Street Magic

by Tamora Pierce

Paper Book, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

[Fic]

Publication

New York : Scholastic, [2002], c2001.

Description

Former "street rat" Briar Moss must face his past when he discovers a young mage in need of a mentor.

User reviews

LibraryThing member mizchvz

Briar Moss takes on his first student in this book. I love the story that Tamora Pierce wrote for him.

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LibraryThing member hoosgracie

Briar and Rosethorn are traveling and Briar spots a street kid in a marketplace who seems to have magic with stones. Because he is the first to spot the magic, he must teach Evvy the basics or find her a teacher. One of the best in the Circle of Magic universe books. I really enjoyed the character

of Evvy.

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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

I really don't like Evvy much. She varies wildly between totally pliable and preemptively surrendering, and (as soon as she thinks she's safe) unreasonably stubborn. And here, her magic is a minor point...well, it makes her the trigger for the problem, and makes Briar act to deal with it. And she

does free herself as he's coming to get her. But it's very much Briar's book, with Evvy being the reasons for Briar's actions but not much of an actor (acter?) on her own.

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LibraryThing member chibimajo

Briar and Rosethorn are in a new city, and Briar finds a girl with stone magic in the marketplace. Now he must find her a teacher - whom she rejects, so he must teach her himself, and also protect her from a gang. This gang is currently being controlled by a twisted rich woman who is becoming way

too involved with the gang's dealings.

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LibraryThing member Saieeda

This is an excellent book by Tamora Pierce, one of the few in which she has the man character as a male. The characters are extremely well-developed to the point that the reader feels as if (s)he has know them for the entirety of their lives. The writing style is perfect for the targeted audience

(young adults). The plot line is filled with adventure. This is an excellent book.

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LibraryThing member librisissimo

Occasionally confusing phraseology, and Evvy is unbelievably flexible in moving from a post-slavery street-rat to docile and obedient mage-student.
On the book as a whole, why go to the bother of inventing a fictional fantasy world if you just copy customs and costumes from the sort-of-real Arabia

and China?

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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

I liked this book where Briar, the student, becomes Briar the teacher. Tamora Pierce is known for her strong female protagonists in her young adult high fantasies and she's unapologetic about that. I've seen her state more than once that little boys and young men have enough fictional heroes they

can identify with, but young woman not so much. Briar and this book therefore is unique among Pierce's novels in that the focus is on a male protagonist. Briar has the roughest background among the four friends that are the focus of the four Circle of Magic books--those should be read first. As a former "street rat" he knows the ways of the streets and gangs where he finds the young stone mage he mentors. His student Evvy is an appealing character in her own right and is the subject of a sequel, Melting Stones.

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LibraryThing member alwright1

Briar becomes involved in local gang wars when he takes an interest in a young stone mage.

Briar and Rosethorn are some of my favorites, and I enjoy the new student Evvy as well. I'm looking forward to watching her grow with her expanding cat colony.

LibraryThing member Kiwiria

No where near as good as the other books in the "Circle Opens" series. I constantly found my attention wandering, and had to go back to see what actually happened. Part of this was because I just didn't care for Evy much, and part of it was the distinct lack of Briar doing any magic for himself.

LibraryThing member ashooles

Briar is my favourite character of the quartet, so I was very excited to be reading his book. I always enjoyed reading his personality. His thought process was always amusing.

Once again, Tamora Pierce has impressed me. She creates a world which is both enjoyable and easy to read, and I found myself

taking in every word. What I wished for (like in book one) was interaction between the quartet, and I feel that is what is missing for this series.

However, nonetheless, most enjoyable anyway, and I look forward to be reading the following 2 books.

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LibraryThing member urph818

What can I say? Once again I was drawn to this Circle Audio book even though I know I'm reading this story out of sequence. Street Magic's a quick, engrossing, and entertaining story . Like the previous volumes, I'm enjoying this series more than when we met the original group at the Winding

Circle, with its four rotating POVs. I thought the plot was fairly straightforward . As Tamora Pierce's only male character, Briar Moss, is one of her best characters. Amongst the rest of the mainly female cast, his charisma, street smarts and ongoing inner conflict between his younger, wilder instincts, and his older, more civilized self, makes him one of the most lovable and well-rounded characters in the Circle of Magic series. Seeing Briar show off his magic was rather awesome and how he takes Evvy under his wing as his student, even though she had Earth mage magic was remarkably written. I love the Circle of Magic series and recommend it to young and old (like me) alike.
Jack Murphy

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LibraryThing member 2wonderY

It feels like Pierce is straining in this sequel series, The Circle Opens. The plots of the first two are remarkably similar, and the four characters of Winding Circle are travelling separately. So there is no interplay among the four. I miss that. These new young wizards being introduced lack the

individuality of Pierce's other books. They seem to be uniformly poor, abandoned or picked-on, spunky, obstinate, non-trusting. Okay. Not the best way to build a series.

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LibraryThing member Rosemarie.Herbert

I originally reviewed this book on my blog - The Cosy Dragon. For more recent reviews by me, please hop over there.

Briar Moss is on the road with his teacher Rosethorn and they have stopped in a drying out city of stones. Briar is looking forward to leaving - he doesn't like stones as much as he

likes plants. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that he must become a teacher of a stone mage.

Briar has made friends with one of the gangs that inhabit Chammur, and so he becomes entangled in their struggles as the Vipers (and their rich patron) try to swallow up the smaller gangs. Briar finds it hard to believe that

There are several different plot lines that Pierce twines together, and this makes it interesting to follow. I would have to say that there is only minor character development of Briar throughout the book, but he has made big jumps now that he is age 14 (not 10, as in the first books). Briar's past won't let him go, but he still has a career ahead of him as a respectable plant mage - if only he could keep out of trouble!

Inventing the different kinds of magic to keep things interesting must have fascinated Pierce. I know that I am always wanting to know what is coming next! It's quite natural that Evvie is a stone mage in a stone country. I know that it is on Pierce's list to do a book about the ambient type mages, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

Before starting this book, I had promised myself that I'd read something different from more Tamora Pierce for a break... I quickly broke that. I took a drive out to Philip Island, and was feeling too tired to start the book I had planned. So I figured on a quick and easy read of this one.

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LibraryThing member Linyarai

This is one of my favorite series, I really enjoy Briar and his journey.

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