I was going
to write a review of all of my favorite Tamora Pierce Novels (i.e. all of them)
but I decided to review them all as a whole rather than individually. When I
was in the fifth grade I had not yet discovered the incredible world of
reading. I read when I had to, and usually short books I was more interested in
watching television than reading. (I mean I still love TV but now it had
reading to compete with.) A year or so prior my friend had suggested the
“Alanna books” for me to read but I forgot about them until one fateful day at
my elementary school library. I was browsing for a book and was unable to find
anything I liked, so remembering the books my friend Zoë recommended I asked my
school librarian, Miss Skibbe (whom I would later work at a Public Library and
befriend her sister. Life is weird y’all), and she found the book (Alanna the First Adventure) for me.
Still I was determined to stubbornly cling to the “I don’t like to read”
persona all the cool kids had, but through a month’s worth of SSR (Silent
Selected Reading) time I became addicted. Since the school library did not have
the rest of the series, (they had First
Test of the Protector of the Small series which I read next and was really
confused the whole time) I braved a visit to the public library during the
summer reading kickoff party of 2003 with my parents and checked out the next
book in the Songs of the Lioness
Quartet: In The Hand of the Goddess.
What proceeded next was a series of visits to the library to read all the
series and then to re-read them a million times until my maternal grandparents
bought all of the books for me on my birthday in 2004.
By the time
I was in the sixth grade my teacher tried to encourage me to read something other
than Tamora Pierce books to no success. I loved reading, but I was only
interested in the Tortall books. I was then introduced to fanfiction and was
content for a while longer to continue my Tamora Pierce only reading list.
Eventually I did begin to read other books, lots of other books as being
monogamous to one series is not within my character. But Tamora Pierce books
taught me so much, they taught me about working for your dreams, feminism, sex,
relationships, friends, growing up, the feudal system, and so much more. So
without much further ado I bring you a cohesive author study thirteen years in
the making.
Songs
of the Lioness
This series
is about a girl Alanna who wishes to become a knight, meanwhile her twin brother
Thom has no desire to become a knight and instead wants to study magic.
Devising a plan and convincing the adults in their life to keep it secret from
their father and the world, they switch places. Alanna cuts her hair and dons
the persona of Alan, while Thom goes off to study magic and become a mage. Alanna discovered training to be a knight and
keeping her gender a secret harder than she initially thought, but she sticks
to her guns and continues on. She makes new friends while at the Palace in the
Tortall capital, Corus. She befriends the Crown Prince Jonathan, his cousin
Gary, Raoul, Alex, and the King of Thieves George Cooper among several others.
Throughout the first book Alanna deals with the demands of Palace life and her
ever changing body. She finds ways to hide her newly grown breasts by binding
them first with linen and then with a special corset, and then deals with
getting her period for the first time by totally freaking out. I can relate to
that last one. She reveals her true gender to first George, then to Prince
Jonathan through a series of events that lead her to fight a powerful old race
trapped in an abandon city in the desert. By the end of the first book she
becomes Jonathan’s squire.
In the
second book Alanna is well into her squire years and has become a teenager with
all the lovely hormonal changes that brings. She and Jonathan begin a
relationship and Alanna works out how she will reveal herself to the court and
what she will do after she has been knighted. Alanna’s plans go haywire when
Jonathan’s evil cousin the mage Duke Roger concocts a plan to usurp the throne
by killing Jonathan and his parents. Alanna uncovers his plans after her Ordeal
of Knighthood, injured and tired; she faces the duke and kills him in a trial
by combat. (Yeah trial by combat my fellow GoT buds.) She is revealed to be a
woman during this fight as well, shocking those who knew her, and confirming
what others had suspected all along. Afterwards Alanna leaves the capital to
have adventures with her newly earned shield. She winds up in the southern
deserts of Tortall fighting the patriarchy. Her and Jonathan reunite and he
proposes to her which she ultimately turns down and ends up with George. Her
stupid brother brings her arch nemesis back to life because bringing back a
traitor with a strong claim to the throne is always a sound plan. In the final
book of the series Alanna goes on a quest for a magical stone to bring back to
her King. Then she ruins Duke Roger’s plan to usurp the throne again, because
who didn’t see that coming?
Don’t
mistake my snark for a lack of love for these books; I’m just naturally a
snarky person.
The
Immortals
This is
probably my favorite series Tamora Pierce wrote. This story tells the tale of Veralidane
Sarrasri or Daine an orphan in Galla who is picked up by Onua the assistant
horse mistress to the Queen’s Riders (think like the King’s Musketeers from ye
old France). Daine discovers she has
wild magic, which allows her to talk to animals among other things. She becomes
the student of the Great and Powerful Oz Numair Salmalín. She meets familiar characters like
Alanna and her husband George, King Jonathan and others we were introduced to
in Songs of the Lioness. Meanwhile the people of Tortall are dealing
with immortals being released from the divine realms wreaking havoc all over.
Creatures of myth such as centaurs, unicorns, griffins and many more are
suddenly thrown back into the mix á la Jurassic
Park. Daine discovers who her father is and saves the country along with
her friends.
This series
is truly one of my favorite of all time. It has magic and romance along with
adventure.
Protector
of the Small
Keladry of
Mindelan is the first girl to try for her shield since King Jonathan made it
into law that women were allowed to. But she is put on probation because the
patriarchy is a bitch. The Lioness, Alanna is not allowed to have any contact
with her what so ever because they are afraid she’ll use her witchcraft to
magically allow Kel to become a knight. Kel is up for the challenge though.
Having been raised in the Yamani Islands (basically Japan to Tortall’s Europe)
she already is an outsider and she is use to having to prove her worth. And
prove her worth she does through four books of patriarchy smashing feminism,
and not the man hating feminism either, actual equality and peace loving
feminism! She makes friends new and old and proves that girls are just as good
as boys.
What I like
most about this series is that while Kel has a few romantic interests that is
not the focus. Her gaining her shield is the focus, and then her quest to find
the Nothing Man and stop him from using necromancy and murdering children to
make terrible war machines. While you may think this is just a rehashing of the
Songs of the Lioness series it’s not.
Kel is forthwith about her gender and she faces all new problems and some
familiar problems we have dealt with before in Tamora Pierce’s books. But Kel
has a special place in my heart, and not just because her shield ends up having an owl on it. Cause obviously I love owls, but I adore Kel and her fickle heart because of who she is.
Daughter
of the Lioness
This is the
first duology Tamora Pierce wrote in this universe. This series focuses on Alanna and George’s
daughter Alianne or Aly. Aly is at the same time nothing and exactly like her
mother. Aly wishes to become a spy for her father and grandfather but they
refuse her. It’s too dangerous they say. Aly fights with her father and newly
returned mother from the front lines of the Scanian War. Aly then decides she
is going on a sailing adventure to give her parents some space while she
decides what she wants to be when she grows up. Unfortunately things do not go smoothly;
Aly is kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in the Copper Isles.
She is bought
by a rich noble family and winds up in a cat and mouse game for the throne.
Backed by the Trickster God and her once crow now human love interest Aly stealthily
plays the game of thrones (I couldn’t resist the comparison). She works hard to
get the daughter of the family of her masters on the throne as queen and stop
the race wars happening in the Isles. Eventually she is freed from slavery, and
even refuses to go home when her father arrives to bring her home, Aly assures
him she is well and not to worry, she has found her place in the world.
This is
Caitie’s favorite of the Tamora Pierce Tortall series, and this series were the
first books I ever bought the day they were released in hardback.
Beka
Cooper
Now this
series seems to have several names but according to Goodreads it’s called Beka
Cooper so we shall stick with that. I haven’t actually read this series yet, as
I am anxious that it won’t be as good as the rest and it will disappoint me,
and also because I am a master procrastinator.
This series
is about George Cooper’s however many times Great Grandma who worked for the
Provost’s Guard, (Like the City Watch in Got, or the local police) which is
kind of ironic considering that George becomes the King of Thieves. Though
later he become the unofficial Spymaster for King Jonathan after he marries
Alanna and forsakes his life of crime. That’s all I know about this series.
Eventually I will read it, I own all the books, but I am currently working my
way through the Song of Ice and Fire
series if you couldn’t tell by my copious GoT references.
Emelan
Tamora Pierce also wrote another series about four mages and their mentors set in the fictional world of Emelan. Now I have read all the books of this
series but I did not like is as well as the Tortall books. The story follows Sandry, Briar, Tris, and Daja as they navigate the world with their unconventional magic. They find mentors and apprentices of their own as they grow and become formidable mages in their own rights.
Upcoming Titles
Tamora Pierce has some interesting books she is working on in the Tortall universe. First up are stories about Numair Salmalín when he was still in Carthak and called Arram Draper, which should be interesting to learn the events that lead to him, fleeing to Tortall working as a magician and eventually becoming the friend and ally to King Jonathan. She also has a book coming up about the girl Maura of Dunlath from Wolf-Speaker. Not sure what it will be about, but what I am most excited about is her book that will be about Kel and her squire. At the end of Lady Knight it was heavily implied that Kel would be open to a relationship with Dom, and while I do like that there was less romance in the Protector of the Small series, I am a shipper at heart.
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