This isn't so much a book as an eclectic collection of short stories whose only common thread is that they were written by the venerable Tamora Pierce (hence Tortall). The quality varies wildly: I think she just took all the short stories she's written and stuffed them in a book. More under the readmore! |
The Dragon's Tale: Not really my thing, honestly, because I've never read the Daine books and haven't met Kitten. Also, this story didn't have a plot so much as a reason to magically reward Kitten with the ability to speak.
Elder Brother: Mostly about a tree who turns into a dude and goes on adventures. Set in Generic Sexist Middle Eastern Land, the skeeziness of which made only a little better by the following story. Still, though, the tree dude is pretty interesting and his friendship with the other protagonist is great.
The Hidden Girl: Makes Elder Brother a little more palatable by providing a "hijabs can be great" counterpoint to the "Middle Eastern Land sucks" bit of Elder Brother, but then backtracks in favor of pushing a generic pagan female counterpoint to Islam. Since Tamora Pierce is, as far as I can tell, not Muslim, her using a cultural narrative of poor oppressed brown women who need the goddess is really annoying and pretty racist.
Huntress: Yet another story with a treatment of religion I'm super uncomfortable with. Partly because I'm a determined atheist and Huntress is the kind of story my mom would love (girl who doesn't like her parents' religion ~*proven wrong*~ and ~*saved by the Moon Goddes*~. I get that Tamora Pierce is trying to write about urban magic, but to me it felt as clunky as a Chick Tract.
Lost: I think I'm a little tired of kid protagonists who are just so special and misunderstood by everybody, but mathematical genius girls will always be cool and the portrayal of our protagonist's abusive father was very chilling.
Mimic: There's nothing really special about this story, but it's competently written coming of age. What more do you really need? The one-word pseudo-Chinese names irritated the fuck out of me, though. With this, Generic Sexist Middle Eastern Land, and the Yamani, I'm pretty sure Tamora Pierce needs to do more research. Like, these stories were written in the 2000s. We have internet.
Nawat: Finally, something original! I liked Nawat in Trickster's Choice and I like him here: he's torn between crow and human instincts, and the culture clash is fascinating to read. I like how the relativity of morality and the specter of being cast out from a community entirely plays into his dilemma, and though the ending felt a little too easy and too pat, that's pretty common among Tamora Pierce's writing. The way this story treats disability was pretty interesting: someone more well-versed might disagree, but to me it seemed like Pierce positioned accommodation of disability as a major difference between human and animal? Which I liked.
Plain Magic: Super generic. I had to look back at the story itself to even remember what it was. Also, it includes the line "He's so afraid I'll be better than him that he won't even teach me to read", which, coupled with Adria from Lost, annoyed the hell out of me.
Student of Ostriches: It was a good choice to put this story at the beginning of the book, because it's self-contained (unlike Nawat), unique (unlike most of these) and really, really, cool. This reads like a kung fu folk tale, and the description of Kylaia's training was awesome. The setting didn't annoy me, either, though that might just be because I don't know much about Africa, or because the story focuses more on Kylaia's epic martial arts training rather than social/cultural problems. Also, I liked how a Chinese dude showed up in the end.
Testing: Based off of Tamora Pierce's own experiences, although I'm pretty sure she's Mary Sueing herself a little. I'm not 100% comfortable with how the angry Latina girl is the main opposition, but this story's really nothing to write home about, either way.
Time of Proving: Also super cool! It has the sensible child + wacky adult combination that worked really well in Elder Brother, and includes a helpless scholarly dude, which is a trope I really enjoy, especially since he's completely out of his depth in the wilderness. The gender stereotype reversal (sensitive, civilized guy who doesn't really how to do anything plus a skilled survivalist heroine) was pretty great, too.
Basically, this book has super variable quality and only about three stories that are actually worth the time. The lackluster modern and Fantasy Middle East Land stories pretty much prove that Tamora Pierce should stick to what she knows, but if any of the individual stories stick out to you, pick it up at the library and leaf through it a little. Even if it's only for Nawat.
Elder Brother: Mostly about a tree who turns into a dude and goes on adventures. Set in Generic Sexist Middle Eastern Land, the skeeziness of which made only a little better by the following story. Still, though, the tree dude is pretty interesting and his friendship with the other protagonist is great.
The Hidden Girl: Makes Elder Brother a little more palatable by providing a "hijabs can be great" counterpoint to the "Middle Eastern Land sucks" bit of Elder Brother, but then backtracks in favor of pushing a generic pagan female counterpoint to Islam. Since Tamora Pierce is, as far as I can tell, not Muslim, her using a cultural narrative of poor oppressed brown women who need the goddess is really annoying and pretty racist.
Huntress: Yet another story with a treatment of religion I'm super uncomfortable with. Partly because I'm a determined atheist and Huntress is the kind of story my mom would love (girl who doesn't like her parents' religion ~*proven wrong*~ and ~*saved by the Moon Goddes*~. I get that Tamora Pierce is trying to write about urban magic, but to me it felt as clunky as a Chick Tract.
Lost: I think I'm a little tired of kid protagonists who are just so special and misunderstood by everybody, but mathematical genius girls will always be cool and the portrayal of our protagonist's abusive father was very chilling.
Mimic: There's nothing really special about this story, but it's competently written coming of age. What more do you really need? The one-word pseudo-Chinese names irritated the fuck out of me, though. With this, Generic Sexist Middle Eastern Land, and the Yamani, I'm pretty sure Tamora Pierce needs to do more research. Like, these stories were written in the 2000s. We have internet.
Nawat: Finally, something original! I liked Nawat in Trickster's Choice and I like him here: he's torn between crow and human instincts, and the culture clash is fascinating to read. I like how the relativity of morality and the specter of being cast out from a community entirely plays into his dilemma, and though the ending felt a little too easy and too pat, that's pretty common among Tamora Pierce's writing. The way this story treats disability was pretty interesting: someone more well-versed might disagree, but to me it seemed like Pierce positioned accommodation of disability as a major difference between human and animal? Which I liked.
Plain Magic: Super generic. I had to look back at the story itself to even remember what it was. Also, it includes the line "He's so afraid I'll be better than him that he won't even teach me to read", which, coupled with Adria from Lost, annoyed the hell out of me.
Student of Ostriches: It was a good choice to put this story at the beginning of the book, because it's self-contained (unlike Nawat), unique (unlike most of these) and really, really, cool. This reads like a kung fu folk tale, and the description of Kylaia's training was awesome. The setting didn't annoy me, either, though that might just be because I don't know much about Africa, or because the story focuses more on Kylaia's epic martial arts training rather than social/cultural problems. Also, I liked how a Chinese dude showed up in the end.
Testing: Based off of Tamora Pierce's own experiences, although I'm pretty sure she's Mary Sueing herself a little. I'm not 100% comfortable with how the angry Latina girl is the main opposition, but this story's really nothing to write home about, either way.
Time of Proving: Also super cool! It has the sensible child + wacky adult combination that worked really well in Elder Brother, and includes a helpless scholarly dude, which is a trope I really enjoy, especially since he's completely out of his depth in the wilderness. The gender stereotype reversal (sensitive, civilized guy who doesn't really how to do anything plus a skilled survivalist heroine) was pretty great, too.
Basically, this book has super variable quality and only about three stories that are actually worth the time. The lackluster modern and Fantasy Middle East Land stories pretty much prove that Tamora Pierce should stick to what she knows, but if any of the individual stories stick out to you, pick it up at the library and leaf through it a little. Even if it's only for Nawat.