Emelan - Tumblr Posts
when i started rereading the circle of magic books i did not consider how briars book would hit given the current state of things 😂
Weekend sketchdump of various Emelan/Tortall scenes via discord requests! It’s been a blast :)
Welcome to Emelan
My (super subjective and objectively non-empirical) experience has been that Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe is where most of her fans begin, and it seems to be her more popular universe. Heck, I started in Tortall. But as I read more, and found more of Pierce's books, I found the Circle Universe, and I gotta say, for all my love and nostalgia for the Tortall Universe, I think my heart lives in Emelan with Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris. I certainly tried to balance my Rosethorn half with my Lark tendencies and my extremely Niko academic oeuvre when I was teaching, and I love that the Circle Universe gets away from more traditional medieval europe settings. Let's talk The Circle of Magic Quartet.
Sandry's Book introduces the world, the magic system, and our four protagonists. Sandreline Fa Toren is almost royalty in two countries and has exactly zero compunction about hopping back and forth between "just Sandy" and "Lady Sandreline" as the occasion calls for it. We love her, and honestly she's perfect. Joining Sandry at Discipline Cottage in Winding Circle Temple are former street rat Briar Moss, neglected and rejected merchant daughter Trisana Chandler, and orphaned and exiled Trader Daja Kisubo.
This book brings the four together and they learn that they are ambient mages--mages who manipulate the power inherent in the world rather than mages who use power inherent in themselves (academic mages). The magic system in the Circle Universe is objectively my favorite, because it is so detailed and so nuanced and so tied to craftsmanship. It's something I've never seen done better than it is here. And because our four protagonists are incredible, they also manage to spin their powers together, making them exponentially stronger together than they could have imagined being individually--which is just a stunnign thematic tie-in. A+ no notes.
Tris's Book explores Tris's past, her magic, and the choices she has to make to keep her terrifyingly powerful weather magic under control despite her deep emotional wounds and temper. Tris is honestly one of my two favorite characters in this series because this girl just has SO MANY feelings and she has to literally learn to take herself in hand to not accidentally hurt or kill anyone. It also explores Tris's relationships to her blood and found families, and Pierce makes no bones about how sometimes family can be irredeemably toxic, and that it's ok to choose the found family that loves and supports you. Honestly Tris needs a hug, but good luck getting through the lightning to give it to her.
This book also really deepens the relationships between each protagonist and their teachers. I love how much time Pierce spends in all of her books focusing on student-teacher relationships, and the ones here, in a literal educational setting (non-traditional though it is), are top tier. This continues to be expanded in later books, but Niko and Tris's relationship really cements here and I love them as a student and teacher.
Also, there are pirates in this book. That's pretty cool.
Daja's Book takes reader and protagonists beyond the walls of Winding Circle and expands the world at the end of a difficult, dry summer that was poised for a firey fall and a possible starving winter. The Duke of Emelan is touring the outer estates to assess who needs what help and what he can do.
Meanwhile, the book explores Trader culture and Daja's relationship to it. This is done so spectacularly that I am loath to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say that not only does this book explore the downsides of exclusionary cultural practices, it also explores the complex emotions of being excluded and both knowing it's wrong but desperately missing being included. Disability is also handled spectacularly in this book, and I love it for that.
While Daja is exploring her own culture from the outside, Sandry, Briar, and Tris are dealing with the aftermath of spinning their powers together in Sandry's Book. This is very much a subplot, but it works beautifully to expand the worldbuilding and magic system.
Briar's Book sees everyone return to Emelan proper, and this book hits DIFFERENT after 2020. Winding Circle must deal with a mysterious plague, and honestly after Covid, I can't actually read this book without sobbing. It's damn good, and Briar and Rosethorn are just the absolute peak student-teacher relationship. This book also really highlights Briar and Tris's relationship, which will continue to grow and develop throuhgout the Circle Universe books.
I absolutely recommend these books. Tamora Pierce is technically YA, but the protagonists are between 10 and 12 in these books, so they might feel more middle-grade than YA at times, but that truly does not diminish any of the very human themes and challenges.
These books also have absolutely stunningly performed and edited full-cast audiobooks, and I cannot recommend those enough either. I now read these books in the voice actors' voices, and that just makes the whole experience more magical.
I need to take a moment to address something absolutely incredible in Tamora Pierce’s Briar’s Book/The Healing in the Vine from her Circle of Magic Quartet.
While Pierce, as a rule, doesn’t back away from some of the gross thoughts humans have, I think she was incredible during the scene where Flick’s fever is growing worse and worse and Briar - for the briefest of moments - just wishes she would die already.
We don’t see a lot of caretaking in fantasy - sure, there are healers and such, but nothing remotely long term. In this situation Briar is in a forced quarantine because his friend was patient zero in an epidemic, and he’s healthy enough to continue caring for her and the other individuals who were initially diagnosed. And he HATES it. He likes Flick, but being stuck there taking care of her grates on him. Even when the disease reaches full outbreak in the city, he’s still not allowed to go home because the blue pox hasn’t reached the temple city yet. So he’s stuck. And tired. And at one point he thinks that her dying is preferable because then he’d at least get to sleep.
And then he hates himself for it.
I just… I think this is so real, and I love that Pierce let’s him sit with this intrusive and uncharitable thought. And even when he chastises himself and knows it’s not totally true, he also knows that it partly is.
Bless Tamora Pierce for making 'mast buildup' a childhood terror for so many of us. The Bermuda Triangle and quicksand may not have held up, but by god the mast buildup retains its relevance.
I thinks it’s been something like 15ish years since the last time I read this book, and let me tell you, it still holds up. Everything about this book is still just as fun and interesting as it was when I was a kid. It’s just been really nice to dive back into a series that brings back so many memories and nostalgia.
I really liked that we got to see a different side to Briar than we did in The Circle of Magic. He was so reluctant to teach Evvy, but he was also incredibly supportive of her doing things and learning in her own way. I loved that Briar found a student that was just as stubborn as he (and the rest of his friends/family) was. I also really liked that we got to see somewhere new within this world. Street Magic is getting four stars and I’m excited to jump into the next one!
Winding Circle squad aesthetics
Master and student