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Sandry's Book (Circle Of Magic, Book 1)
by Tamora Pierce

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58889.Sandry_s_Book?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Sandry's Book (Circle Of Magic, Book 1)" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tbVbr9nbL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58889.Sandry_s_Book?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Sandry's Book</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8596.Tamora_Pierce">Tamora Pierce</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26986430?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>This review will bascially serve as a review of the entire "Circle of Magic" quartet. For those of you don't know, it's young adult fantasy fiction. They are easy to read and I became weirdly obsessed with them. I read the entire quartet within a week and a half time frame. The writing style is simple and it seems like the author knows her limits but I think her dramatic climaxes could be more powerful. Then again, maybe she's pulling her punches due to the nature of her target audience. 
<br/>What's great about these books is that there are multiple strong female characters who don't exactly fall into stereotypical gender roles. True, the book is about "craft magic" - the young children (10 years of age or so)all discover they have unusual magical abilities in the arts of gardening, cloth making, forging and, well, climate control. Three of the four youths are girls but it is the boy who is the garden specialist and he is being taught by a strong and respected female mage. 
<br/>Side bar: Notice how I said "youths" and not "kids"? The author has a serious bug up her butt about the use of "kids", which are really baby goats if you want to technical, in reference to children. Anytime time the term "kid" is used by one of the characters, Pierce makes it a point to pause and explain that "kid is street slang for a child." I want to yell at her, "Thanks I got it the first two times you pointed it out now please shut up about it already! Baaaaah!!" And since I'm on a contentious roll, I was annoyed with one of her examples of "inappropriate use of magic". A mage elsewhere was trying to harness wind or sea power to use as an alternative energy source for something but Mother Nature said no and blew the place up because there was too much power to handle. It just disappointed me because it seemed like a negative comment against researching alternative energy resoures. However, since she does not seem to get political elsewhere in the quartet, I'll admit that my interpretation of her message just might be errorneous. 
<br/>Anyway, don't get me wrong, this book isn't over the top with a "Yay Girls Rule and Boys Drool" message. The four young mages have multi-faceted personalities and each book of the quartet focuses a little more on one of them and the protrayals are by no means based on gender stereotypes, or racial stereotypes for that matter.
<br/>I also like that there are positive adult examples in this book who are teaching the young mages how to grow their powers and use them ethically. I mean, that's what adults are supposed to do right? Our teachers are not the enemy and they are to be respected. I like that this quartet enforces that message. In fact, I dare say that this quartet delivers a lot of positive messages that could benefit a young reader's self esteem and their relationships with their "teachers". In addition, "The Circle of Magic" really emphasizes how much stronger individuals are when they work together as a group. AND the author does a nice job of subtly pointing out how there is everyday magic in the creation of arts and crafts. See? Positive lessons abound in these books. Buy them for the young adults in your life but read them first so you can talk to them about the stories. Plus, they're just kinda enjoyable anyways.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/182196?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Miina's review
rating:

This review will bascially serve as a review of the entire "Circle of Magic" quartet. For those of you don't know, it's young adult fantasy fiction. They are easy to read and I became weirdly obsessed with them. I read the entire quartet within a week and a half time frame. The writing style is simple and it seems like the author knows her limits but I think her dramatic climaxes could be more powerful. Then again, maybe she's pulling her punches due to the nature of her target audience.
What's great about these books is that there are multiple strong female characters who don't exactly fall into stereotypical gender roles. True, the book is about "craft magic" - the young children (10 years of age or so)all discover they have unusual magical abilities in the arts of gardening, cloth making, forging and, well, climate control. Three of the four youths are girls but it is the boy who is the garden specialist and he is being taught by a strong and respected female m...more This review will bascially serve as a review of the entire "Circle of Magic" quartet. For those of you don't know, it's young adult fantasy fiction. They are easy to read and I became weirdly obsessed with them. I read the entire quartet within a week and a half time frame. The writing style is simple and it seems like the author knows her limits but I think her dramatic climaxes could be more powerful. Then again, maybe she's pulling her punches due to the nature of her target audience.
What's great about these books is that there are multiple strong female characters who don't exactly fall into stereotypical gender roles. True, the book is about "craft magic" - the young children (10 years of age or so)all discover they have unusual magical abilities in the arts of gardening, cloth making, forging and, well, climate control. Three of the four youths are girls but it is the boy who is the garden specialist and he is being taught by a strong and respected female mage.
Side bar: Notice how I said "youths" and not "kids"? The author has a serious bug up her butt about the use of "kids", which are really baby goats if you want to technical, in reference to children. Anytime time the term "kid" is used by one of the characters, Pierce makes it a point to pause and explain that "kid is street slang for a child." I want to yell at her, "Thanks I got it the first two times you pointed it out now please shut up about it already! Baaaaah!!" And since I'm on a contentious roll, I was annoyed with one of her examples of "inappropriate use of magic". A mage elsewhere was trying to harness wind or sea power to use as an alternative energy source for something but Mother Nature said no and blew the place up because there was too much power to handle. It just disappointed me because it seemed like a negative comment against researching alternative energy resoures. However, since she does not seem to get political elsewhere in the quartet, I'll admit that my interpretation of her message just might be errorneous.
Anyway, don't get me wrong, this book isn't over the top with a "Yay Girls Rule and Boys Drool" message. The four young mages have multi-faceted personalities and each book of the quartet focuses a little more on one of them and the protrayals are by no means based on gender stereotypes, or racial stereotypes for that matter.
I also like that there are positive adult examples in this book who are teaching the young mages how to grow their powers and use them ethically. I mean, that's what adults are supposed to do right? Our teachers are not the enemy and they are to be respected. I like that this quartet enforces that message. In fact, I dare say that this quartet delivers a lot of positive messages that could benefit a young reader's self esteem and their relationships with their "teachers". In addition, "The Circle of Magic" really emphasizes how much stronger individuals are when they work together as a group. AND the author does a nice job of subtly pointing out how there is everyday magic in the creation of arts and crafts. See? Positive lessons abound in these books. Buy them for the young adults in your life but read them first so you can talk to them about the stories. Plus, they're just kinda enjoyable anyways....less

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