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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had a fun little time with this book. It was great to see Daine expanding and learning about her powers and how she can shapeshift.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm surprised at the lower ratings on this book when compared to Wild Magic, because honestly, it was really similar - but without feeling stagnant or repetitive. In fact, I thought there were a lot of elements that improved - specifically, Daine's characterization and the focus given to the development of her moral conscience (and deconstruction of her building prejudices).
It's natural and almost expected for a fantasy series to introduce a set of clear "monsters" for which our heroes can fight without any need for hand-wringing. It's why zombies as a genre became so popular: we can get all the gorey action without needing to question whether any of our faves are actually murderers. Likewise, we don't need to worry about commentaries on war or relatedly, racism/xenophobia as you would with human foes.
This seemed like the path Pierce was taking with the Stormwings in book one. Their looks and mannerisms were so clownishly and distastefully "Other" that we didn't even blink to see Daine, a child, kill them. We rooted for Zaneh to get wrecked.
It would have been easy to continue in this fashion; to never critically examine the morality of killing these creatures even in a series so intimately connected to animals of all types. But Pierce didn't; instead, she buckled down and did the work.
Daine acts like a brat constantly in book two. Her curious, empathetic nature remains intact, but we begin to see the consequences of her experiences as a fledgling warrior-mage (and as a favored friend of the crown). She passes judgment so easily that both Numair and Cloud have to preach tolerance at her just to keep her from killing creatures on sight, purely from past negative experiences. She judges Maura harshly and loses her temper with the kid more than once, even though Maura is acting bravely and loyally for her age and experience. When she hunts with the pack as a wolf, she loses herself in the transformation and her own anger and has to be put in her place by the other wolves.
All of this is great to see, especially when the gradual change in viewpoint is executed with such subtlety.
I found the pacing to be pretty on par with book one, with some slow spots that could have done with small edits. The cast of characters became a bit large and hard to manage at times, especially in regards to the animals.
But the end battle was imo even more exhilarating than that in book one. Daine's unyielding sense of duty to the land and its creatures fitted perfectly with the book's ecological themes and her internal conflict in regards to her conception of monstrousness. The showdown with Numair and Tristan was great (though I'd wish we'd had just a smidge more play-by-play action - I love Daine working independently, but I want to see Numair's master status at work).
My reservations about Daine/Numair continue, but once again, I found a lack of romantic intention on either side (critically necessary). There was one moment when they were staying at the inn that bordered on gross, but didn't quite stray there. . . so I'll give it a pass.
Still really enjoying the series and excited to move onto book three!
It's natural and almost expected for a fantasy series to introduce a set of clear "monsters" for which our heroes can fight without any need for hand-wringing. It's why zombies as a genre became so popular: we can get all the gorey action without needing to question whether any of our faves are actually murderers. Likewise, we don't need to worry about commentaries on war or relatedly, racism/xenophobia as you would with human foes.
This seemed like the path Pierce was taking with the Stormwings in book one. Their looks and mannerisms were so clownishly and distastefully "Other" that we didn't even blink to see Daine, a child, kill them. We rooted for Zaneh to get wrecked.
It would have been easy to continue in this fashion; to never critically examine the morality of killing these creatures even in a series so intimately connected to animals of all types. But Pierce didn't; instead, she buckled down and did the work.
Daine acts like a brat constantly in book two. Her curious, empathetic nature remains intact, but we begin to see the consequences of her experiences as a fledgling warrior-mage (and as a favored friend of the crown). She passes judgment so easily that both Numair and Cloud have to preach tolerance at her just to keep her from killing creatures on sight, purely from past negative experiences. She judges Maura harshly and loses her temper with the kid more than once, even though Maura is acting bravely and loyally for her age and experience. When she hunts with the pack as a wolf, she loses herself in the transformation and her own anger and has to be put in her place by the other wolves.
All of this is great to see, especially when the gradual change in viewpoint is executed with such subtlety.
I found the pacing to be pretty on par with book one, with some slow spots that could have done with small edits. The cast of characters became a bit large and hard to manage at times, especially in regards to the animals.
But the end battle was imo even more exhilarating than that in book one. Daine's unyielding sense of duty to the land and its creatures fitted perfectly with the book's ecological themes and her internal conflict in regards to her conception of monstrousness. The showdown with Numair and Tristan was great (though I'd wish we'd had just a smidge more play-by-play action - I love Daine working independently, but I want to see Numair's master status at work).
My reservations about Daine/Numair continue, but once again, I found a lack of romantic intention on either side (critically necessary). There was one moment when they were staying at the inn that bordered on gross, but didn't quite stray there. . . so I'll give it a pass.
Still really enjoying the series and excited to move onto book three!
adventurous
inspiring
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I LOVED THIS BOOK! Oh, Daine is just WONDERFUL and layered and lovely. The plot of this one was also lovely. I'm super sad I didn't read Tamora Pierce when I was a child, although I would probably not have survived Scrap and Blueness with my sanity intact at that age, ha. Anyway, adore this quartet, and I really appreciate the pacing of this one versus The Song of the Lioness Quartet- which I also did love, but was so rushed.
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While I loved the author as a teen due to her influx of female heroines in the male-dominated fantasy adventure genre, I have grown out of this series due to the types of relationships the author encourages in teenage girls, which played a part in my unrealistic expectations regarding romance and my underperformance at school. Numair and Daine have implied mutual attraction throughout the series, culminating in an established relationship by the final book when Daine is conveniently legal (where I live) at sixteen but still too young to be snogging her thirty-year-old teacher, who doesn't, to my mind, have nearly enough guilt about allowing it. This is not the kind of relationship impressionable teens should be encouraged to pursue. Other than that, Daine is a model of survival, perseverance and self-improvement.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Slavery
Great for those who love books about talking animals and bratty ten-year olds
Daine and her master, Numair, head out to meet up with Daine's old pack of wolves. Apparently, there is some disturbance to the hunting grounds, and the wolves want the two-leggers to stop mining and farming and such so the game will return. But the rulers of the land, Tristan and Yolane, refuse. Can Daine bring about peace without a bloodbath?
You know that saying about how a sequel is rarely as good as the original? Yeah, that applies here. Sure, this is nowhere near the worst I've ever read--I doubt it would get on a top 100 worst list--but this book is pretty darn dull and contains some of the most annoying tropes.
First off, our story's premise is weak and feels very "sequel"-ish. Daine and Numair are summoned by the wolves to solve a problem? I read the beginning and cringed. There is little I dislike more than a weak reason for a sequel. The sad thing is, the setup at the end of "Wild Magic" is pretty open-ended and ripe for adventures. I just felt the way the adventure started here was weak.
A lot of the characters that were so carefully crafted last time are gone or absent for much of the book. Onua, King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, Tahoi, and more disappear all together; Numair and Alanna appear in very minor roles. Instead, we get probably the third thing I hate most about this book: talking "cute, furry animals". Now we have a billion wolves (including cute pups that is sure to make all the little girl that are reading this squeal and run to their parents begging for a puppy), a squirrel (which has to be THE most annoying anthropomorphized animal, in my book), a basilisk, and, of course, our dragon, which is now called "Kitten". And every time I heard that damn dragon called "Kitten", I wanted to murder something. I've read some animal books in my day (the James Herriot novels, "The Art of Racing in the Rain", etc.) and enjoyed them, so it's not the fact there are animals in this novel. It's the fact that I felt these animals were employed for two purposes: A) the "AW HOW CUTE" factor and the B) "ZOMG!Daine is so awesome" factor.
Speaking of Factor B, we round out to my second most annoying thing about this book: Daine "I'm starting to pole vault over the Mary Sue fence". (I know, it's shocking that this isn't #1 Most Annoying.) I despise Mary Sue characters because they tend to cheat at characterizations and thumb their noses in your face for being so normal. Last book, I could ignore Daine's Mary Sueness because she was young and inexperienced and the book was just written so well, it was hard to be annoyed by her Mary Sueness. Here, the ONLY thing that tempers it (and this is probably what makes it #2 instead of #1) is how prejudiced Daine is towards Stormwings and Ogres and how often she is called out on it. I got to hand it to Pierce: there are NOT many authors who call out their characters for bad behaviors and there are fewer that do it to their resident Mary Sues.
And now, for the absolute Most Annoying Thing about this book...
*drumroll*
Maura!
Who is Maura, do you ask? Well, she's an annoying, whiny, little ten-year old brat who tags along with the group, gets into trouble, screams, and generally makes herself a nuisance...AND WON'T LEAVE NO MATTER HOW MUCH PEOPLE TELL HER TO. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I *HATE* it when a kid is dragged into a story and then the other characters must then proceed to baby said character all over the place because said kid is too STUPID to GO @#$%ing HOME!
Okay, so I've ranted over what I didn't like...so why bother with the three stars? Well, Pierce's writing is still interesting (even if her story is so boring I tuned out and really didn't miss much...). She is developing her story to go somewhere--hence why Daine is honing her talents controlling animals and her own animal instincts. We also get the one big plus factor in this novel: the Stormwings AREN'T all bad guys, they can be just as caring and loyal as any other being. And that last one, in particular, is a HUGE deal, because, let's face it, many children and teen novels wouldn't bother to make villains anything but cliched.
It wasn't as good as "Wild Magic", but it doesn't mean that I'm turned off Tamora Pierce or the Immortals Quartet. I'll be starting up with "Emperor Mage" in the morning. And hopefully, the story will be back to what it was in "Wild Magic".
Daine and her master, Numair, head out to meet up with Daine's old pack of wolves. Apparently, there is some disturbance to the hunting grounds, and the wolves want the two-leggers to stop mining and farming and such so the game will return. But the rulers of the land, Tristan and Yolane, refuse. Can Daine bring about peace without a bloodbath?
You know that saying about how a sequel is rarely as good as the original? Yeah, that applies here. Sure, this is nowhere near the worst I've ever read--I doubt it would get on a top 100 worst list--but this book is pretty darn dull and contains some of the most annoying tropes.
First off, our story's premise is weak and feels very "sequel"-ish. Daine and Numair are summoned by the wolves to solve a problem? I read the beginning and cringed. There is little I dislike more than a weak reason for a sequel. The sad thing is, the setup at the end of "Wild Magic" is pretty open-ended and ripe for adventures. I just felt the way the adventure started here was weak.
A lot of the characters that were so carefully crafted last time are gone or absent for much of the book. Onua, King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, Tahoi, and more disappear all together; Numair and Alanna appear in very minor roles. Instead, we get probably the third thing I hate most about this book: talking "cute, furry animals". Now we have a billion wolves (including cute pups that is sure to make all the little girl that are reading this squeal and run to their parents begging for a puppy), a squirrel (which has to be THE most annoying anthropomorphized animal, in my book), a basilisk, and, of course, our dragon, which is now called "Kitten". And every time I heard that damn dragon called "Kitten", I wanted to murder something. I've read some animal books in my day (the James Herriot novels, "The Art of Racing in the Rain", etc.) and enjoyed them, so it's not the fact there are animals in this novel. It's the fact that I felt these animals were employed for two purposes: A) the "AW HOW CUTE" factor and the B) "ZOMG!Daine is so awesome" factor.
Speaking of Factor B, we round out to my second most annoying thing about this book: Daine "I'm starting to pole vault over the Mary Sue fence". (I know, it's shocking that this isn't #1 Most Annoying.) I despise Mary Sue characters because they tend to cheat at characterizations and thumb their noses in your face for being so normal. Last book, I could ignore Daine's Mary Sueness because she was young and inexperienced and the book was just written so well, it was hard to be annoyed by her Mary Sueness. Here, the ONLY thing that tempers it (and this is probably what makes it #2 instead of #1) is how prejudiced Daine is towards Stormwings and Ogres and how often she is called out on it. I got to hand it to Pierce: there are NOT many authors who call out their characters for bad behaviors and there are fewer that do it to their resident Mary Sues.
And now, for the absolute Most Annoying Thing about this book...
*drumroll*
Maura!
Who is Maura, do you ask? Well, she's an annoying, whiny, little ten-year old brat who tags along with the group, gets into trouble, screams, and generally makes herself a nuisance...AND WON'T LEAVE NO MATTER HOW MUCH PEOPLE TELL HER TO. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I *HATE* it when a kid is dragged into a story and then the other characters must then proceed to baby said character all over the place because said kid is too STUPID to GO @#$%ing HOME!
Okay, so I've ranted over what I didn't like...so why bother with the three stars? Well, Pierce's writing is still interesting (even if her story is so boring I tuned out and really didn't miss much...). She is developing her story to go somewhere--hence why Daine is honing her talents controlling animals and her own animal instincts. We also get the one big plus factor in this novel: the Stormwings AREN'T all bad guys, they can be just as caring and loyal as any other being. And that last one, in particular, is a HUGE deal, because, let's face it, many children and teen novels wouldn't bother to make villains anything but cliched.
It wasn't as good as "Wild Magic", but it doesn't mean that I'm turned off Tamora Pierce or the Immortals Quartet. I'll be starting up with "Emperor Mage" in the morning. And hopefully, the story will be back to what it was in "Wild Magic".