the Dalaverse

Finished Trickster's Queen

*SPLAT*

That sound was me running into the wall from excitement.

The epilogue first -- OMG DAINE NAMED THE NEW BABY RIKASH SQUEEEEEE. I was literally sitting there forty pages ago and thinking how Rikash was my absolute favorite character from the Immortals. Well, Rikash and Cloud. I don't really have a favorite from PotS and Trickster yet; they're too recent. George, of course, is my favorite from the Lioness. George might just be my favorite character in anything ever. He's just...gahhhhh GEORGE.

Speaking of which, Aly and the "I want you to pull all your agents outta my Isles, Da" and then the EYEBROW-RAISING FIGHT. And I loved the reunion between Aly and Alanna. No big sappy teary hugs, just...mother and child understanding each other at last. Plus the mention of Alanna's scarred hands = best detail EVAR. And then, and then, BABY ::pokes Aly's belly::

Rest of the ending: the riot/battle was excellent. Reminded me a bit of the final battle in Lioness Rampant. Tamora Pierce is really good at that sort of thing. Sadness for the fighters lost, with Ulasim's final words possibly the most affecting thing I've read in a Tamora book since Faithful ("Time to go home!" gets me on every. Single. Reread). The total non-reaction to Aly's confession of her parentage was perfectly in-character for all involved, and cracked me up. I loved that they heard from Sarai. It would have been so easy to make that character despicable, but never once did I hate or even really dislike her.

An immensely satisfying read, both for the eternal ten-year-old and the contemporary Dala. I have nothing negative to say. How could I possibly criticize a Tortall book? I will say that I think this set had better villains and political sideplot than PotS, but that's partially due to the kind of heroine Aly is as opposed to Kel (and I am equally fond of them both).

And now it looks like time to start the whole cycle over again. Let's see, I believe I redid the Kel books and Trickster's Choice over the summer, which means I handled Alanna and Daine last spring, which puts me pretty much on schedule. Maybe a little bit behind; I know I reread them all at a faster rater than one a year. On the other hand, there are more now.

I have no idea how many times I've reread these books -- the Lioness series, more accurately, because they've been around the longest. I lost count back at eight, and that was sometime in middle school. And it's always a big production because I have to read them in order, and I have to start at the beginning, and I have to read Realms of the Gods even though it's the weakest of the...what are we up to now? Three quartets and a duology; that's fourteen. I was never able to get into the Circle of Magic books. They're...well, they're not Tortall.

I wonder what she'll cook up next. The way the current series were laid out is really pretty neat. You have the original Lioness set, then enough time for Alanna and Jonathan to get settled down and start familes, then Daine comes along (with that fabulous scene at Pirates Swoop). Kel's adventures start not too long after the Immortals War; Aly gets interesting just about when that's wrapped up, because I remember that Alanna was stuck in Scanra at the start of TC. I was wary of the child of an established character set-up (it seemed so cheesy at first), but Aly completely won me over. I don't care who stars in the next series, although someone in the royal family would be interesting. Any setting -- Tortall, the Yamani Islands, Carthak, Tyra (I don't think we've ever actually been to Tyra), Scanra, anything. Anywhere. Anybody.

As long as there is at least one George cameo.