Tamora Pierce
Random House
Copyright: 2004
978-0375828799
The Amazon.com product description:
Tamora Pierce brings readers another Tortall adventure! Alianne is the teenage daughter of the famed Alanna, the first lady knight in Tortall. Young Aly follows in the quieter footsteps of her father, however, delighting in the art of spying. When she is captured and sold as a slave to an exiled royal family in the faraway Copper Islands, it is this skill that makes a difference in a world filled with political intrigue, murderous conspiracy, and warring gods. This is the first of two books featuring Alianne.In terms of the timeline for the Tortall novels, these two are the last ones so far. Trickster's Choice and its sequel, Trickster's Queen are set after all the other books: the Lioness Quartet, the Immortals Quartet and the Keladry books.
These two books are a bit different from most of the others Tamora Pierce has written too. First of all, they're written for slightly older teens IMHO, given that Aly is older in the first book, much like the Beka Cooper series. And then, where all the other books in the world of Tortall have been written in sets of four, there are only the two books in this set.
Aside from those pieces of trivia, the important thing about these books is that they're well written, and good stories. I was reading the second book, Trickster's Queen last night, and the next thing I realized was that it was after one in the morning. Where did the time go?
Of course, that's true of most of the Tortall novels, but I liked this one more than most of them. I didn't find that the "Girls are as good as boys/girls can be whatever they want to be" message to be as in-your-face present as it is in some of Tamora Pierce's books, which I really appreciated. That's the one thing about her books that I don't really care for.
Overall, Trickster's Choice is a good, solid read that is longer than most of the other books the author's written in this world. It's also a book I'm likely to find myself re-reading in the future.
2 comments:
I agree. They are longer and seem to be for an older audience. I read something from Tamora Pierce's website that said somethinig to the effect of since Harry Potter books, youth are more willing to read longer books, so while the books could have been a quartet of her previous average length, she was able to write the story in two parts instead of four.
I love Tortall books. I agree about the girl protagonists. I don't mind though because at least they are not simpering girls. That I handle less. Thanks for sharing your review.
Thanks for commenting Bekah. That's certainly neat to know too. Do you read her LiveJournals?
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