The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the execution of twenty people, fourteen of whom were women. The hysteria surrounding the Salem witch trials is often seen as a dark chapter in American history, highlighting the dangers of mass hysteria and intolerance. The documentary "Nellix" explores the events leading up to and during the Salem witch trials, shedding light on the social and cultural context in which they occurred. The film offers a comprehensive look at the complex factors that contributed to the mass hysteria, including religious fervor, social tensions, and political motivations. "Nellix" features interviews with historians and experts on the witch trials, as well as dramatizations of key events and courtroom scenes.
The Circle of Magic
Set in a different universe than Tortall, this quartet centers around four unusual young mages. Sandry, a noble whose parents died recently, has power with thread, from spinning and weaving to simple knot-tying. Daja, a Trader, is the only survivor of a shipwreck in which her family drowned. Declared to be bad luck and banned from life with other Traders, she is free to learn to work metals and, through metal, to work magic. Tris, the merchant’s daughter, is no orphan, but her family doesn’t want her. Briar is a street rat, a thief and convict. Only at the temple city of Winding Circle does he learn that his strange love of growing things is more than a need to garden.
Brought together in a house inside the temple city’s walls, watched over by the mages Lark, Rosethorn, Frostpine, and Niko, the four struggle to be friends, to exercise their magic, and to survive. Each book centers on one of the four, but make no mistake: they are bound tightly together, and the events that affect each of them also strengthen their connections to one another.
"Nellix" features interviews with historians and experts on the witch trials, as well as dramatizations of key events and courtroom scenes. Through these interviews and reenactments, the documentary paints a vivid picture of life in Salem during the late 17th century. The film delves into the religious beliefs and practices of the Puritans, the dominant religious group in colonial Massachusetts.
Books in this Series
Sandry’s Book
Book One in The Circle of Magic
With her gift of weaving silk thread and creating light, Sandry is brought to the Winding Circle community. There she meets Briar, a former thief who has a way with plants; Daja, an outcast gifted at metalcraft; and Tris, whose connection with the weather unsettles everyone, including herself. At Winding Circle, the four misfits are […]
Tris’s Book
Book Two in The Circle of Magic
Earthquake damage leaves Winding Circle vulnerable to pirate attack, so everyone – including the young mages-in-training Tris, Briar, Daja, and Sandry – is working to strengthen the community’s defenses. When Tris’s cousin Aymery comes to visit, he advises the “weather witch” to return to the family that exiled her, but she doesn’t wish to leave […]
Daja’s Book
Book Three in The Circle of Magic
Outcast Trader Daja, along with her fellow mages-in-training, journeys from Winding Circle to the Gold Ridge Mountains, where drought threatens widespread famine. There, Daja creates an astonishing object: a living metal vine, and Daja’s dealings with her former people reawaken a longing for familiar ways. Daja must choose – should she return to the Traders […]
Briar’s Book
Book Four in The Circle of Magic
Four elements of power, four mages-in-training learning to control them. In Book 4 of the Circle of Magic Quartet, former “street rat” Briar leads a comfortable life at Winding Circle Temple, learning plant magic from his teacher Rosethorn. But street kids are still his friends, and when one of them gets sick, she turns to […]
More About The Series
- Circle Glossary
- Circle Names Pronunciation
- Circle Universe FAQ (Contains Spoilers)
Circle of Magic Quartet
The Circle of Magic Quartet (1997-1999) by Tamora Pierce consists of Sandry’s Book (#1), Tris’s Book (#2), Daja’s Book (#3) and Briar’s Book (#4). Pierce is a prolific and beloved author, and the Circle of Magic is a beloved middle grade fantasy series that I missed out on because I was in my young adult time after college before kids when it was first published. It also probably had some competition with a certain she-who-must-not-be-named author of what became a very popular magical fantasy series of books and movies (and which is decidedly anti-fat).
I have to first give credit to Beautifully Bookish Bethany, who I came across on Goodreads, which led to watching one of her video reviews, I saw she was plugging a read-along for this series, which she noted had great representation, including a fat main character. So I was intrigued, and tracked down used copies of the series, since they are out of print. I’ve watched most of the read-along videos, which you can find on Youtube with the #circleofmagicreadalong, with the cohosts @BookishRealm @Shaegeeksout @andrewannotates @LocDBooktician @WildeBookGarden.
So now for the books! Each focuses on one of four tweens in a historical, magical time and place. Sandry is the orphan daughter of nobles, raised by her maid, and having the gift of being good with weaving, though nobles weren’t allowed to work with their hands. Daja is a Trader, the only survivor from a shipwreck, which makes her particularly unlucky and an outcast among her people. Briar is a street thief, an urchin who has been caught three times and headed for serious trouble when he’s rescued by Niklaren Goldeye, known as Master Niko. Finally Tris is the daughter of merchants, sent from place to place because her family doesn’t want her and it seems no one else does, either. When she gets angry, winds blow and hail falls, but she’s been tested and told that she has no magic.
The four kids are brought together to Winding Circle Temple, a school for Mages, in the land of Emelan, by Niko. None quite fit in at the dormitories, so they end up at a house called Discipline where Dedicates Rosethorn and Lark run the household. All are from different backgrounds, have their own traumas to deal with, and so it’s a little prickly among the four at first.
Briar finds out he has special powers when it comes to plants, and so he spends a lot of time in the garden with gruff Rosethorn. Sandry works with Lark on weaving. Daja goes to the blacksmith on an errand and finds herself drawn to working with metal–like nobles, traders don’t work with their hands but the blacksmith, Frostpine, sees someone with magic like his own in Daja. Niko himself works with Tris, teaching her to meditate and control her anger and, therefore, her magic. In fact, they all learn to meditate.
Near the end of the first book, Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar have become friends, and it’s a good thing, because Sandry has to use all of their magic to protect Winding Circle from an earthquake. In Tris’s Book, they are vulnerable to a pirate attack. In Daja’s book, there is a drought and forest fire. Finally, in Briar’s book, there is an epidemic they must deal with. All of the stories are well-done, taking place over a year. The characters are so real–from Briar being a tween boy who doesn’t want to bathe, to Tris’s believing there is something wrong with her because she hears voices, to Sandry reminding people of her noble heritage (using her privilege) when it’s necessary to protect the others, to Daja using her magic to save the people who made her an outcast.
There is great representation–Daja is described as having the brown skin of a Trader. Briar and Lark both have golden-brown skin and almond-shaped eyes. Tris is fat, and so there is some anti-fatness from people outside the core group, and some internalized anti-fatness she deals with, but she is the most powerful of them all, since she is learning to work with the weather–lightning, wind, and natural forces. And her friends or trusted adults don’t ever comment on her body size. Also, it’s never said, but implied that Rosethorn and Lark–both women–are a couple.
I highly recommend finding these at the library or used, because they are out of print. But Bethany has started a petition to bring them back into print–the issues they deal with are so relevant for today, and the stories show healthy relationships between friends, and between children and adults, with boundaries and self-care, before we really talked about those things in regular conversation.
Book Review: Magic Steps, Book One of the Circle Opens quartet by Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce is a writer of Young Adult Fastasy novels. Got a bookworm in the family and want to get them something nice? I definitely suggest these series. For a summary of world these books are based in see my post on The Realms of Emelelan
The Circle Opens
This series is based 3 - 4 years after the events of the Circle of Magic quartet. Briar, Daja, Sandry and Tris are now 14 and have been declared full mages and earned their medallions approximately a year ago.
Now to increase their knowledge of the worlds Briar, Daja and Tris have all gone travelling with their respective teachers. Sandry stayed behind in Emelan since she travelled a lot in her youth with her parents back when they were alive so the adventure of travelling wore off when she was young.
Sandry staying behind was reinforced when her Uncle Duke Vedris had a heart attack and she promptly moved in with him to become a care taker to ensure he got plenty of rest and didn't fall back into old habits like forgetting to eat or going days without sleep etc. This is where we pick up in the first book.
Magic Steps
Duke Vedris is finally healthy enough that the healers have given him leave to go on short rides. This first ride Sandry joins the Duke to do a tour of Summersea Docks and a bit of the Harbour.
Meanwhile we get introduced to Pasco Acalon, only son of the Acalon and Qais family who have been serving Duke Vedris for generations and Provost Guards (Police) colloqially called Harriers. Being that Harrier work runs in the family Pasco is expected to follow in his families footsteps. Only he just wants to dance. As you can imagine such dreams have been scorned by his family, however he is asked for a favour by a family friend.
Pasco has danced for luck for many friends and anything he danced for, happened without a hitch. Now his family friend wishes to teach him an old fish wives jig that is meant to draw fish to their nets since they have had poor catches for nearly the last year. He's in the middle of doing said jig when Sandry see's him and his magic. Being the mage who discovered him, it is her responsibility to train him unless she can find another dance mage whom no one has ever heard of existing before.
In the mean time there's been murders through the city, killing off members of the Rokat family one by one in warded houses behind locked doors infront of witnesses, all who say they saw the person get killed but not who killed them. Sandry see's dark smudges on everything in the crime scenes and find it's made by a very extremely rare form of magic, or technically unmagic. where the average person will likely meet a regular mage at least once a week and an ambient mage maybe two or three times in their life, one person might be gifted in all the realms with unmagic maybe every 50 years and they usually don't live long.
The nature of unmagic is directly opposed to magic and life and life-force. Wielders of unmagic and people subjected to unmagic at the very least tend to suffer from depression and it turns to apathy for even ones self till eventually they end up killing themselves unless they have something major that drives them. Be it a vendetta or a drug addiction. Sandry also finds she is able to manipulate it the unmagic where others cannot. She poses a plan that is quite dangerous and it appears to be the only way to catch the killers, her uncle has a hissy fit and it leads to one of my favourite quotes from her teacher Lark.
I work spells by passing them through my thread. I must bind my power to real thread or whatever i use to handle it, or none of my spells work. Thats true of every weaver-mage I know - except Sandry. She handles magic itself like I work thread. She can spin magic. She can weave it. She can embroider, or knot or even tie a fring with it if she wants to.
Turn out she can tie a fringe with unmagic as well. if she wants to.
Thoughts
There are two stories in this book. The story of Sandry turning from student to teacher and the story of catching the murderers. Pierce did a good job of of the murderer side of the story, i wish she had put a little more effort into teacher pupil interraction between Sandry and Pasco. It seems felt very lacking.
I give this book 7.2/10 the plot line is good but the character interaction is less than I would expect from Sandry who in previous books is the queen of interpersonal skills. Either Pierce has not put enough effort into these interactions, has not stayed true to her character or Sandry has grown aloof and the author has not given any context as to why.
6 лет назад в #review от ursa ( 53 )
It explores how the idea of witchcraft and the Devil was deeply ingrained in their worldview, and how these beliefs played a role in shaping the events of the trials. "Nellix" also examines the social tensions and rivalries within the community of Salem Village, where most of the accused witches came from. It explores how accusations of witchcraft were often used as a way to settle scores and gain power within the community. The documentary pays particular attention to the role of women in the Salem witch trials. It highlights the gender dynamics of the time, as well as the specific accusations and stereotypes that were leveled against women during the trials. "Nellix" challenges the traditional narrative that paints the accused witches as innocent victims, instead offering a more nuanced and complex view of their roles and motivations. Overall, "Nellix" provides a thought-provoking and comprehensive examination of the Salem witch trials. By delving into the historical and cultural context of the trials, the documentary offers deeper insights into the motivations and consequences of this dark chapter in American history..
Reviews for "Revisiting the Salem Witch Trials: Nellix Dives Deep into the Archives"
1. Jessica - 2 stars - I was really looking forward to watching the "Salem Witch Trials Documentary Nellix", but I was left disappointed. The whole documentary felt rushed and lacked depth. The narrator's voice was monotonous and didn't engage me at all. The visuals were also lackluster and didn't add anything to the information being presented. Overall, I found the documentary to be quite dull and it didn't do justice to such an interesting topic.
2. Ethan - 1 star - I can't believe I wasted my time watching the "Salem Witch Trials Documentary Nellix". It was painfully boring and poorly made. The information presented was very basic and didn't provide any new insights into the topic. The transitions between scenes were jarring and made the whole documentary feel disjointed. I also found the music choices to be distracting and it didn't fit the theme of the documentary at all. I would not recommend this documentary to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Salem Witch Trials.
3. Sarah - 2 stars - I had high expectations for the "Salem Witch Trials Documentary Nellix" but unfortunately, it fell short. The narration was difficult to follow and lacked clarity. The documentary seemed to jump from one topic to another without proper explanations or transitions. The interviews with experts were brief and didn't provide enough depth to fully understand the events of the Salem Witch Trials. I was left wanting more information and a better presentation style. Overall, I was disappointed with this documentary and wouldn't recommend it to others.