Introduction to Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce is a lover of strong female role models and most of her books are aimed towards young women ages 8 - 16. Though there are plenty of fighting scenes and wars so it may also appeal to young men out there too. So Steemians! If you enjoy some light reading or have some young children and would like to give some wholesome reading, this is for you.

Note to Parents

If you are intending on getting these books for your children, I have stated age range of 8-16 more as a reading level guide. If you have a little bookworm that flies through books at the age of 6 and you don't mind the following then feel free to give it to them. However here are the following issues some parents might have:

Romance

There is romance in this book. Kisses are to be had, sex is never described, merely implied such as 'they walk to the bedroom hand in hand and close the door behing them' Next chapter beginning at class the next day or some such. The closest thing to describing sex is actually done by a healing woman giving advice to Alanna when she get's her first period and freaks out because she was never taught to expect it. I might attach the page in question because it's pretty much as scandalous as it gets then I'll leave it to you parents to decide.

Religion

The universe in these books is Polytheistic. There is a whole menagerie of gods in this book, they speak and guide and show themselves to people if and when they wish. There is no almighty power. There is no Christian God. But then it's not based on Earth either.

Fighting

There is Fighting in these books. There is mention of bruises, blood, broken bones but I wouldn't call it descriptive. It's simply there and is simply a side effect of what happens when people fight, both in common brawls, to what happens in war. Pierce would state 'a soldier would arrive staggering whilst holding his hand to a slash wound on his abdomen', it rarely gets much more discriptive than that. I started reading these books at the age of 8 and by that time as a child you have accidentally cut yourself or grazed yourself and had bruises and if you're unlucky enough at that age you've possibly even broken a bone. Nothing I read in these books was shocking. None of it left me with nightmares.


It may not be obvious in the photo below but most of her books are in quartets. Half of them are based in the realm of Tortall. Half of them based in the realm of Emelan. Tortal and Emelan are in completely different universes and have completely seperate ways in which magic works.


Tortall is high fantasy, it is a realm of knights, wizards, lords, ladies, thiefs, brigands, gods both mighty and petty and in later series there are fantastical beasts both wonderous and horrid. Think a Knights Tale with Heath Ledger mixed up with magic and polytheism of gods that have way much interest over the day to day happenings of people.


Emelan is less knights in shining armor and castles and fortresses, well it actually might be but we don't get to see it. The story line is based in a university and the neighbouring city being a trade capital where pirates are the greatest threat in regards to fighting/warfare. The greatest threats they mainly face are their own magic users screwing up, being negligent or overconfident or whatever and having major unforseen widespread consequences.
I will be beginning these reviews in Tortall and will be reviewing them in the best reading order. The first quartet I will be reviewing will be the Song of the Lioness quartet. I'm not too certain but I believe this was the first quartet Pierce ever published.It is not the earliest series timeline wise but without reading this one, the books based earlier don't make even nearly as much sense.

So lets begin with book one: Alanna, The First Adventure.

We are first introduced to twins; Alanna and Thom of Trebond, eleven years old and arguing with their father who lost all interest in raising them or having a family when his wife died giving birth to them. His wife had 'the Gift" (magic) and Lord of Trebond believed it should have saved her from dying and has since held a grudge against magic. Stopped using his own and refused to have the twins taught magic and then proceeded to take a minimal role in rasing them.

Alanna and Thom are twins with flame red hair and purple eyes and both with the gift. They were raised by Maude the village healer and Corram the Master-at-arms of Trebond. Maude taught them how to use their gift in secret and Corram taught them survival skills. Thom has zero knack in anything physical but wants to learn to learn to use magic and Alanna was the exact opposite, able to hunt and skin a rabbit quicker than anyone in town but is afraid to use her gift would like nothing less than to become noble lady. Yet here they stand arguing with their father who intends to send Thom to the capital called Corus to be a knight and Alanna to a convent in the city of the gods to go through deportment to learn and refine the skills of becoming a proper lady. The twins are of course horrified. So they only have one choise... They switch places.

The twins convince their caretakers Maude and Corram to go along with it. Maude calls on the gods to see the future in the flames of her fireplace and deem it the right thing to do. Corram needs liquor and a bit of extra convincing but in the end they both agree to help the children with the paths they've chosen. Thom forges letters from his father to send Thom to the Convent to learn to be a priest and/or sorceror and to send his twin brother 'Alan' to Corus to become a knight. Alanna cuts her hair short, puts on boy clothes and sets off to capital.

This is the story of a noble girl, trying to be a good noble boy. This is the story of learning the importants of discipline and just because your short or just because you're not a natural, doesn't mean that it can't be fixed with practice and hard work. There are dozens of one liners in this book that are very important lessons to learn both young and old. Learning the difference in between right and wrong and the grey area in between, and learning what friendship and trust means. It also goes into Alanna coming to terms with her gift and the consequences of refusing to use it. It also faces the trials she has go through to hide her identity as a female among men. The book covers her coming of age from 11-14 as her years as a page and ends with her having her having proven to her older friend that he should pick her as his squire when the time comes.

Magic

There's a few different kinds of magic in this universe.

- The Sight: This is the subtlest magic. It's basically insight. Able to tell when someones lying, able to detect when to move, duck, who to trust, which exit is the safest where to hide and for how long. Little nudges that if you listen to them will always guide you well.

- The Gift: Magic, people will have different affinities for different skills such as healing, conjuration, divination etc. Though if trained anyone with a magic ability can use it to do another skill they don't have an affinity for but it comes at a greater cost energy wise. At the beginning they say that the gods punish those who presume to use gifts they weren't granted but in all of the books, the most you see is people getting burnt up by their power because they've exceeded their strength/reserves. It appears to be able to be used in exchange for sleep or to give more energy to those who are flagging in the likes of a hike or a long march. Apparently it only works for a little while when used on others and longer on oneself but whilst you do this, it will not replenish itself and you will pay for it later. Each persons gift is decribed as a ball of coloured light within each person. Each persons gift takes on a colour that is individual to them. Rarely shows in the real world unless conjuring flames.

- The Old ones, immortals, god given: This is the one that's explained the least because there's not much of it left in existence but seems to be something along the lines of remnant powers of divine creation. If one managed to accrue enough of this kind of magic, one could theoretically pose as a god, at least until one of the other gods decided to smite you which is what seems to have happened to the majority of the 'Old Ones', an ancient race that suddenly dissapeared and left behind only ruins.

There is one other form of magic but it doesn't come into play till later quartets so I'll deal with that when we get to it.

The World

Though these series are by and large based in Tortall there are many countries that surround it and some books are based purely in some of these other countries. In this Quartet we will get to see Tyra, Maren, Sarain & The Roof of the World to the East. In other books and Quartets we will get to see Carthak to the south, the Copper Isles to the South West, and even snippets of Gala and the border war with Tusaine. We unfortunately only hear about people of Scanra to the north and the Yamani Isles tot he North East and never actually get to see them as far as I can recall, but it has been several years since I've sat down and re-read Pierces work.

Writing Style

These books are written in third person from the point of view of Alanna or (put name of lead character here) with only very short and very occasional snippets from other characters perspectives.
Very quick paced, Pierces average book is only 200-300 pages long. Many books span years, often months pass between chapters. Since most of her books are coming of age tales designed for young adults this makes for a succinct montage and just sticks to "the good bits". Pierce is bare bones when it comes to description but you find yourself not desiring much extra. What Pierce lacks in descriptive eloquence she makes up for in realism. Realistic actions and reactions of the characters which made for easier learning of life lessons by the reader which I believe is the end purpose of these books.

Finale

As a young persons book I give this 9.5/10. Not quite the full 10/10 because there's alot of missing description that would be nice and also though it may be enjoyed by some boys, it's not really targeting both audiences (though it comes darn close). For an adult I give it 6.5/10, it's a quick read, I can finish it in 2 days easily, 1 day if I put in the time and effort. It's too quickly paced and the decription is lacking and life skills it aims to teach, most of us already know (though many of us could stand to be reminded of a few of them too).