#Daja Kisubo

[minuiko]

Weekend sketchdump of various Emelan/Tortall scenes via discord requests! It's been a blast :)

#daja kisubo #Rizuka fa Dalach #owen of jesslaw #lalasa isran #keladry of mindelan #sandrilene fa toren #my art #tamora pierce #tortall #emelan #protector of the small #the will of the empress

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Victor Vale- Vicious by VE Schwab

August Landry- One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Daja Kisubo- The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce

Neil Josten- All for the Game by Nora Sakavic

#Victor Vale #Vicious #Vengeful #Villains #VE Schwab #August Landry #One Last Stop #OLS #McQuistonverse #Casey McQuiston #Daja Kisubo #The Circle of Magic series #The Circle Opens series #The Will of the Empress #Daja’s Book #The Fire in the Forging #Cold Fire #Emelan #Tamora Pierce #Neil Josten #aftg #the foxhole court #tfc #the kings men #the raven king #all for the game #Nora Sakavic #lgbt books #polls #queer book character tournament 2.0

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

once again remembering how a signed, first edition copy of Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce single handedly made little pre-teen me go from "wait these girls are kissing. can I read a book with girls kissing each other in it???" to "I aM Going to REREAD everY moment where Daja and Rizu exiST Together and Giggle The Whole Time", singlehandedly turning me gay forever

also singlehandedly setting the bar for breakups so high, like, excuse you having Daja keep a little portrait of Rizu to remember her by and be caught looking at it while riding home with her sibs is so freaking sweet, the empress wanting Daja to stay specifically just to make Rizu happy again is so sweet,

and them breaking up not because of a fight or from a lack of love but because they both have Other Things in their lives and those Other Things are just as important as being in love, and they're not bitter about each other for it?

Sad yes, hurt, heartbroken- but it wasn't the wrong choice to not choose each other in the end, and it wasn't the wrong choice to choose each other at the start. Like, damn. 12yo me's mind was BLOWN

#Circle of Magic #Daja Kisubo #Rizuka fa Dalach #Tamora Pierce #i legit set the book down for a good solid 5 minutes because of The Gay #and then got so excited rereading daja and rizu being cute i ended up gnawing on the hardcover binding llike a creature #.... #i should reread it again

[lyndentree63]

Forever sad for the people in North America who didn't get the poetic titles for The Circle of Magic Quartet The Magic in the Weaving The Power in the Storm The Fire in the Forging The Healing in the Vine I remember moving to Canada, going to the library and shrieking internally when it was just "Sandry's Book" etc.

#tamora pierce #circle of magic #the circle of magic quartet #sandrilene fa toren #tris chandler #daja kisubo #briar moss #emelan #i mean seriously how could you NOT read a book titled “the magic in the weaving”

[tourneys-by-me]

Round Two - Ferromancy (metals) 2/8

#element specific character tournament #ferromancy #round 2 #tumblr polls #polls #scrapdragon #scrapdragon paranatural #paranatural #daja kisubo #emelan #tamora pierce #circle of magic #circle universe

[junipernoon]

I recently binged the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce! I'm pretty happy with my interpretation of the characters (I feel like I could have made Tris fatter, but still better than that one cover, you know LOL), anyway Briar is the most trans, and Sandry is a Wasian.

Let me know how you picture the characters in the notes!

ID in alt

#circle of magic #emelan #tamora pierce #daja kisubo #trisana chandler #sandrilene fa toren #briar moss #booklr #book tumblr #illustration #artist on tumblr #artists on tumblr #fanart #book art #fantasy #ya #ided

[whimsicallywiddershins]

Another reason why the the Circle of Magic is so so good: the teachers and the school setting are done perfectly!

There is none of that Harry Potter bullshit where the teachers and adult figures were neglectful, incompetent or abusive. The teachers in Circle of Magic are amazing. They all have different teaching styles, but they dedicate themselves to their students and do a wonderful job. They make mistakes, but realistic ones and then they fix them.

Not only are they great teachers, but the Winding Circle Temple isn't just a school, it's a home. Hogwarts was a school, and the students lived there, but it never seemed to be a good home. There are very few adults, all intimidating and not very personal. There is unchecked bullying and very little free time. It's just never ending school with some holidays thrown in.

The Winding Circle Temple, on the other hand, feels like a home. First, a temple is such a neat setting for a children's book. They actually talk about midnight service, religious figures and holidays, and philosophy. It's very neat.

The kids have plenty of lessons, but they also have free time, and the teachers are also good caretakers. Lark teaches the kids handstands and tumbling. Frostpine told them stories. Rosethorn taught them how to make sun lotion. Gorse gives them treats whenever they drop by. Lark and Rosethorn take the kids to markets and festivals. Throughout it all, the adults are responsible, teach the kids all sorts of life lessons and skills, and are really amazing adult characters.

This is how a school type book should be written.

#tamora pierce #circle of magic #my favorite books #book reccs #magic books #ya books #teen books #good books #sandrilene fa toren #briar moss #daja kisubo #trisana chandler #rosethorn #lark #frostpine #nico goldeye

[franticvampirereads]

Another two for one book review! Being snowed/iced in has been good for one thing at least 😅

Daja’s Book:

This was such a good book! And I’m gonna be a broken record here but, it still holds up. It’s one of the best middle grade books that I’ve read. I loved getting more of Daja and seeing how she interacted with her fellow Traders. I loved the growth that she and the rest of the kids had. Both in their magic and in their relationships with their teachers and each other. I just really loved this! It’s getting four and a half stars.

Briar’s Book:

This was the book I was most worried about rereading in this series. Mostly because I thought it would be triggering given that it’s about a pandemic. But it wasn’t. Or at least it wasn’t for me. In fact it was almost comforting in a way? I appreciated Briar’s willingness to jump into caring for the sick, his helplessness and anger when things were out of his control, and his determination to find a cure. This is might be my favorite book in this series. Briar’s Book is getting five stars.

Reading Challenge Prompt Fills:

Alphabet challenge: D

Alphabet challenge: B

#booklr #circle of magic #emelan #briar moss #daja kisubo #book review #reading #books #read #book #bookish #bookworm #lgbtq+ books #queer books #ya fantasy #middle grade books #fantasy books

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The Circle is Reforged

Tamora Pierce's Circle Reforged books are an interesting case, because this is really where she started bouncing around in time in Emelan, and filling in some parts of story that were mentioned, suggested, or explicity referenced but not told. The books themselves were published well and truly out of chronological order, but having read them in publication order as they came out and then in chronological order on reread, I honestly don't think there's a "preferable" strategy. If you've read the Circle of Magic and Circle Opens quartets, you can explore the Circle Reforged in whatever order. However, I think I'm going to cover them in (more or less, no promises) publication order here. So let's talk The Will of the Empress.

*absolutely rampant, unapologietic spoilers for the Circle of Magic and Circle Opens quartets below the break*

This book explore the implications and consequences of Lady Sandreline being both Fa Toren in Emelan and Fa Landreg in Namorn. Our girl is practically royalty in two countries, but after she is orphaned in Hatar's smallpox epidemic, Duke Vedris in Emelan and Lord Ambros Fer Landreg in Namorn largely shield Sandry from her responsibilities as the primary landowner of the Landreg estates--which is entirely reasonable given that she is ten years old at the time.

When we get to the beginning of Will of the Empress, though, Sandry has been functionally running Emelan in the wake of Duke Vedris's heart attack and Ambros has been pointedly sending her account books for her Namornese estates. Sandry has been neglecting the hell out of those, and misses the fact that the Empress of Namorn has been financially squeezing Landreg to try to force Sandry back to Namorn.

Sandry has also been largely completed separated from Briar, Tris, and Daja for almost two full years by the opening of this book, since they went off to travel with their teachers and she stayed. She's had contact with Lark, but even that dropped significantly once Sandry moved into the Duke's Citadel.

Given all of that and two years of personal growth and change, when our four protagonists reunite in the house Daja buys for them, they collectively seize up in self-consciousness and shame and uncertainty. Plus seriously powerful ambient magic. Which literally everyone with eyes (except our protagonists) can see is a bad thing. So to kill two birds with one stone, Duke Vedris asks Briar, Tris, and Daja to go with Sandry to Namorn as basically bodyguards. The background hope is that the four of them get to know each other again and find their equilibrium.

With a lot of yelling and a distinct lack of talking, they set off to Namorn.

Which is when we really get off to the races, because the lack of talking means that Briar hasn't told the girls he's dealing with PTSD from the war in Gyongxe; Daja hasn't said she is dealing with abandoment issues, figuring out her own sexuality, and having helped kill a friend who had killed a lot of people by setting fires; Tris hasn't told anyone that she developed a skill that kills or drives mad 99.99% of all mages who try it and the whole Ghost-is-Jack-the-Ripper thing in Tharios; and Sandry...well, I love our girl, but she's dealing with a combination of inheritance and political machinations, her crippling terror of another family member dying on her watch, and the fact that she actively chose to rip three people to shreds to save Pasco's life. So everybody has big feelings and nobody is dealing with them or communicating effectively. Which, again, is a GREAT combination with the phenomenal cosmic powers.

This is a Sandry-centric book, but as we did with Sandry's Book, we also get a metric ton of the other three as well, because as they did in Sandry's Book, they're coming together as a unit. Trying very, very hard to prevent that are Berenene dor Ocmor, Empress of Namorn and her court mages, Ishabal Ladyhammer and Quenaill Sheildsman. They are trying to either recruit or get rid of four legendarily powerful mages. The recruiting goes...poorly. For a variety of reasons. The getting rid of goes WORSE.

Part of the recruiting scheme for Sandry specifically includes a himbo husband that Berenene can boss around to her heart's content. The approved suitors are Jakuben fer Pennun, who had himbo down pat, and Finlach fer Hurich, who was less himbo and more goldigging asshole with an influential uncle. Finlach ends up leaping SO FAR over the line that Berenene has to slap him down so hard that his entire life is ruined.

Then we come to Pershan fer frickin' Roth. Even if you take the Namornese tradition of kidnapping brides into account, Shan takes the whole thing to another level because his ass makes Sandry feel SAFE and WANTED and VALUED AS A PERSON before turning around and kidnapping her in a trap tailor-made for subduing even a very powerful stitch witch. Literally this man is the worst and he deserved so much worse than he got.

Overall, this book is about reconnection and remembering that some bonds are deeper than two-year world tours. It's also about seeing your siblings as their whole selves and accepting them, warts and all, because they are the people you love and who love you back. This is one of my favorite Circle Universe books, and I think it is objectively the best Sandry book and the best "all four of us are here" book in the Circle universe.

This book also objectively heavier than the Circle of Magic and Circle Opens quartets. It's still technically YA, but it's the 16-19 end of YA more than the 13-15 end, given that it deals with not only PTSD and trauma, but also sexual assault and kidnapping, so take care if you aren't in a headspace for those topics. The book will still be there, and taking care of yourself in your book choices comes first, always.

#tamora pierce #the will of the empress #emelan #circle universe #the circle reforged #the circle opens #circle of magic #sandry #briar moss #daja kisubo #tris #trisana chandler #sandrilene fa toren #ya fantasy #books & libraries #books and reading #books and novels #book recommendations #books

[quietflorilegium]

“[Daja] felt as if she had aged a hundred years. Suddenly all of the elegance around her looked like a mask for some cruel beast. She had to eye every man who passed her, asking herself if he had ever kidnapped a woman—or if he would, given the chance. Were all men like this? No, she told herself firmly. Never Briar. Or Frostpine. Or Tris’s teacher Niko, or our sometimes teacher Crane, or Duke Vedris, or Dedicate Gorse, the temple cook. She doubted Ambros or Zhegorz would consider it, either. No, Daja, don’t be a fool. You know plenty of men who would never even think of pulling such a vile trick.”

#there ARE good men #just not a whole lot of them in this book #daja kisubo #briar moss #frostpine #niklaren goldeye #dedicate crane #vedris fer toren #duke vedris #dedicate gorse #ambros fer landreg #zhegorz #tamora pierce #the will of the empress #will of the empress #good men #bad men #“men only want one thing” #the circle reforged

[idreamtiflew]

My Midjourney creations of the four ambient mage siblings from Emelan. I know AI Art is controversial... but it's so fun to mess around on Midjourney, and I would never monetize these...

#tamora pierce #circle of magic #briar moss #trisana chandler #sandrilene fa toren #daja kisubo #daja #briar #sandry #tris #circle opens #circle reforged #will of the empress #emelan #winding circle #discipline cottage #mage kids #family #chosen family #school fantasy #green mage #stitch witch #weather mage #smith mage #ambient magic #midjourney #lesbian characters #fantasy #youngadult fantasy #tortall

[queer-book-character-tournament]

#daja kisubo #the circle of magic #the circle of magic quartet #cold fire #the will of the empress #tamora pierce #Judith Deuteros #tlt #the locked tomb #tamsyn muir #polls #lgbt books

[cryptidindrid]

Yo where my Circle of Magic nerds at? I’m rereading the books for the first time in like 10 years and I wanna find my people to nerd out with

#tamora pierce #circle of magic #sandrilene fa toren #daja kisubo #briar moss #trisana chandler

[themysticaljellyfish]

I love the contrast of how Niko deals with the four while traveling with them to Winding Circle

Sandry: Stays with her for four months while she is recovering from her parents' deaths and her ordeal in the storeroom, transports her safely to her nearest relative

Tris: does his best to comfort her, doesn't treat her like a monster like she expects

Daja: stays by her side throughout her judging, takes her to someplace relatively safe after she is cast out

Briar: get in the bath, you little gremlin

#this is a joke niko is also very kind and supportive of briar #there's even a comment later in the book like 'niko was the first adult briar met who didn't hit kids' #and gives him consistent access to food #which okay both are a low bar #the point is briar felt safe with niko #emelan #rereading the emelan books for the nth time #niko goldeye #sandry fa toren #daja kisubo #tris chandler #briar moss #sandry's book

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

in retrospect, teen me had no idea how lucky they were to be regularly reading about Daja and Kel's solid builds and giant, hard-earned, absolutely ripped state of their muscles

#keladry of midelan #daja kisubo #thanks tammy

[tourneys-by-me]

Preliminaries Part 2 - Ferromancy 1/2

The top 5 most voted characters gets into the tournament.

#element specific character tournament #element character tourney #preliminaries #polls #ferromancy #digimon #ancientwisemon #unity #devra caspit #arcana heart #fiona mayfield #emelan #daja kisubo #red queen #evangeline samos #skylanders #gold queen #azure striker gunvolt #gibril #resident evil #resident evil village #karl heisenberg #omniscient reader's viewpoint #lee hyunsung #megaman #megaman x #metal shark player #trigun #millions knives #spinning silver