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The Circle Reforged #2
Melting Stones
Four years have passed since Evvy left the streets of Chammur to begin her training as a stone mage. At fourteen, she's unhappy to be on a new journey with her mentor, prickly green mage Rosethorn, who has been called to the Battle Islands to determine why the plants and animals there are dying. Evvy's job is to listen and learn, but she can't just keep quiet and do nothing. With the help of Luvo, the living stone heart of a mountain, Evvy uncovers an important clue. Now, with the island on the brink of disaster, it's up to Evvy to avert the destruction that looms ahead.
First published October 1, 2007
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About the author
Tamora Pierce
99 books85.2k followersHey, folks! I just discovered that apparently I have given some very popular books single-star ratings--except I haven't. How do I know I haven't? Because I haven't read those books at all. So before you go getting all hacked off at me for trashing your favorites, know that I've written GoodReads to find out what's going on.
I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!
Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!
I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.
I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.
Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned!
I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!
Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!
I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.
I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.
Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 510 reviews
July 4, 2017
I absolutely adore Tamora Pierce, and was pretty excited when I saw that Will of the Empress was not going to be a stand-alone book. I really really wish I wasn't going to say this but I found Melting Stones a real let-down. I'm too frustrated to write a proper review so I'll explain my feelings through a list:
The pros:
*Got to learn a little about what happened in Gyonxe
*The stone magic was kinda cool
*Rosethorn was as sharp as ever
*The idea for was pretty original and fairly interesting.
The cons:
*Evvy is whiny, bitter, annoying and plain unlikeable. I understand that she's been through a lot, and blah blah blah but to care about a character enough to be invested in their fate, there has to be something likeable about them. Pierce is usually great at flawed but likeable characters, and Evvy is an unusual let-down in this respect.
*The main plot line was completely obvious, to the point where I had to go back and re-read parts to be sure that the big "secret" as to why everything was dying hadn't been blatantly told to Evvy at the beginning. (I'm still not sure that it wasn't).
*Most of the supporting characters were one-dimensional and pretty pointless.
*I simply didn't care enough for anything that happened to have any impact on me, which is NOT a good thing.
On the bright side, I've just started the Immortals quartet for the first time and thet is comfortably back to her old standard.
Please Tamora, write me some more good old magic tales like the ones from my childhood!
The pros:
*Got to learn a little about what happened in Gyonxe
*The stone magic was kinda cool
*Rosethorn was as sharp as ever
*The idea for was pretty original and fairly interesting.
The cons:
*Evvy is whiny, bitter, annoying and plain unlikeable. I understand that she's been through a lot, and blah blah blah but to care about a character enough to be invested in their fate, there has to be something likeable about them. Pierce is usually great at flawed but likeable characters, and Evvy is an unusual let-down in this respect.
*The main plot line was completely obvious, to the point where I had to go back and re-read parts to be sure that the big "secret" as to why everything was dying hadn't been blatantly told to Evvy at the beginning. (I'm still not sure that it wasn't).
*Most of the supporting characters were one-dimensional and pretty pointless.
*I simply didn't care enough for anything that happened to have any impact on me, which is NOT a good thing.
On the bright side, I've just started the Immortals quartet for the first time and thet is comfortably back to her old standard.
Please Tamora, write me some more good old magic tales like the ones from my childhood!
May 27, 2009
Wow, what is wrong with this book? I normally love all of Pierce's work but this one was a tremendous letdown. I know the Circle of Magic series is written for a younger audience and has never really rated highly in my reads, but I really enjoyed "the Will of the Empress" which is miles better than "Melting Stones." First off, in "the Will of the Empress" Briar and Tris hint to events that occurred in their lives between the Circle Opens volumes and "the Will of the Empress" and I thought, "well, Pierce might fill in that gap." This book makes it worse.
I condemn this as lazy storytelling. Instead of writing about Briar and Rosethorn and Evvy's travels in Yanjing and their encounters with the Emperor who apparently started massacring Temple dedicates and villagers for no clear reason... Pierce attempts to tell the story half-assed backwards through little snippets thrown out in conversation by Evvy. This apparently covers Luvo (the magical living heart of the mountain)'s sudden appearance in the narrative as though he's a long familiar character. Would she just write the story and stop hinting at it as though it's past history?! Or refrain from mentioning it twenty-thousand times until it is birthed entirely?! Personally, I think she's written herself into a bad place - does she really want to write a book so full of murder, hardship and misery? She's successfully mixed dark with light before. Maybe she'd rather play with safer stories...
As for the plot of the book itself:
Evvy, Briar's former student, arrives with Rosethorn and a water mage to an island riddled with strange events like water turning to acid and frequent earthquakes. It takes tremendously too long to figure out that it's because of an inevitable volcano eruption. Evvy is, by turns, petulant, bratty, thoughtless, and selfish. Her confidence in her power only makes it worse. Her character never blossoms or becomes slightly likable and the same goes for other characters that are in the volume, all of them are alphas who seem to bark commands and sneer at each other, and the tense situation of evacuating an entire small island doesn't help. We never get an impression of what the island was before the weird weather or a good idea of the characters that inhabit it. We meet Evvy so briefly in the beginning that she never transforms, the whole book is rushed and heavily packed with descriptions of science dumbed down to fiery magic magma beings that create plate shifts and cause islands to explode. Magic is relied on too heavily in this narrative and so the characters get shunted aside for plate teutonics and textbook descriptions. Really disappointed by this book.
I condemn this as lazy storytelling. Instead of writing about Briar and Rosethorn and Evvy's travels in Yanjing and their encounters with the Emperor who apparently started massacring Temple dedicates and villagers for no clear reason... Pierce attempts to tell the story half-assed backwards through little snippets thrown out in conversation by Evvy. This apparently covers Luvo (the magical living heart of the mountain)'s sudden appearance in the narrative as though he's a long familiar character. Would she just write the story and stop hinting at it as though it's past history?! Or refrain from mentioning it twenty-thousand times until it is birthed entirely?! Personally, I think she's written herself into a bad place - does she really want to write a book so full of murder, hardship and misery? She's successfully mixed dark with light before. Maybe she'd rather play with safer stories...
As for the plot of the book itself:
Evvy, Briar's former student, arrives with Rosethorn and a water mage to an island riddled with strange events like water turning to acid and frequent earthquakes. It takes tremendously too long to figure out that it's because of an inevitable volcano eruption. Evvy is, by turns, petulant, bratty, thoughtless, and selfish. Her confidence in her power only makes it worse. Her character never blossoms or becomes slightly likable and the same goes for other characters that are in the volume, all of them are alphas who seem to bark commands and sneer at each other, and the tense situation of evacuating an entire small island doesn't help. We never get an impression of what the island was before the weird weather or a good idea of the characters that inhabit it. We meet Evvy so briefly in the beginning that she never transforms, the whole book is rushed and heavily packed with descriptions of science dumbed down to fiery magic magma beings that create plate shifts and cause islands to explode. Magic is relied on too heavily in this narrative and so the characters get shunted aside for plate teutonics and textbook descriptions. Really disappointed by this book.
February 23, 2009
Oh bummer! I love Tamora's Tortall series, but just can't get into the Circle one. This book in particular was blah. If someone asked me what I thought of it the shortest (and possibly best) answer I can come up with is, "meh". Especially for the last 1/4 of the book. It just lacked spunk or something. I can't explain it. I'll just re-read the Lioness so I can remember why I love Tamora.
November 8, 2015
Second in The Circle Reforged subseries and tenth in the overall Emelan universe in the fantasy series for middle-grade readers and revolving around four very young mages in magic. The focus here is on the former student of one of those mages, Evvy. It's been four years since Evvy arrived in Winding Circle, and it's taking place at the same time as
The Will of the Empress
, 1 (9). If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Emelan books on my website.
My Take
What I loved about Melting Stones was the fantastical idea Pierce used for explaining how volcanoes formed. Using Flare and Carnelian's actions to explain the earth tremors was brilliant. It was a nice blend of science and Pierce's own magical world of Emelan. It also helps to showcase how thoughtlessly impulsive Evvy is.
Yep, Evvy is what I hated about Melting Stones. She is so obnoxious and bratty. Considering her beginnings as a slave and then a street rat, she is amazingly unthinking of consequences. Oh, her intentions are good, but she is too impulsive. To be honest, she acts more like an eight-year-old.
It is fun to see Myrrhtide evolve from the rude, fussy, disbelieving, envious mage to a more understanding one.
It's rather fun getting Luvo's take on this outside world. After two years, he still loves watching "the glory of the dawn". Makes me think of how much I take for granted.
There's a important lesson in this for Evvy, and it's laid out by Rosethorn when she explains about the two classes of people: the destroyers, and the builders. Another lesson is that mages learn from their mistakes.
The Story
At fourteen and unable to hold back her temper, Evvy is on a punishment voyage with her mentor, prickly green mage Rosethorn, who has been called to the Battle Islands to determine why the plants and animals there are dying.
It turns out to be lucky for Starns and everyone else that Evvy is along. It's her gift for stone magic that helps Evvy uncover the truth. Now, with the island on the brink of disaster, it's up to Evvy to avert the destruction that looms ahead.
The Characters
Evumeimei "Evvy" Dingzai is the stone mage Briar found in Street Magic , 2 (6). Luvo is a volcano god who has manifested himself as an eighteen-inch tall deep green and purple clear crystal bear. He encountered Evvy on the Gyongxe trip when she approached his home in the Heaven Wind Mountains of southern Yanjing.
Dedicate Rosethorn, a great mage whose gift is with plants, is one of Evvy's guardians at Winding Circle. The other is Dedicate Lark whose gift is with weaving. They all live at Discipline Cottage. Dedicate Fusspot, oops, I mean, Dedicate Myrrhtide is a water mage whose assistance will be needed on Starns. Briar Moss is one of the four young people who are now great mages.
Moharrin on Starns is…
…a small village on one of the Battle Islands. Sustree is the port at which the Winding Circle trio land. Oswin Forest is their escort and a man of all talents. He's also a kind man for he has taken in all the pirate orphans including Treak who wreaks havoc, Nory who keeps house and order, Mereyem is one of the cheeky young ones, Lexa, Natan, Jesy who needs special glasses, and Deva. Jayatin "Jayat" Holly is apprenticed to Tahar Catwalker, the village's mage and healer. Spark is the horse that Evvy rides.
Azaze Yopali is the headwoman of the village and runs the inn. Some of her employees include Firouze and Mila. Other people of importance in the village include Master Smith, the Master Herder, and the master miner. Dubyine and Karove are part of a small, greedy group. Squeak has kittens.
Mount Grace is…
…a mountain on Starns where the fire spirits live in a pool of flame. Flare and Carnelian are two of the flame spirits, the children of the pool, who first encounter Evvy.
Levit, Margret, Lore, Karl, Sotat, and Sustree are some of the other Battle Islands. Heibei is the god of luck whom Evvy frequently calls upon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is not so much dull as drab. I'm guessing it's to reflect the state of the island with that volcano about to burst. It's Evvy in her deep purple kerchief with strands of black hair escaping, the deep purple strap of her bag over one shoulder, and she stands in her black dress, facing an acid pool, dying grasses, and dead branches under a murky green sky.
The title is what Evvy encounters, the Melting Stones so eager to to find escape.
My Take
What I loved about Melting Stones was the fantastical idea Pierce used for explaining how volcanoes formed. Using Flare and Carnelian's actions to explain the earth tremors was brilliant. It was a nice blend of science and Pierce's own magical world of Emelan. It also helps to showcase how thoughtlessly impulsive Evvy is.
Yep, Evvy is what I hated about Melting Stones. She is so obnoxious and bratty. Considering her beginnings as a slave and then a street rat, she is amazingly unthinking of consequences. Oh, her intentions are good, but she is too impulsive. To be honest, she acts more like an eight-year-old.
It is fun to see Myrrhtide evolve from the rude, fussy, disbelieving, envious mage to a more understanding one.
"Oswin sounded very innocent in the dark. 'Azaze gives a decent meal to almost everyone.'"What is making me nuts is that whole Gyongxe business. Pierce kept referring to it in The Will of the Empress and now in Melting Stones, and I feel as though I've missed an entire book!!
It's rather fun getting Luvo's take on this outside world. After two years, he still loves watching "the glory of the dawn". Makes me think of how much I take for granted.
There's a important lesson in this for Evvy, and it's laid out by Rosethorn when she explains about the two classes of people: the destroyers, and the builders. Another lesson is that mages learn from their mistakes.
The Story
At fourteen and unable to hold back her temper, Evvy is on a punishment voyage with her mentor, prickly green mage Rosethorn, who has been called to the Battle Islands to determine why the plants and animals there are dying.
It turns out to be lucky for Starns and everyone else that Evvy is along. It's her gift for stone magic that helps Evvy uncover the truth. Now, with the island on the brink of disaster, it's up to Evvy to avert the destruction that looms ahead.
The Characters
Evumeimei "Evvy" Dingzai is the stone mage Briar found in Street Magic , 2 (6). Luvo is a volcano god who has manifested himself as an eighteen-inch tall deep green and purple clear crystal bear. He encountered Evvy on the Gyongxe trip when she approached his home in the Heaven Wind Mountains of southern Yanjing.
Dedicate Rosethorn, a great mage whose gift is with plants, is one of Evvy's guardians at Winding Circle. The other is Dedicate Lark whose gift is with weaving. They all live at Discipline Cottage. Dedicate Fusspot, oops, I mean, Dedicate Myrrhtide is a water mage whose assistance will be needed on Starns. Briar Moss is one of the four young people who are now great mages.
Moharrin on Starns is…
…a small village on one of the Battle Islands. Sustree is the port at which the Winding Circle trio land. Oswin Forest is their escort and a man of all talents. He's also a kind man for he has taken in all the pirate orphans including Treak who wreaks havoc, Nory who keeps house and order, Mereyem is one of the cheeky young ones, Lexa, Natan, Jesy who needs special glasses, and Deva. Jayatin "Jayat" Holly is apprenticed to Tahar Catwalker, the village's mage and healer. Spark is the horse that Evvy rides.
Azaze Yopali is the headwoman of the village and runs the inn. Some of her employees include Firouze and Mila. Other people of importance in the village include Master Smith, the Master Herder, and the master miner. Dubyine and Karove are part of a small, greedy group. Squeak has kittens.
Mount Grace is…
…a mountain on Starns where the fire spirits live in a pool of flame. Flare and Carnelian are two of the flame spirits, the children of the pool, who first encounter Evvy.
Levit, Margret, Lore, Karl, Sotat, and Sustree are some of the other Battle Islands. Heibei is the god of luck whom Evvy frequently calls upon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is not so much dull as drab. I'm guessing it's to reflect the state of the island with that volcano about to burst. It's Evvy in her deep purple kerchief with strands of black hair escaping, the deep purple strap of her bag over one shoulder, and she stands in her black dress, facing an acid pool, dying grasses, and dead branches under a murky green sky.
The title is what Evvy encounters, the Melting Stones so eager to to find escape.
January 16, 2022
"Rosethorn sighed. 'Lark was worried about this aspect of you. I'm not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you're going to be.'"
This felt like a short story that was forced to become a novel. Like an underachieving student stretching an essay to meet a required word count, it felt repetitive and too long.
I was hopeful going into a story about Evvy and Rosethorn together; I found their relationship in Street Magic interesting. Evvy mostly interacted with Briar but Rosethorn was a steady presence in the background, supporting them both, making Evvy feel welcome, and mostly just being Rosethorn. Unfortunately, since then, Rosethorn, Briar, and Evvy have been through a war together. Do we know anything about this war? Besides some bad dreams and cryptic comments throughout The Will of the Empress which made me think I had somehow skipped an entire book, the Circle Reforged series seems to be written to create confusion until you make it to the end and finally get the whole story in Battle Magic . At least in The Will of the Empress there are four protagonists so the gaping void of information is less intrusive to the story. In Melting Stones , Evvy's entire personality change and her character flaws are blamed on this war and it's just too much to try to overcome or explain with only side comments.
There were a few good moments and the concept was interesting. It just wasn't enough story for an entire book and it probably should've come after Battle Magic , not before.
Other books in the Circle Reforged series:
#1: The Will of the Empress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#3: Battle Magic ⭐⭐⭐
Other books in the Emelan Universe:
#1: Sandry’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#2: Tris’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#3: Daja’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#4: Briar’s Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#5: Magic Steps ⭐⭐
#6: Street Magic ⭐⭐⭐
#7 Cold Fire ⭐⭐
#8: Shatterglass ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#9: The Will of the Empress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#11: Battle Magic ⭐⭐⭐
This felt like a short story that was forced to become a novel. Like an underachieving student stretching an essay to meet a required word count, it felt repetitive and too long.
I was hopeful going into a story about Evvy and Rosethorn together; I found their relationship in Street Magic interesting. Evvy mostly interacted with Briar but Rosethorn was a steady presence in the background, supporting them both, making Evvy feel welcome, and mostly just being Rosethorn. Unfortunately, since then, Rosethorn, Briar, and Evvy have been through a war together. Do we know anything about this war? Besides some bad dreams and cryptic comments throughout The Will of the Empress which made me think I had somehow skipped an entire book, the Circle Reforged series seems to be written to create confusion until you make it to the end and finally get the whole story in Battle Magic . At least in The Will of the Empress there are four protagonists so the gaping void of information is less intrusive to the story. In Melting Stones , Evvy's entire personality change and her character flaws are blamed on this war and it's just too much to try to overcome or explain with only side comments.
There were a few good moments and the concept was interesting. It just wasn't enough story for an entire book and it probably should've come after Battle Magic , not before.
Other books in the Circle Reforged series:
#1: The Will of the Empress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#3: Battle Magic ⭐⭐⭐
Other books in the Emelan Universe:
#1: Sandry’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#2: Tris’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#3: Daja’s Book ⭐⭐⭐
#4: Briar’s Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#5: Magic Steps ⭐⭐
#6: Street Magic ⭐⭐⭐
#7 Cold Fire ⭐⭐
#8: Shatterglass ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#9: The Will of the Empress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#11: Battle Magic ⭐⭐⭐
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January 8, 2009
I just finished listening to Melting Stones. I found it very interesting, and I especially liked the production. This book was written for and recorded by Full Cast Audio, rather than being a printed book and then adapted to the audio version.
Full Cast Audio, as always, did a wonderful job putting this book together. I love audiobooks almost without regard for the narrator; although there have been one or two so horribly narrated that I couldn't listen, in general it doesn't matter to me who's reading it so long as somebody is. But I particularly enjoy Full Cast productions. Having a different voice for each character--especially artfully acted--adds tremendously to the whole experience.
Audible doesn't--for some weird reason--carry the first, third, or fourth of The Circle Opens trilogy, which is why I haven't listened to them... I think I would very much like to hear those on audio as well, so I guess I'll have to assault my local library for copies. I listened to the second, thank goodness, because without it I would have been lost listening to Melting Stones, which is about Evvy, a character who just happened to be introduced in Street Magic. I like Evvy, and Grace Kelly, who acts her role, got to narrate this production, because it's a first-person narration. Her style is lively and attractive, and her voice well-matched to the mischievous Evvy.
The story takes place as Evvy, having got in trouble at Winding Circle, gets taken by Rosethorn on a voyage to find out why the trees and water on a certain island are being poisoned. It turns out that Evvy is very necessary on this journey, as a stone mage; she and her friend Luvo, a bear-shaped stone that is really the heart of a mountain, are the only ones who could deal with the real cause of the poisonous air and water killing the trees: the volcano that formed the island is about to erupt.
I especially like the way Evvy develops in this book. She is, because of past trauma, selfish and self-serving, unable to care about most other people (except for Rosethorn and Briar). Through the course of the book--and some seriously courageous acts--Evvy matures, realizing that she can let herself care about others, and that she wants to learn to build rather than destroy.
Full Cast Audio, as always, did a wonderful job putting this book together. I love audiobooks almost without regard for the narrator; although there have been one or two so horribly narrated that I couldn't listen, in general it doesn't matter to me who's reading it so long as somebody is. But I particularly enjoy Full Cast productions. Having a different voice for each character--especially artfully acted--adds tremendously to the whole experience.
Audible doesn't--for some weird reason--carry the first, third, or fourth of The Circle Opens trilogy, which is why I haven't listened to them... I think I would very much like to hear those on audio as well, so I guess I'll have to assault my local library for copies. I listened to the second, thank goodness, because without it I would have been lost listening to Melting Stones, which is about Evvy, a character who just happened to be introduced in Street Magic. I like Evvy, and Grace Kelly, who acts her role, got to narrate this production, because it's a first-person narration. Her style is lively and attractive, and her voice well-matched to the mischievous Evvy.
The story takes place as Evvy, having got in trouble at Winding Circle, gets taken by Rosethorn on a voyage to find out why the trees and water on a certain island are being poisoned. It turns out that Evvy is very necessary on this journey, as a stone mage; she and her friend Luvo, a bear-shaped stone that is really the heart of a mountain, are the only ones who could deal with the real cause of the poisonous air and water killing the trees: the volcano that formed the island is about to erupt.
I especially like the way Evvy develops in this book. She is, because of past trauma, selfish and self-serving, unable to care about most other people (except for Rosethorn and Briar). Through the course of the book--and some seriously courageous acts--Evvy matures, realizing that she can let herself care about others, and that she wants to learn to build rather than destroy.
August 18, 2013
WHY IS BRIAR NOT IN THIS STORY.
Yes, yes, I understand. It might be interesting to read from Evvy's point of view. After all, I really liked Evvy as a character in Street Magic. But then again, this is not going to stop me from really wanting Briar to be in this book. Although I promise I didn't base my review on his absence.
The story was interesting enough, with a bit of character development for Evvy which I enjoyed. But that's it. So the lower-than-average rating just comes from comparing it to other books in the series/universe. Definitely was nowhere near as interesting as Will of the Empress. I feel like this could've been better as a supporting short story.
Also, once again I find myself suffering from Did-I-Miss-A-Book syndrome. In the beginning, I was confused as to who on earth Luvo was and when he became a part of the story. Well, I know now but I feel like before this book there should've been a book detailing Briar & company's travels in Gyongxe. That would've been a hell of a lot more interesting to me. But overall, I enjoyed this book.
Yes, yes, I understand. It might be interesting to read from Evvy's point of view. After all, I really liked Evvy as a character in Street Magic. But then again, this is not going to stop me from really wanting Briar to be in this book. Although I promise I didn't base my review on his absence.
The story was interesting enough, with a bit of character development for Evvy which I enjoyed. But that's it. So the lower-than-average rating just comes from comparing it to other books in the series/universe. Definitely was nowhere near as interesting as Will of the Empress. I feel like this could've been better as a supporting short story.
Also, once again I find myself suffering from Did-I-Miss-A-Book syndrome. In the beginning, I was confused as to who on earth Luvo was and when he became a part of the story. Well, I know now but I feel like before this book there should've been a book detailing Briar & company's travels in Gyongxe. That would've been a hell of a lot more interesting to me. But overall, I enjoyed this book.
May 2, 2022
i knew i really disliked this book when cute little miriam ran off and i literally said aloud ‘who cares? let her die.’ and i love children!! perhaps having lived through the covid pandemic makes me even less patient with people dithering about during impending disaster.
my problem wasn’t with evvy, it was with everyone else! that jerk murtide, that little snake norri, that rude old woman, all the stupid, squabbling villagers…i even disliked rosethorn!! she lets murtide verbally abuse evvy, and calls evvy a destroyer after evvy spends the entire book working herself to unconsciousness multiple times with the volcano spirits.
i wanted the whole darn island to blow up so i could finally stop reading about these annoying people. i’ve noticed a trend in these books where the worst things always happen to evvy with no real consequences to the perpetrators. not a fan.
my problem wasn’t with evvy, it was with everyone else! that jerk murtide, that little snake norri, that rude old woman, all the stupid, squabbling villagers…i even disliked rosethorn!! she lets murtide verbally abuse evvy, and calls evvy a destroyer after evvy spends the entire book working herself to unconsciousness multiple times with the volcano spirits.
i wanted the whole darn island to blow up so i could finally stop reading about these annoying people. i’ve noticed a trend in these books where the worst things always happen to evvy with no real consequences to the perpetrators. not a fan.
July 2, 2021
It was a slow read at first, and for some reason I didn't like the first-person narrative, but overall I really enjoyed it!
April 25, 2017
I listened to the full-cast audio book while unpacking freight at work. I didn't love this one as much as I love the other Circle books, but it was still a breezy, fun read (err, listen).
August 2, 2014
After reading Battle Magic, I had a lot of Evvy feels to work through. I then found a copy of the Melting Stones audiobook and it spent probably over a month being played off and on in my car. First I will say, I love the work Full Cast Audio does, and Evvy's voice actress was great. (Also, FCA's Rosethorn will forever be my headcanon of Rosethorn's voice). They really bring books to life, and I loved the touch of adding the theme that played every time there was a shake or interaction with the volcano spirits. I do have some criticisms - the stuff Pierce has been adding lately with spirits in the Circle books does weird me out, though I remind myself that they are constantly learning new things about how their world works, from ambient mages who can work magic itself to these spirits. Also, I felt a lot of the portions with reasoning with the volcano spirits became repetitive/started to drag, so it took me a long time to get through the end-ish portion of the book. But the book ended up being exactly what I wanted, helping Evvy move on from her trauma and grief and find her path.
Let me just share my happiness with the ending:
Let me just share my happiness with the ending:
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