Melting Stones

Evvy is a stone mage. She used to be a street urchin in Chammur until she was found by Briar. She began her training, and is now leaving on a mission with Rosethorn to help save an island nation. Plants and animals are mysteriously dying on the Battle Islands, and it is their job to figure out why this is happening. Evvy has no desire to be on this mission where her role is simply to listen and learn. She wants to be actively doing things. With the help of her companion Luvo--the heart of a mountain Evvy discovers something important, and must hurry to save everyone on the island.

This is the second book in The Circle Reforged series. In this volume, Evvy's character develops a lot from the beginning of the book. I appreciated this and the insights it gave because she was rather immature at some points. I would have to remind myself she is only fourteen. I did like seeing her attitude about people and life begin to change. It was also interesting to learn about magic from her perspective.

I think this is a great series for young adults. It is refreshing to have strong female characters in a book for a younger audience that are well written. They are not unachievably perfect, nor are they completely helpless depending on others to save them. They make mistakes, learn, and grow as a regular person does.

If you have not read some of the other books and series, Melting Stones might be a little hard to follow at some points. You should be able to follow the story, but some of the references to past events might be slightly confusing. I would recommend reading the books that come before this one first. I preferred the other books in the series, but this one was not bad.

If you like young adult fantasy, I would recommend this book.