A review by kiiitasticbooks
Circles in the Stream by Rachel Roberts

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Back in elementary school, I adored Avalon: Web of Magic. I read all the books. I spent hours outside with my friends, pretending to be our favorite characters from the series.

But sixteen years later, I realized I didn’t remember as much of the series as I wanted to. That, paired with wanting to tab the entire series, had me rereading this book.

Circles In The Stream, the first book in the Avalon: Web of Magic series, introduces us to our three main characters: Emily, Adriane, and Kara. Emily is new in town, the daughter of a veterinarian, and soon finds herself dealing with magical animals when a big cat comes into the clinic with weird, poisonous burns all over its body.

One thing I’ve always really enjoyed in this book is the random pictures. Because we’re dealing with a fantasy world, especially in a children’s book, I think the pictures really help show readers what these creatures look like! There’s something really nice about flipping to a new page and finding a cool picture of the characters doing the exact thing you’re reading about.

I did find throughout rereading this that language has evolved since this series first came out, and some of the terms stated in this book were out of date. For example, Adriane is Native American (the book never seems to specify a tribe), but the book often refers to Native Americans as “Indians”. Because this book was first published in 2001, this can be attributed to a shift in language throughout the years. I can remember us referring to Native Americans as “Indians” during my time in elementary school, and I’m not that old (yet)!

One thing I didn’t enjoy about this reread, however, was the ending. Circles In The Stream ends with the characters safe for now, instead sort of vowing to “deal with the enemy later” and doesn’t feel like a fulfilling read. Most books today have full plots and conflicts, even if they are connected to overarching plots throughout a series, while Circles In The Stream felt more like the beginning to the story. It’s definitely easy to see why kids would want to continue on with the series to read more about these characters!

I’m also not sure how I feel about reading children’s books as an adult, especially in series like Avalon: Web of Magic, where I have a lot of fond memories of reading it as a child. While I do really love this story and these characters, I also found myself bored throughout most of this, and I tend to not enjoy the general writing style of children’s books now. Maybe it’s time for me to move on from this books and keep them only as fond memories…