Tris’s Book – Tamora Pierce – Britt's Book Blurbs

Tris's Book

- Tamora Pierce

Kalgoorlie, WA

February 14, 2021

Goodreads Book Blurb:

Winding Circle Temple is under threat…
It’s been centuries since pirates have dared to attach Winding Circle. But the community’s magic has been weakened by an earthquake, and the pirates have a dangerous new weapon.

For four young mages, it’s time to test their powers…
Tris, Sandry, Daja and Briar love living in Winding Circle and vow to protect it – even if this means unleashing their untrained magic on the world. Tris, the “weather witch”, determines to save the temple, but there’s a high price to pay for her actions…

Series / Genres:

My Review:

enjoyable/easy to read:

☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5

With a faster pace than Sandry’s Book, the second instalment of the Circle of Magic series is full of pirates, excitement, and big magic. After everything they went through in the last book, Briar, Daja, Sandry, and Tris are bonded together more than they yet realise, both in their magic and in their friendship.

I’m glad that while each of these books is centred on one of the four, we still get plenty of time with the other three to see how they are advancing in their respective disciplines. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I would have coped with a whole book through Tris’ perspective. To be fair, she is getting better, but she’s still prickly and her fuse is so short it’s as though it doesn’t exist. You can’t even look at her sideways without risking a sudden hurricane or lightning strike.

Unfortunately, this book butts up against one of my pet peeves in media and literature. Untrained children who have only known about their magic for a few short months, with no control or knowledge or training, should not be the saviours in situations requiring advanced, complicated magic. It makes literally no sense, especially in this situation.

Spoiler

I guarantee that any grown adult would have tested a magical shield or barrier for faults as the very first step to assessing an enemy and launching an attack. There is no way that this would not have been considered by anyone other than a group of ten-year-olds. Sure, I could accept that their magic is different and maybe in its raw, untrained form, it’s powerful and possibly stronger than the magic of more advanced dedicates and mages who potentially cannot force their magic into the same direction to break through the barrier. In which case, it makes sense for any, or all, of the four to lend their magic to their teachers, as they did several times throughout Tris’s Book.