Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce
Series: The Circle Opens #1
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads"'Magic? Me, do magic?' Magic was a thing of schools and books. No proper Acalon did magic. 'Oh, no--please, you're mistaken, my lady. I'm no mage.'Sandry met his eyes squarely. 'You just danced a magical working, Pasco Acalon. I am never mistaken about such things.'"
Four years after we last saw the young mages Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar in the Circle of Magic quartet, Sandry is back. Now 14 years old, she is helping her great-uncle, Duke Vedris IV, ruler of Emelan, recover after a heart attack. But there's no rest for the weary mage. A mysterious murderer is afoot, and it quickly becomes clear that Sandry and her reluctant young protégé, Pasco, are the only ones who can stop the killings. Unfortunately, Pasco comes from a long line of harriers, or provost's guards, and his burly family does not think highly of a boy who dances magical spells. It takes some fancy footwork to convince Pasco of the need for his special brand of magic, and Sandry is just the girl for the job.
I like having the cover I actually read on the blog, well apparently this one is hard to find so this is a scan of my actual copy, bizarre. When we met the circle they were only 10. Now they are fourteen and their teachers have taken them traveling. Once again we begin with Sandry. She is not traveling with Lark. While Lark is back at home Sandry is with her great-uncle. He had a heart attack and not only did she help save his life, now she is helping him manage his responsibilities as Duke. That is more than enough responsibility for a 14 year old but then she witnesses a boy dancing and she can see that he is making magic. It seemed an unlikely fit at first but the dancing mage and the weaving mage have more in common than you would think. In case that wasn’t enough an important citizen is murdered and there is magic involved. This book was a lot of fun because you get to see more of regular life in Summersea. You get to see Sandry tested on her own. You get to meet a lot more new people and I enjoyed all of them. The series name definitely makes more sense now, adding new people as well as the circle being far enough away from each other that they can’t access each other. It is kind of weird not getting to see everybody. I’m going to guess that in the Circle Reforged series our group will come back together! Now onto Briar, the group is in a different order than the first time. I wondered.
