Reality Bypass

Wednesday Book Review: The Trickster Series May 20, 2009

Today’s review is Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce, one of my favorite authors. Tamora Pierce’s tales always feature a young heroine who needs to come into her own as an independant woman professionally and personally and the Trickster series is no different. Aly is the daughter and niece of famous and powerful people and needs to find her own way in the world and learn to respect those who gave her the tools to find it. The book masterfully shows the growth of the young character and serves as a good heroine for teens and pre-teens. One of the strengths of the entire set of Tortall books is the clever near-medieval world created in them, with Knights and spies, pirates, monsters and Mages. Her Wild Magic series is a favorite of mine and is tattered on my shelves from many re-readings. The characters are engaging, the plot is fascinating and the series reads well. My only disagreement with it are personal, I disliked Aly’s love choice for not being three dimensional. Fans of the series will appreciate the cameos from other beloved characters that came before Aly, as they are referred to both as teachers and assist in their own ways, without overshadowing the young protagonist.

Genre:  Fantasy

Age: Young Adult

Content: mild violence, mild romance

Overall:  Buy or borrow

Grade 7-10-Alianne, daughter of Alanna (Alanna: The First Adventure [Random, 1989]), is ready to create her own legend. As the book opens, Aly, 16, longs to follow in her father’s footsteps as a spy, but her parents refuse to allow it. Annoyed, she sails off in her boat, only to be captured by pirates and sold into slavery, fortunately to kindly Duke Balitang. She meets Kyprioth, the Trickster, and strikes a bargain: if Aly keeps the Duke and his family safe for the summer, Kyprioth will return her to her family and persuade her parents to let her be a spy. With magic, spells, winged horses that are part human and part metal, crows that take human form (and provide a romance for Aly), brutal fighting, treason, and attempted kidnapping, this fantasy has plenty to hold readers’ attention. It also offers an interesting examination of race, as well as a look at an adolescent’s finding her independence, an especially difficult task with such a powerful mother. Aly is a strong, intelligent, and resilient feminist who stretches this fantasy to a parable of girl-power. The book at times bogs down in the sheer number of characters and relationships, and in the author’s zealous attention to descriptive details, but Pierce’s fans will enjoy it.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
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