fit into the Winding Circle community, how their abilities differ from one another's and from the magickal community at large, and the dangers of overextending oneself. Tamora Pierce is a writer of insight and has an accessible style that does not condescend, nor does it overcomplicate.

The use of each separate magick is a welcome change from the standard earth/air/fire/water mastery that characters often show, and suggests that magick is a more complicated matter than most authors seem to think. Tris's weather magick, for instance, requires not only immense self-discipline, but also an awareness of air, water, fire and earth in various combinations. Sandry's weaving requires air manipulation as well as material components to simulate the magickal work her mind and will are accomplishing. The use of elemental combination is a refreshing one indeed. As for the interpersonal relationships, the contrast between four social levels as well as two different cultural backgrounds is well handled. While the formula of talented-preteens-cast-adrift could very easily be a clichéd one, Pierce manages to skirt the dangers by giving her characters strong personalities that do not completely reconcile with the others', even by the end of the third book. The protagonists also are given the chance to unravel their powers slowly, so that the quartet of books is an ongoing process instead of a series of brand new discoveries that top the last ones. The fact that the children are real characters in their won rights and not just ciphers helps immensely in the success of this series as well.

Part of the charm of this series is the incomplete coverage magic offers to the characters. While the Winding Circle Temple and its neighbouring city of Summersea are protected in part by magic, the mages are proven to be limited in their applications of their abilities. There are no glorious magickal sweeping rescues in this series; rather, magic is used to find a solution, but it takes great effort and much energy before the solution is applied and seen through to the end. Much of the discipline, the exercises and the uses of the magickal ability in this series are believable and indeed recognizable to those who practice earth-based religions, another welcome surprise. I highly recommend the series, to young adults and adults alike.

Until next time… fly high, and read more books!

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The books of the Circle of Magic series are Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book and Briar's Book. All are published by Scholastic Point, and all are available in paperback for $6.99 each.

(c) A. Murphy-Hiscock. Originally published in Montreal's Magiclal Circle October 2000