"The Bravest Person I Know is Scared of the Dark..."

books:


	• Circle Opens #03 : Cold Fire (Circle Opens) Tamora Pierce, 2002 - 355 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

More Magic - Yea!

My daughter and I enjoyed the first series on CD together. She can't wait to read what happens next. Harry Potter fans will enjoy these - different, and shorter, but a lot of fun.

Magical and is the best of the Circle Opens

I think that this book is the best of the Circle Open's quartet! The characters are lovable like Daja and her teacher Frostpine. The magic is breath-taking and even though the book can be serious it is also fun! Tamora Pierce has definetly done an excellent job on this book. Guarenteed you'll be hooked from page one!

Daja and Frostpine went to Kugisko, cold and freezing Kugisko to visit old friends... They didn't expect to have too big of an adventure. It was SUPPOSED to be peaceful. Fires are spreading across the town and nobody knows who's starting them. They know that somebody is doing it on purpose...but who?

Daja also meets a man named Bennat Ladradun who's family was killed in a fire and now dedicates his life to fighting raging fires...is Ben really what Daja thinks he is?

Read 'Cold Fire'! It rocks!

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Circle Opens: Cold Fire

My daughter loved the book but our only complaint was that the book cover was not the one shown so this book doesn't match the rest in this series!

"The Bravest Person I Know is Scared of the Dark..."

"The Circle Opens" quartet deals with the ongoing adventures of the four Winding Circle students as they themselves become the teachers to new (and even younger) apprentices. Sadly, one of the prerequisites of this teaching experience is that the four friends are separated, as became clear in Magic Steps (The Circle Opens, Book 1), in which we learn from Sandry that Briar, Tris and Daja have left on far-flung journeys with their respective teachers in order to improve their own magical crafts. As such, the wonderful friendship that was the heart and soul of the previous quartet ("Circle of Magic") is put on hiatus as the four make new friends, become teachers and deepen the relationship between themselves and their mentors.

Daja (still sporting the copper-cover hand that she earned in Circle Of Magic #03: Daja's Book - Reissue (Circle Of Magic)) and her teacher Frostpine - both metal-mages, whose talents lie in fire, metal-working, and the forge - are wintering in the snow-locked Narmorn. Both southern creatures, Frostpine in particular is finding the weather troublesome, but Daja is keeping herself busy with her work and her friendship with the two twin daughters of the household she is staying in. Nia and Jory Bancanor are total opposites in personality and temperament, but when Daja notices that they both have dormant magic in them, tradition dictates that it's her responsibility to train the two girls until she can find more appropriate mages to hone their individual talents.

Meanwhile, the fire-dangers that come from living in a city that is built almost entirely of wood becomes clear after Daja makes the acquaintance of Ben Ladradun, a fireman who is training members of his community in the techniques of fighting fires. Daja is instantly impressed with the man's bravery - because he isn't a mage he is in considerable more danger when he enters a burning building than one who can magically shield themselves from fire. Striking up a friendship, Daja is soon working on a pair of magical fire-proof gloves for him.

Between training the twins and working on her new project, Daja is kept extremely busy, and Pierce fills her story with plenty of moments of joy, hard work, companionship, frustration and challenges. Because the twins are so different, Daja must find separate techniques of training them that suits each individual personality, and - in a nice touch - the twins reciprocate the time and energy Daja puts into their training by teaching her how to ice-skate. Despite the absence of Sandry, Briar, Tris and the other teachers, it is heart-warming to see how much they weigh on Daja's mind, as she often thinks about them or alludes to them in conversation, displaying just how much she loves her foster-family and desires their presence.

In their absence, Pierce builds up a strong portrayal of a community, complete with the martial bliss of the twins' parents and the friendship they share with Frostpine, the busy workplaces of the hospital and carpenter's workshop that the twins are apprenticed to, and a general atmosphere of falling snow and sleigh-rides contrasted with the warmth and clutter of home. Naturally, Pierce doesn't ignore the ugly side that exists in every community: the snobbery of certain mages, the fear with which some people regard Daja and the domineering figure of Ben's mother, Morrachane. Instantly butting heads with the strict old woman, Daja pities Ben for the authority that Morrachane has over him - although Pierce mixes in a shade of grey in establishing the very real affection that Morrachane holds for Nia and Jory.

But even more troublesome than Morrachane is the growing evidence that there is an arsonist on the loose in the city. With house fires popping up everywhere, growing more dangerous and difficult to control, Daja and Frostpine find themselves volunteer fire-fighters in the attempt to control the blaze. Unfortunately, it is in this sub-plot that Pierce missteps. The arsonist's identity is revealed too quickly, and made known to the reader (through several paragraphs told from the culprit's point of view) long before Daja herself figures it out. This not only destroys the possibility of a whodunit aspect to the story, with a sense of mystery and suspense as to the arsonist's identity, but makes the reader frustrated that Daja is so slow on the uptake. Any decision to *tell* the reader something rather than let them figure it out themselves is surely never a good thing.

However, despite this problematic handling of the story, there is enough here for "Cold Fire" to recommend itself. The bond between Daja and Frostpine is as touching as ever, as is Pierce's ongoing theme of fulfillment being found in hard work and honest dealings with fellow human beings. Though not my favourite of the Winding Circle foursome, Daja is a cool-headed and determined young heroine, and probably goes through the most dramatic changes than all of her foster-siblings in her own "spin-off" adventure, having to deal with the pain of needless death, the crush of disillusionment and the sting of betrayal.

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an excellent piece of writing by Tamora Pierce

In my opinion, Cold Fire is more interesting than Magic Steps and Street Magic, simply because it introduces new concepts and themes into Tamora Pierce's writing. One such is traitorism. You know it's going to happen, but you dread it all the same. There is also more fear and suspense and less repetition than in the other books. It is a more complex novel. It may seem that Daja is an unfeeling character in the beginning because it is mostly written in denotation with no point of view behind her observation, but later in the novel, you'll find that this is not so. Daja shares memories of her past, and hints towards the future are apparant. The twins are amusing and Frostpine down to earth. There is a satisfying plot. It's great!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Daja and Frostpine expect to spend some peaceful weeks with old friends in Namorn. But things begin to go awry as soon as they arrive. First Daja discovers that their hosts' twin daughters are mages. Then mysterious fires begin to blaze across the frigid city. Daja works with Bennat Ladradun, to locate what seems to be a serial arsonist. Daja's magic saves the city from going up in flames, but nothing and nobody can save her the disappointment of learning that the arsonist is someone close to her own heart.

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