by Nika Caramel

Created on: June 20, 2009   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

Melting Stones, one of the many young adult novels by Tamora Pierce, is a continuation of her old series, Circle of Magic and, more specifically, The Circle Opens. The story's main character and narrator is Evumeimei Dingzai, though everybody just calls her Evvy. She's a girl with stone magic that one of Circle of Magic's main characters, Briar, found in a book from The Circle Opens called "Street Magic".

In this continued story featuring Evvy, Luvo, the talking heart of a mountain, Rosethorn, Briar's teacher, and Dedicate Myrrhtide, a water mage, all travel to the one of the Battle Islands to find out why the plants are dying and the water is turning to acid. Even though Evvy was only dragged along because she had gotten in trouble back at Winding Circle, a mage school, she ends up being the key in figuring out why it's all happening; and stopping it before it can harm any of the inhabitants of the island.

All through the book I never wanted to put it down. As soon as things started calming down and you thought everything was okay, something would happen and you would be dragged right back into the action. I'd constantly be pulled out to the edge of my seat, and just when I thought I could relax, before I knew it I'd be right out on the edge again. Of course, this was helped along by Tamora Pierce's wonderful descriptions of both scenery and action scenes.

Although this book takes place approximately four years after the end of Street Magic, you still can feel like you know the old characters, but even people who are completely new to it will soon be able to feel familiar with everybody. The newer characters are also described in depth well enough that you'll feel like you've known them since the past books.

Along with the main story of the book, you also get glimpses into what happened in the past four years. Although it is explained more in depth in another book focusing on the main characters of Circle of Magic, "The Will Of The Empress", reading Melting Stones will fill in some of the gaps the other book leaves.

Overall, it was a really, really good read. Following Evvy through one of her own adventures separate from Briar and the others adds a whole new flavor to the familiar settings and series. I would recommend it to any fans of Tamora Pierce's works, especially of Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens, or anybody who happens to like good fantasy novels! You can never go wrong with Tamora Pierce's books.

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