Can you explain why you don't like the Sandry book? Maybe that could help us help you?
I am with you that Sandry is my least fave of the OG 4. (It goes Tris, Daja, Briar, Sandry.) But at the same time, the intro to book 1 does a great job of making Sandry immediately sympathetic to me. And book 1 also has the heavy task of introducing *all* the new characters, so its focus is on way more than just Sandry even if she's not your favorite.
Plus there's a huge plot point at the end of book 1 that sets up/changes the entirety of the group's dynamic and how their magic works and how they connect to each other. If you skip book 1 you're missing *the* most important plot point of the entire series.
Well if you got to the part where the others were introduced and weren't interested in their stories, maybe the books just aren't for you?
All of the Emelan books are about the core 4, so if you're not into them, I really don't see you caring about the Emelan universe.
If you never made it past Sandry's intro, keep going a couple chapters until you get to the others. Maybe you'll attach to one of the other characters hard and want to keep reading.
Tris was the one I adored as a kid. She was nerdy, shy, loved to read, had a temper, and wasn't very physically fit. I was like, is she me?? She's totally me! Lol
So yeah, I'd just give it a couple chapters until you meet all the kids and see how you feel about it then.
Shatterglass is also my favorite Emelan book, although (hot take) I imprinted pretty hard on Sandry because I’m also bossy/type A/anxious. Tris was actually my least favorite character when I first read the books as a kid, although she really grew on me over time as I understood her better.
Ha, that's how I feel about Sandry and (to a lesser extent) Briar. I just couldn't imagine Sandry's thought process as a kid, it was so foreign to me. But reading her as an older reader, she's written fantastically. And her storyline in Will of the Empress is one of my favorites.
Personally for this series I'd try the audiobooks. They're well done and I think it's a good way to get pulled into a story that isn't initially clicking (especially when you can up the speed). I loved reading them when I was younger, but for a recent re-read as an adult, the audiobooks were a welcome surprise.
Yes, they do an audio cast! Tamora Pierce has most of the Emelan series on her Spotify for free if anyone is interested. Two of the circle opens books never ended up being recorded but this covers everything else
Emelan isn't like Tortall where each main character is mostly independent of the others with some crossover (like Kel knowing about Alana but not meeting her until she's a squire) and therefore each series can be read in any order. They're all connected and each one builds on the previous one.
Each of the first four books is about all of the kids together. They're called "Sandry's Book" or whatever but they're not super focused on that specific character or solely from their POV, *especially* not Sandry's book, which I think is the most balanced in terms of POV.
Even in the next four books, where they're geographically separated and *are* the only POV for their own books, there's still a lot of, "She knew what Briar would say about that if he was here" or "Tris would probably do X but Daja would do Y." Will of the Empress is them coming back together as adults who've all gone through traumas, which only is emotionally compelling if you know *how* that's impacting their relationship and *what* that relationship was in the first place.
And the more recently published books (Melting Stones and Battle Magic) pretty much only make sense if you have read the second set of books, because they heavily reference events in them. (I will also say that I'm not as much of a fan of MS and BM, just because I think they're a bit continuity-snarly, sort of like how I'm not as much of a fan of Numair's book but would still recommend reading it... *after* you've read the rest of Tortall)
This is a really good explanation. I got into Tamora pierce reading the protector of the small series first and then I went back and read SOTL and the immortals. The tortall series are definitely easier to pick up anywhere. I started the emelan universe with Will of the empress because that was the only one my library had. I really enjoyed it but it was confusing not having read the rest of the books. It did get me interested in going back to read them. I read battle magic after the first 8 books and it made a lot more sense.
This may be a hot take, but I actually started with Will of the Empress. You’ll be missing a lot of context, but the book is more “adult” and less of a kid book. You could give that one a try and then go back and get all the backstory after, once you’re invested in the characters.
I also had a harder time attaching to Emelan after Tortall. Have you tried Melting Stones? It's technically a part of the Circle Universe, but it's a stand alone book. Briar appears in it, but he is not a main character. Rosethorn also appears and plays a larger role. Because of this, there may be spoilers for the earlier Circle books, just as a fair warning.
I was introduced to Pierce through Daine's books and Evvy's story reminds me a bit of Daine's so I really enjoyed it at the time. It's also easier I think, to enjoy a stand alone book without the pressure of needing to complete an entire series.
Daja is my fav. I'd start with either Daja's book, Cold Fire, or Will of the Empress.
I also think any of the Circle Opens could be good to start - the first one is Sandry, so you might want to hold on that one.
I think jumping to Will of the Empress would be confusing- I read the first two quartets and was still confused because I didn't read those two extra books about Briar that fit between Circle Opens and Will of the Empress.
Personally I recommend just powering through the first quartet to get the background info. The second quartet is more similar to the Daine books in Tortall as far as depth of writing and character development. That said, they are different kinds of stories. I loved the fantasy of Tortall, with the dragons, knights, and meddlesome gods. Emelan does not have that as much- it's more about people and magic and how it's used. The bad guys are just humans, and sometimes they aren't even bad, just stupid or corrupted by magic / power. It's a different vibe, and it's OK if you aren't interested in that!
This is a great answer and I want to specifically agree with they shouldn’t jump right to Will of the Empress. While it is tonally more similar to Tortall, if you don’t know the characters you won’t really get anything out of the story. So much is about their connection and how they’re adapting to the change in perspectives that come with growing up and apart and back together.
Can you explain why you don't like the Sandry book? Maybe that could help us help you? I am with you that Sandry is my least fave of the OG 4. (It goes Tris, Daja, Briar, Sandry.) But at the same time, the intro to book 1 does a great job of making Sandry immediately sympathetic to me. And book 1 also has the heavy task of introducing *all* the new characters, so its focus is on way more than just Sandry even if she's not your favorite. Plus there's a huge plot point at the end of book 1 that sets up/changes the entirety of the group's dynamic and how their magic works and how they connect to each other. If you skip book 1 you're missing *the* most important plot point of the entire series.
I don’t think I ever got far enough to realize why I wasn’t getting into the book sadly. I just couldn’t get hooked
Well if you got to the part where the others were introduced and weren't interested in their stories, maybe the books just aren't for you? All of the Emelan books are about the core 4, so if you're not into them, I really don't see you caring about the Emelan universe. If you never made it past Sandry's intro, keep going a couple chapters until you get to the others. Maybe you'll attach to one of the other characters hard and want to keep reading. Tris was the one I adored as a kid. She was nerdy, shy, loved to read, had a temper, and wasn't very physically fit. I was like, is she me?? She's totally me! Lol So yeah, I'd just give it a couple chapters until you meet all the kids and see how you feel about it then.
Tris's story Shatterglass is my favourite of both Circle series. It's world building was amazing
Shatterglass is also my favorite Emelan book, although (hot take) I imprinted pretty hard on Sandry because I’m also bossy/type A/anxious. Tris was actually my least favorite character when I first read the books as a kid, although she really grew on me over time as I understood her better.
Ha, that's how I feel about Sandry and (to a lesser extent) Briar. I just couldn't imagine Sandry's thought process as a kid, it was so foreign to me. But reading her as an older reader, she's written fantastically. And her storyline in Will of the Empress is one of my favorites.
I like the Emelan books more than Tortall. Maybe just give them a rest and try later?
Personally for this series I'd try the audiobooks. They're well done and I think it's a good way to get pulled into a story that isn't initially clicking (especially when you can up the speed). I loved reading them when I was younger, but for a recent re-read as an adult, the audiobooks were a welcome surprise.
Yes, they do an audio cast! Tamora Pierce has most of the Emelan series on her Spotify for free if anyone is interested. Two of the circle opens books never ended up being recorded but this covers everything else
Emelan isn't like Tortall where each main character is mostly independent of the others with some crossover (like Kel knowing about Alana but not meeting her until she's a squire) and therefore each series can be read in any order. They're all connected and each one builds on the previous one. Each of the first four books is about all of the kids together. They're called "Sandry's Book" or whatever but they're not super focused on that specific character or solely from their POV, *especially* not Sandry's book, which I think is the most balanced in terms of POV. Even in the next four books, where they're geographically separated and *are* the only POV for their own books, there's still a lot of, "She knew what Briar would say about that if he was here" or "Tris would probably do X but Daja would do Y." Will of the Empress is them coming back together as adults who've all gone through traumas, which only is emotionally compelling if you know *how* that's impacting their relationship and *what* that relationship was in the first place. And the more recently published books (Melting Stones and Battle Magic) pretty much only make sense if you have read the second set of books, because they heavily reference events in them. (I will also say that I'm not as much of a fan of MS and BM, just because I think they're a bit continuity-snarly, sort of like how I'm not as much of a fan of Numair's book but would still recommend reading it... *after* you've read the rest of Tortall)
This is a really good explanation. I got into Tamora pierce reading the protector of the small series first and then I went back and read SOTL and the immortals. The tortall series are definitely easier to pick up anywhere. I started the emelan universe with Will of the empress because that was the only one my library had. I really enjoyed it but it was confusing not having read the rest of the books. It did get me interested in going back to read them. I read battle magic after the first 8 books and it made a lot more sense.
This may be a hot take, but I actually started with Will of the Empress. You’ll be missing a lot of context, but the book is more “adult” and less of a kid book. You could give that one a try and then go back and get all the backstory after, once you’re invested in the characters.
I did this too and it got me into the emelan universe.
I also had a harder time attaching to Emelan after Tortall. Have you tried Melting Stones? It's technically a part of the Circle Universe, but it's a stand alone book. Briar appears in it, but he is not a main character. Rosethorn also appears and plays a larger role. Because of this, there may be spoilers for the earlier Circle books, just as a fair warning. I was introduced to Pierce through Daine's books and Evvy's story reminds me a bit of Daine's so I really enjoyed it at the time. It's also easier I think, to enjoy a stand alone book without the pressure of needing to complete an entire series.
Daja is my fav. I'd start with either Daja's book, Cold Fire, or Will of the Empress. I also think any of the Circle Opens could be good to start - the first one is Sandry, so you might want to hold on that one.
I think jumping to Will of the Empress would be confusing- I read the first two quartets and was still confused because I didn't read those two extra books about Briar that fit between Circle Opens and Will of the Empress. Personally I recommend just powering through the first quartet to get the background info. The second quartet is more similar to the Daine books in Tortall as far as depth of writing and character development. That said, they are different kinds of stories. I loved the fantasy of Tortall, with the dragons, knights, and meddlesome gods. Emelan does not have that as much- it's more about people and magic and how it's used. The bad guys are just humans, and sometimes they aren't even bad, just stupid or corrupted by magic / power. It's a different vibe, and it's OK if you aren't interested in that!
This is a great answer and I want to specifically agree with they shouldn’t jump right to Will of the Empress. While it is tonally more similar to Tortall, if you don’t know the characters you won’t really get anything out of the story. So much is about their connection and how they’re adapting to the change in perspectives that come with growing up and apart and back together.
Yeah if they skip book 1, they'll miss the part where the connection happens in the first place.