The Circle Opens #3: Cold Fire Cold Fire

Daja and Frostpine expect to spend some peaceful weeks with old friends in Namorn. But things begin to go awry as soon as they arrive. First Daja discovers that their hosts' twin daughters are mages. Then mysterious fires begin to blaze across the frigid city. Daja works with Bennat Ladradun, to locate what seems to be a serial arsonist. Daja's magic saves the city from going up in flames, but nothing and nobody can save her the disappointment of learning that the arsonist is someone close to her own heart.

Tamora Pierce is a full-time writer whose fantasy books include The Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, The Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, and The Protector of the Small quartets. She says of her beginnings as an author that "after discovering fantasy and science fiction in the seventh grade, I was hooked on writing. I tried to write the same kind of stories I read, except with teenaged girl heroes - not too many of those around in the 1960s." In her Circle of Magic quartet, Ms. Pierce introduced the four unforgettable mages-in-training who are now four years older in The Circle Opens - Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris. She began the new quartet at the urging of her many readers, who encouraged her through letters and e-mails to explore the mages' lives further. She chose their next turning point to be when they each acquire their first students in magecraft.