Rating: 
Summary: A very good book!
Review: I always liked Tamora Pierce's books, like the Circle of Magic series. This book was very entertaining and suspensful and keeps you holding your breath, waiting for more. This particular book features Sandry, a former character of the Circle of Magic series. Now she is 2 years older and teaches her own student who introduces a whole new type of magic: Dancing. Teaching Pasco is the least of her problems. Murderers are set on killing the family of Rakat and our using a new, rare kind of magic: unmagic. The complete and utterly evil magic feeds on real magic and slowly consumes the user. Sandry is the only one who can stop these murderers from killing the whole Rakat family, one by one. I recommend this book, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, begging for more. Good reading for adults and kids alike!
Rating:
Summary: An exciting start to a new series
Review: In Magic steps, Sandry is four years older and four years wiser. Her talent with threadcraft is famous all through Summersea and many people know both her and her friends', Tris, Briar, and Daja's names. When she travels to her uncle, Duke Vedris's, lands to help him recover from a heart attack she plans on putting all of her energy into helping him. But two things happen that changes everything. Sandry meets a young boy named Pasco, who can dance with such magic that few people have ever seen before. Pasco, a future harrier (police guard) of Summersea refuses to admit he has any talent but Sandry isn't giving up on him that easily. Another challenge faces Sandry when horrible murders start to occur in her uncles lands, murders that are distinctly linked to magic, murders that Sandry cannot ignore.I was a bit dubious with this book. Sandry has always been my least favorite character of the series, but I was happy to see she's improved in the past four years and has grown into a wonderful character. Yes, Magic Steps, is a lot more gruesome than the rest of Tamora Pierce's Magic Circle books, but people are making too big of a deal over it. The story behind it is satisfying and exciting, and that's what really matters anyway. If you want to read about Sandry and Lark after the Magic Circle Series, pick up this book!
Rating:
Summary: Sandry, Briar, Triss, and Daja - back.
Review: It's been a long time since these four mages met and learned to use their magic. And they've left the Winding Circle Temple with their mentors.
Sandry goes to live with her great uncle - a nice man, a duke. While there, she meets a boy. Years younger then she, this boy has a magical talent himself. A dancing talent.
He needs to learn to use his talent - and Sandry is going to teach him.
And trouble is always around....
Rating: 
Summary: Quite entertaining
Review: As someone who is generally not a big fan of Tamora Pierce's work, I was pleasantly surprised by Magic Steps, the first in a promising new quartet. It's a very diverting action-fantasy with plenty of-- well, everything. There's some particularly creative magic going on: Sandry continues to work with and explore her special type of thread magic, Pasco (her new and somewhat unwilling student) begins to learn control over his unusual dancing Talent, and a new and very dangerous type of magic is discovered. Unmagic, as they call it, permits several murderers to go undiscovered as they exact revenge upon the prominent Rokat family in a truly grisly manner. And only Sandry and Pasco, two young and inexperienced mages, have the combined unique talents to deal with the menace... The shift of this quartet is definitely off the original four characters; Tris, Briar and Daja are mentioned only in passing. However, Sandry's character is further developed as she becomes more independent, and she gains a surprising amount of depth and maturity by the end of the book. Pasco is also an engaging creation, and Pierce's vivid description of his first dance lesson (and his ensuing sore muscles) will provoke a good deal of compassion from anyone who has ever taken serious dance lessons. Additionally, the villains, though a little underdeveloped, are not the standard implausibly evil Bad Guys. Really, the only thing that detracted from my pleasure in reading Magic Steps was the occasional intrusion of terms from this world. Tamora Pierce did, for the most part, a good job of creating slang and customs for her world. Even the names of the weekdays are altered. However, they still inexplicably measure height in feet and inches, and some of the foreign customs mentioned are very Asian and Middle-Eastern in feel. Not a major fault, though, and there are plenty of good points that more than make up for that. A warning to those with weaker stomachs-- there is quite a lot more gore and death in Magic Steps than in The Magic Circle quartet. It's hardly excessive, though, and shouldn't be too bothersome. Naturally, it's a good idea to read The Magic Circle quartet (Sandry's Book, Tris' Book, Daja's Book, Briar's Book) before reading the first entry in The Circle Opens series. I'll be looking forward to following entries as the remaining three characters mature and become teachers in their own rights. But if you like Tamora Pierce, you really must try Sherwood Smith's Crown and Court Duet... Ailanna
Rating:
Summary: Very good start to a new series
Review: "Magic Steps" picks up the story of Lady Sandrilene fa Toren four years after the Circle of Magic Quartet ended. Now fourteen, she is living at court with her great-uncle, Duke Vedris, when she stumbles across Pasco, a young apprentice harrier with a magical gift no one has ever seen before. As if that isn't enough, someone is killing members of a prominent merchant family, yet no one can seem to figure out how. It's a real pleasure to "catch up" with Sandry and see how shecontinues to grow, both magically and personally. Interesting, original and well paced, with strong characters and a good plot. Tamora Pierce delivers another excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Magic Steps
Review: Magic Steps is about a boy named Pasco who dances magic and his teacher Sandry who weaves magic. Sandry is also the Duke`s daughter. When they hear about the killing of local,it then becomes clear that the young teacher and the even younger student must combine their magic to stop the murders. I think this is a good book for people who like Harry Potter. The good thing about this bookis that it is very mysterious.
Rating:
Summary: Magic Steps
Review: This book is the first book in Tamora Pierce's quartet called The Circle Opens. In this book, Sandry discovers a Pasco, a dance mage. To Sandry's dismay, she finds that she must teach Pasco to controll and use his magic. At the same time, Sandry's uncle has to find a murderer who is killing all the merchants in the Rokat line. The murders happen before people's very eyes, but no one has seen the killer because the killers have a mage who can reduce ecsense to nothingness. Sandry realizes that with Pasco's dancing magic, she could help to catch the killers.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...almost as good as Street Magic
Review: I liked this book a lot, but, now that I think of it, this entire series is a lot darker than most of T.P.'s other series. But I kinda liked what they did with Sandry in this, although I wish she'd kept her old bedroom. Pasco is an irritating but believable character, and I like the idea of dancing magic. I also liked the investigation and the duke and....just about all the interaction. I kinda hated the ending, though. Not that there could have been much of a different end, though. But the beginning was worse...it was kinda slow.
Rating:
Summary: Magic Steps
Review: I really enjoyed Magic Steps-Book 1 of The Circle Opens. Magic Steps is almost as exciting as Tris's Book, which is my favorite of the original Circle of Magic series. Sandry's student is quite likable, and the teacher-student relationship is interesting. However, it would have been nice if it had been explored a little more. Despite the excitement, the plot seemed a little shallow, and was not as "deep" as some of Tamora Pierce's other books. That said, it's a great read, and I would recommend it to any fans of Fantasy literature.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I thought that this book was great! It was better then the Circle of Magic series in some ways and it wasn't. One of the reasons why I liked it better is because Sandry is trained in magic and now has to take on a student that has dancing magic! While this is going on there is a murderer going around the city killing a certain family. With the murderer there is a mage that does unmagic. The reason I didn't like it better than the Circle of Magic series is because I found that there was too much violence when the people got killed and Briar, Tris, and Daja were barely in the book at all.
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