lostlare 's review for:

Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales by Tamora Pierce

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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As a big Tortall fan it was a joy to read these short stories long after I was obsessed with Pierce’s work. It means so much to meet old characters from my teen years and to get almost epilogues to their stories. It is like they just come to life again.

As a small note at the time I read this collection I have read nearly all of the Tortall books at one time or another except Beka Cooper (I hate mystery/cop stories) and the latest Numair book. I also have not read any of the Circle of Magic books, but I really should.

“Student of Ostriches”

Kylaia learns to fight by watching the ostriches and savannah creatures. Using this knowledge she is called upon to defend her family’s honor. Not too much happens in this. Mostly training and watching animals. I always liked how Pierce shows how much work it takes to be a warrior and to be good at what you do.

“Elder Brother”

The story starts with an apple tree that turns into a man. This is a direct result of Numair turning Tristan into an apple tree back in the novel Wolf Speaker. A lot of this reminds me of Frankenstein's monster wandering lost not knowing how to be human, but in this Qiom (the tree) is saved by the kindness of a young teen and they find hope in each other. It has a hopeful end, but the journey was pretty depressing.

“The Hidden Girl”

Here we pick up where we left off in “Elder Brother,” but instead of following Qiom we follow Tekalimy and her father, the traveling priest, who were in the town when the climax of the last story took place. This is a land where women are considered, by the current priesthood, vile who must be uneducated and voiceless. Teky and her father work at showing a different way the the pieces of scripture the priests try to keep hidden. At first I feared this would be a reductionist woman power story bucking Islamic culture and was pleasantly surprised. Pierce handles the power woman in this with a much different hand than most of her writing (in a subtle thoughtful way in fighting the patriarchy). I think this is a pretty good lesson for teens on how religion can be twisted into something to control when only one party has the power/knowledge.

“Nawat”

TW: Childbirth

Here we open with the birth of Aly’s and Nawat’s children and follow Nawat as he navigates the start of fatherhood and the challenges of a multicultural family. This gets pretty dark near the end and I can see it ruining Nawat for some people, but it does end on a positive note. Look, I know that the Trickster series is problematic. I think it is nearly impossible to write a fantasy young adult story with slavery and have it not be problematic especially in the US. I am aware that I have the privilege of being white and from the north to say I adore Aly and Nawat problems aside. They are my favorite Tortall couple (even though we get so little time with them together) and I couldn’t help reading this story before “The Hidden Girl.” I got addicted again and I want more so bad.  

“The Dragon’s Tale”

A story of Skysong’s very own. Where Daine’s dragon daughter (from the Immortal's quartet) wants to help an outcast on her own. If you are a Skysong fan you will be thrilled to see Skysong getting such a happy ending to her story.

“Lost”

Adria dreams of math and becoming an engineer. However, she is trapped with an authoritarian father who is keeping her back. This had great tension and everything I love about a young promising girl overcoming adversity.  

“Time of Proving”

Arimu of the wind tribe meets an injured poet ox-man during her trial of proving. For Tamora Pierce this was a short one and it was very straight forward.

“Plain Magic”

Tonya talks with a traveling merchant while the small village prepares for an incoming dragon attack. Oh boy, I loved this one. It was a treat. This is why I came to love stories. At the core of the thing they delight. It wasn’t perfect. I think Tonya was a little too chill in this, but from what I understand this was Pierce’s first short story I would give it a pass. I did love to see thread magic.

“Mimic”

Ri finds a very injured and very ugly creature and makes it her mission to save it. This might be my least favorite story in the collection. It was very cliche and very predictable. I did like the world building in it however.

“Huntress”

Corey receives a scholarship to a high end private school in New York City. She manages to make friends with people in the popular crowd, but needs to pass a test to be accepted. The problem I had with this one was that the red flags (of the popular crowd) were so extremely blinding that the reader couldn’t help but be frustrated with the main character. The hot guy calling all the women and men his lions and lionesses made me cringe so hard even though I can see actual teenagers do this. I am not sure if I am just the entirely the wrong age bracket for this tale or if it has aged horribly.

“Testing”

An almost biographical tale of a group home of teenagers and how they would “test” new housemothers. Not quite non-fiction, but I consider it a near account of Pierce’s time as a house mother before she got published. It was engaging, but not my favorite.