Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce

When readers first met Evumeimei Dingzai, she was a young girl bartering her services in Chamurr, where she polished stones until the magic inherent in them came out. Before that, she had been a street kid, and before that a slave, sold into slavery by her own mother. But when Briar Moss, a green mage, came into the Market in Chamurr, he recognized what she was doing was magic in and of itself, and in discovering her, he also had to find her a teacher, or teach her magic himself. But Evvy's talents had also brought her to the attention of another woman, who was using the street gangs to consolidate power for herself, and Briar had to protect her and keep her safe from being used by the woman.

After his travels with Evvy and Rosethorn, they returned to Summersea and the Winding Circle Temple there. Briar left with his foster sisters, Tris, Daja and Sandry, to travel to the northern lands of the Empress with Sandry, who had finally acceeded to the Empress's request for her to visit. Briar leaves Evvy behind with his teacher, Rosethorn, asking Evvy to take care of Rosethorn while he is gone. In his absence, Rosethorn is summoned to the Battle Islands, to answer the question as to why the plants and trees seem to be dying off in patches for no discernable reason. Travelling with her is Myrrhtide, an initiate of the Water Temple, who will be investigating why some water is going acidic as well. Evvy goes with Rosethorn only because she was involved in an altercation with some noble boys at the temple who were threatening to beat up a friend of hers. So it was either go with Rosethorn or be confined to Discipline cottage for a month. With them also travels Luvo, the living heart of a mountain, in the form of a purple and green stone mannikin that Evvy carries in a sling over one shoulder.

At the main port, they are met by Oswin, the man who does most of the problem solving in the village and the apprentice of the village mage. You see, in the universe of the Circle of Magic Books (which this book is a part of), there are two kinds of mages. The first, and most numerous, are academic mages, whose magic is all a part of books, and which require time and special circumstances or things (like candles, magic circles, and the like) to perform. The second kind of mages are ambient mages, whose magic comes from outside of themselves, but who are limited to a certain kind of magic. For instance, Briar and Rosethorn are Green Mages, who can grow plants almost instantly from seeds, and change plants so that thorn vines have sharper, harder, more numerous thorns. Or they can bring out the healing properties of a plant or herbal infusion, But they cannot work magic with rocks or metal or fire, and they can't usually do the same kind of magic that academic mages can.

The mage of the village is an academic mage, and is completely unable to help or explain exactly what is killing off the plants. Almost as soon as they arrive on the island of Starns, they are surprised by continuing small earthquakes. Evvy surprises everyone by knowing when the quakes are coming and the islanders by making a cliffside of mica shine in the sun, just by using her magic. Since the academic mages have never been off the island, and rarely see other mages, Jiatt, the apprentice mage, is stunned by Evvy's command of stones and by how she does her magic.

When they get to the village, Jiatt tells them that not only are trees dying, but that the traditional magic ley lines that he and his teacher call on are disappearing or are absurdly powerful, lending too much magic to the spells they use. Evvy knows where the ley lines are, because she can feel that magic sizzling through them, a strange feeling that makes her skin itch. More of this magic permeates the ground around where the trees have died, and Evvy, in absorbing it, goes a little crazy and finds where the new ley lines are. But in doing so, she is drawn deep inside the ground, where she finds spirits of molten stone, which is trying to break free to get to the outside air. Two of the spirits, who Evvy names Flare and Carnelian, seem most desperate to escape, and are constantly exploring the cracks in the earth or ramming themselves against the cracks to try and break free. They claim that the other magma spirits won't try to break free, so it is up to them. If they can lead the spirits out, and die, they will prove themselves to become something greater.

When Evvy comes back to the town and tells her story, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide realize that the local mountain is actually a volcano, and it is getting ready to erupt. Can they get everyone off the island in time, or will Evvy have to try to take on a volcano with her magic, all by herself?

The story held me while I was listening to it, even though I almost never listen to audio books, because I can read faster than any readers can say the lines and narration. Aside from this book, I only listened to the CD version of Saving Faith by David Baldacci, and that only because it was read by Chris Noth, who was one of my favorite actors at the time. Evvy is portrayed as someone who doesn't care for other people much, and who has no problem letting the locals deal with the mountain while she, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide flee back to Summersea. But Rosethorn, who also doesn't hold people high on her list, won't let Evvy dodge the responsibility she holds towards the people of the island, and when Evvy's bad temper and contempt for people may result in their death, only then does Evvy decide to save the island by going for the riskiest of ploys using her magic.

There isn't all that much character growth for Evvy between Street Magic, in which she first appears, and this book, but Evvy is a young character, and given the background which the story brings out, is perhaps understandable. Evvy has had to look after herself, and only herself, for a very long time. Because of mistreatment by others, she is not used to thinking about or liking, other people very much or at all. By the end of the book, she is well on her way to changing her attitude, but realizing she still has a lot to work on.

I liked the story, and I will probably like it better as a book, when I can read it in a much faster amount of time than I did listening to it here. And not only did Tamora Pierce write the book and the audioplay, she also provided some of the voices, along with Bruce Coville, fellow author and owner of the Full Cast Audio company that staged the book.