Magic Steps - Tamora Pierce

[goodreads]

Title: Magic Steps
Author: Tamora Pierce
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~6hrs
Date read: September, 2010

Lady Sandrilene fa Toren knows all about unusual magic - she herself spins and weaves it like thread. But when she witnessed a boy dancing a spell, even she is confounded. To her dismay, Sandry learns that as the mage who discovered the power of the young dancer, she must be his teacher.

Before lessons can begin, however, Sandry and her uncle, Duke Vedris, get news of a mysterious murderer stalking a clan of local merchants. The killer employs the strangest magic of all: the ability to reduce essence to nothingness. As the murders mount and the killer grows bolder, Sandry's teaching takes on a grave purpose. For it becomes clear to everyone that the killings can only be stopped by the combined workings of two people: the young teacher and her even younger student.

Tamora Pierce's Circle books definitely aren't as good as those set in Tortall, but she's still an amazing story-teller, so even her weaker books are still well worth reading. My main problem with the Circle Opens quartet, is that they all only focus on one of the four kids, and I inevitably miss the other three and especially the way they interact with each other.

With this half-fantasy, half-murder mystery (although not very mysterious, as the reader knows who the antagonist is from a very early stage), Tamora Pierce tries to take her series in a new direction, which mostly works although I do think there's a bit too much gore and violence for the target age.