Instruct: Classify a review as either positive or negative.
Query: Mixing medicine and magic

I happened upon the "Circle of Magic" quatrain in my local library after hearing the librarian mention that people who liked Harry Potter tended to enjoy these books as well. I enjoyed the whole initial concept of craft magics in the first few books and Pierce's generally excellent exploration of how the magics worked, independently and in concert. "Briar's Book" has a much more serious tone than the other books in the series: as a research biologist, I was very interested to read Pierce's portrayal of a large-scale laboratory with a highly focussed research project (really quite accurate!) and highlighting the messages of "Don't drop possibly biohazardous materials in the sewers" and "Wear several levels of protection when working with a known hazardous material" - perhaps not messages that her average-age reader will appreciate, but important nonetheless. Oh yeah - and the story and characters were excellent too.