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A review by carlyxdeexx
Street Magic by Tamora Pierce
4.0
Things that struck me while I re-read this book.
1) My love for Briar hasn’t faded over time. This garden boy is not only a solid example of healthy masculinity, but also evolving healthy masculinity. Is he perfect? No. Is he trying? Yes. And we see him grow (heh) so much since we first met him in book one of The Circle of Magic Series. Infinite thanks to Tamora Pierce for giving this series Briar Moss. Her feminism can’t be denied.
2) This book is BLOODY. Like, there have been violent moments in the first series, and yes, there is bloodshed in book one of this one, but JEEZ. It gets sickeningly gory in this book. But the writing almost masks the level of gore? The image is reported briefly, matter-of-factly, then on to the next thing, so you don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the horror of what just actually happened, a la watching Lance have his Dragonite use Hyper Beam on a PERSON in Pokémon G/S. I can see how my young self might not register the gravity of this book’s violent moments. It took me a second each time to really acknowledge it this readthrough.
3) This book does address morality and violence towards the end. I’m not sure if I really like the way it’s handled, or if the whole exploration lacked substance. I’m on the fence about it.
I liked this book better than Sandry’s. And I’m looking forward to Daja’s!
1) My love for Briar hasn’t faded over time. This garden boy is not only a solid example of healthy masculinity, but also evolving healthy masculinity. Is he perfect? No. Is he trying? Yes. And we see him grow (heh) so much since we first met him in book one of The Circle of Magic Series. Infinite thanks to Tamora Pierce for giving this series Briar Moss. Her feminism can’t be denied.
2) This book is BLOODY. Like, there have been violent moments in the first series, and yes, there is bloodshed in book one of this one, but JEEZ. It gets sickeningly gory in this book. But the writing almost masks the level of gore? The image is reported briefly, matter-of-factly, then on to the next thing, so you don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the horror of what just actually happened, a la watching Lance have his Dragonite use Hyper Beam on a PERSON in Pokémon G/S. I can see how my young self might not register the gravity of this book’s violent moments. It took me a second each time to really acknowledge it this readthrough.
3) This book does address morality and violence towards the end. I’m not sure if I really like the way it’s handled, or if the whole exploration lacked substance. I’m on the fence about it.
I liked this book better than Sandry’s. And I’m looking forward to Daja’s!