[Jarrett17584]

How many of you have read either the Circle Of Magic quartet or The Circle Opens quartet? Who is your favorite character? If you have not read either of these, these are fantastic books.

[Radone]

Who's the author of these books and what are they about? Why do you think they are fantastic BTW? Are there any other series that these books might be compared to?

[Jarrett17584]

The author is Tamora Pierce

[Bookexpert]

I can't decide i like Sandry but I really like Tris. I will go with Tris.

[Celebriän]

I've read the circle of magic and i think one of the circle opens, for some reason I've found them hard to get hold of.

Anyway, I'm not sure that i could choose one of the characters as my favourite, it seems to me that they are too different to compare. And yet too similar. I was going to say i liked Daja's fiery nature, then realised that at some point you see this from all four in the circle of margic quartet, it simply depends on the situation.

Another series by Tamora Pierce (well, two) are the Song of the Lioness and The immortals (both quartets). These are set in a different world, but are certainly as good and imho better. My favourite character (from the immortals quartet) is Daine.

[Esmenet]

I forced myself to read all of them because my friend is obsessed with Tamora Peirce. But I found them to be boring children's books with little or no imagination. That's just my opinion though, and I've found that many people enjoy them. I've never been fond of Perice as an author though which is probably why I didn't enjoy these books.

[Calliope]

Tamora Pierce, in my opinion, writes exceptional fantasy for pre-teen and young teenage girls (and boys, of course, but her novels are mainly marketed towards the 11-15 year old female, I believe). She was my favourite author up until I was introduced to adult fantasy/fiction. And so perhaps they aren't as sophisticated - thematically, etc. - as what you could find in the older market, but that's to be expected. I wouldn't go as far as to deny Pierce any credit whatsoever, especially for imagination... but that's personal opinion, and I loved them.

Anyways, I still read over all of her series every once and a while as a sort of comfort/nostalgic read. My favourites are all set in the Tortall universe - Daughter of the Lioness especially. I liked Will of the Empress too, which is her newest Circle book (Daja, Tris, Briar, and Sandry reunite as 'grown-ups'). Her style improves with each novel, it seems to me.

As for the two Emelan quartets: I think Magic Steps was by far the weakest of the eight. I didn't enjoy it in the slightest, particularly in comparison with the others of the series.. there was something about the plot that irked me, I remember. Street Magic and Shatterglass I liked a lot, but that's partly because I've always had a soft spot for Tris' and Briar's characters.

[Physics Knight]

My favouite character is Briar, and I'm really looking forwards to his new book that should come out in like two years, about him and Rosethorn and Evvy on their travels. Rosethorn is my favourite teacher. Of the books, I think I liked best Will of the Empress and Briar's Book. ALthough I like Tortall books better, I do think her ideas in the Circle books are neater like the glass dragon, Briar's tattoes, and the idea of a plague being the antagonist.