Street Mage, by Tamora Pierce

Briar and his teacher Rosethorn have traveled to the city of Chammur, helping farmers restore their fields, and temples stock up on medicines. In the Golden House marketplace Briar sees a young girl polishing stones who appears to be putting magic into them. When he asks her about her magic, the girl quickly runs away and disappears. Briar soon finds out that her name is Evvy, and that he must teach her if he cannot discover another teacher for her. But finding Evvy and making her take lessons is another matter: she is as wild as Briar once was. But Briar is clever in the ways of street people, and he manages to make her promise to take lessons with him until he can find her a proper teacher. But the only other stone mage in the area is Jebulun Stoneslicer: pompous, fat, and completely unwilling to teach Evvy. However, there is another person interested in Evvy other than Briar: a gang keeps trying to snatch her to maker her work for them. And behind all of this is a bored wealthy woman who foolishly decides to go against Briar and chance the consequences of angering a truly powerful mage.

Chammur is just a stop on the way for Briar and Rosethorn, but they soon find enough to occupy themselves. Between discovering a mage and avoiding gang wars, Briar has a lot on his plate. Street Mage shows us the many ways that Briar has changed and matured from his ‘street rat’ days, and also the many ways in which he has not. There is a struggle within Briar: he is torn between the thief that he was, and the Mage that he is now. The points of view are so different that he often has trouble reconciling them. This struggle makes Briar’s povs so interesting to read. His is a complex character that is totally believable. He cannot stop being who he was, but he has come so far that it is no longer who he is. I like this, and it is part of the reason why Briar is my favorite character.

In Street Mage we see Briar get truly angry, which is something that he hasn’t done before. Or else before now he hasn’t had the power to back him up. But this passage is truly great and thoroughly enjoyable to read, as is most of the book. Briar has a great wit and cleverness: I wish more characters were like him. Playful, yet serious. Witty, yet strongly loyal. Tough, yet caring. A character of contradictions, and that always makes for good reading. At least it does for me, and I hope it would for you.