Reviews: Trickster's Queen and In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
I have a bad habit of starting to read some series right smack dab in the middle. And then, of course, once I realize that it's a series, I have to go back to the beginning and read everything I can get my grubby little paws on as quickly as possible. I love to read series. I love having my favorite characters grow and change and -- best of all -- keep growing and changing for as long as possible. Frankly, I never want them to end.
In reading Trickster's Choice I was unwittingly doing just that. I thought it was the beginning of a series -- which it is -- but it is also the next generation of an already well-developed and well-loved fantasy universe with at least eight (probably more) books preceding it. Intrigued, I picked up one of its predecessors, In the Hand of the Goddess, at a used bookstore and read it in one sitting on my flights from Albquerque to Orange County this weekend. Trickster's Queen, the sequel to Trickster's Choice, was one of my freebie selections for joining audible.com, so I listened to it on my iPod.
First, a little background information: In the Hand of the Goddess is the second book in the first cycle of books based in the Tortall universe, and centers around Alanna, a young woman who has switched places with her twin brother in order to become a knight. By this second book, she has made it past her years as a page and has been made personal squire to Jonathan, the prince of Tortall, who is one of the only people who knows her secret. The Trickster's books are about Aly -- Alanna's daughter -- and set some twenty-to-thirty odd years later.
The most interesting thing for me to note reading these two books in such quick succession is how much the author has grown. In the Hand of the Goddess is often trite, clichéd, jumpy, and a much simpler story than Trickster's Queen. (I got quickly sick of the beautiful and spunky Alanna turning down the advances of the handsome prince and the clever king of thieves because she claimed she would never love a man. I got equally tired of their persistent fawning over her as well.) Where the one is predictable and ultimately unsatisfying, the other is engrossing, intricate, and unique.
It's a very interesting contrast to compare the two books from different points in the author's personal history and realize how much she has grown as a writer. Trickster's Queen is probably twice as long and infinitely more complex than In the Hand of the Goddess, yet one can see the burgeoning talent of the author peeking through even in this earlier work. I was fascinated.
Also, as an aside, in Trickster's Queen, Aly finally gets it on with the hottie crow-man Nawat. Thank GOD. I was going crazy on her behalf. ;c)
In reading Trickster's Choice I was unwittingly doing just that. I thought it was the beginning of a series -- which it is -- but it is also the next generation of an already well-developed and well-loved fantasy universe with at least eight (probably more) books preceding it. Intrigued, I picked up one of its predecessors, In the Hand of the Goddess, at a used bookstore and read it in one sitting on my flights from Albquerque to Orange County this weekend. Trickster's Queen, the sequel to Trickster's Choice, was one of my freebie selections for joining audible.com, so I listened to it on my iPod.
First, a little background information: In the Hand of the Goddess is the second book in the first cycle of books based in the Tortall universe, and centers around Alanna, a young woman who has switched places with her twin brother in order to become a knight. By this second book, she has made it past her years as a page and has been made personal squire to Jonathan, the prince of Tortall, who is one of the only people who knows her secret. The Trickster's books are about Aly -- Alanna's daughter -- and set some twenty-to-thirty odd years later.
The most interesting thing for me to note reading these two books in such quick succession is how much the author has grown. In the Hand of the Goddess is often trite, clichéd, jumpy, and a much simpler story than Trickster's Queen. (I got quickly sick of the beautiful and spunky Alanna turning down the advances of the handsome prince and the clever king of thieves because she claimed she would never love a man. I got equally tired of their persistent fawning over her as well.) Where the one is predictable and ultimately unsatisfying, the other is engrossing, intricate, and unique.
It's a very interesting contrast to compare the two books from different points in the author's personal history and realize how much she has grown as a writer. Trickster's Queen is probably twice as long and infinitely more complex than In the Hand of the Goddess, yet one can see the burgeoning talent of the author peeking through even in this earlier work. I was fascinated.
Also, as an aside, in Trickster's Queen, Aly finally gets it on with the hottie crow-man Nawat. Thank GOD. I was going crazy on her behalf. ;c)
posted by Lacy at
8:47 AM
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