Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales (Beka Cooper) (2011)

I had just been craving a new Tamora Pierce novel when this came out. I pouted for a couple of minutes because it's not [b:Mastiff|2964700|Mastiff (Beka Cooper, #3)|Tamora Pierce|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|2994229], which I want to read but sadly is not out yet. Then I thought, you know, I've reread Protector of the Small twice this year, so I probably should go pick up the new Tortall book even if it is short stories.

Plus, there's a Lioness Rampant on the cover. This excited me, so I attempted to explain the Lioness Rampant to my mother, who did not care but smiled politely anyway because she's a good mom.

I would love to pretend that I can give a glorious, insightful, and snappy review of a Tamora Pierce novel. But, um, I can't.

See, I read [b:Alanna the First Adventure|13831|Alanna The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1)|Tamora Pierce|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255720760s/13831.jpg|1936544] when I was in sixth grade. I read it under my desk because my teacher was repeating himself and I was bored. I thought, this would be a good time to pick up that book I got for my birthday. He never even noticed that I wasn't paying attention, and I thought I'd learned quite enough about the Nile River Valley for one week, thank you much. In fact, I read the rest of the day. Then I went home and picked up the second book. Etc.

The Tortall books taught me about feminism before I even knew feminism existed. Alanna, Daine, the Circle kids, all grew up with me. They fought literal battles at the same time I fought hormones, bookworm/wallflower syndrome, and social pressure. Those girls were the people I wanted to be. Especially Keladry. Kel is still the person I want to be when I grow up.

I will never be able to extricate these books from my childhood, because not only are they brilliant, but, well, I think they're brilliant. Which is why this review is basically going to be a convoluted, fangirl mess of, "I LOVE YOUR BOOKS."

And I loved this one, too. I loved "Student of Ostriches" back when I read it in the Young Warriors anthology. Anything set in Tortall, I devoured. The final story, "Testing," made me chuckle because my oldest friend works in social services. I've heard this story in other incarnations, other places, similar settings, and it always makes me smile. The reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was just because I was not a fan of the modern-day goddess tale. Other than that, sign me up!

So yeah. If you haven't read the Tortall books, well, go do it! ( )

I had read several of these stories before, but I really enjoyed getting additional glimpses into Pierce's fantasy worlds. ( )

I'm usually not a great fan of short stories, but I figured I couldn't go all wrong with Tamora Pierce, and fortunately I was right :) I really enjoyed all these tales from the Tortall universe, although found it somewhat telling that I definitely enjoyed those with characters I knew better than those with characters I didn't - the one exception being Lost which I think may just have been my favourite... guess I'm still just a math-geek at heart ;-)

I didn't care as much for the stories set in present day though. Somehow it just seemed misplaced somehow. Especially the last story, Testing, which - though good - I really couldn't see how fit into the theme set by the rest of the short stories.

But all in all I really enjoyed the stories, and am now in the mood for more Tamora Pierce. ( )

I read the first two Tortall (Alanna's and Daine's) series a couple of decades ago, or so, and since I've been seeing Tamora Pierce's books in the library, I thought I'd jump back into that world, and picked this collection of short stories as a starting point. Most of the stories seem to involve Tortall, or other lands in the same world, though a couple are more contemporary, being set in our world. I've forgotten the details of the series I originally read, but a couple of these stories involved Daine or Numair (of 'The Immortals' series), and I suspect some of the others tied in to other series I haven't read yet.

I thought all the short stories in this book were fairly consistent, and they all held my interest. I don't think you need to have read any of Pierce's other stories to be able to follow these (though I did find myself idly wondering about the back story of Nawat).

Student of ostriches
Kylaia, a shepherd girl, learns to fight by watching wild animals.

Elder brother
An apple tree is transformed as a side effect of Numair's magic, and must learn to live as a man who calls himself Qiom.

The hidden girl
After Qiom and his companion pass through the village in which she and her father were staying, a young girl called Tekalimy (Teky) finds her life obliquely affected by them. Teky helps her father, who is a preacher who teaches both religious books of their culture, not just the one taught by the temple.
This is a sort of parallel story to Elder Brother starting with events towards the end of that story. Both stories address the rights of women in a culture where they have to be veiled and seen to be submissive, but look at the issue from different view points.

Nawat
A crow shape-shifter living as a man becomes a father for the first time, and has to juggle the expectations of the flock of crows he leads with those of the humans he lives among.

The dragon's tale
Skysong, the dragon kitten adopted by Daine, has an adventure of her own, and makes a friend.

Lost
Adria, who loves mathematics but is limited by what girls are expected to learn, makes friends with a darking (small, helpful, amorphous creatures) named Lost.

Time of proving
Arimu, a young girl on a quest in the desert, is saddled with a pampered scholar with no survival skills.

Plain magic
Tonya, a young mage, who can't get the training she needs in her village meets a sympathetic cloth peddler called Lindri, who shows her simple, everyday magics.

Mimic
Ri, a young shepherdess with no magic but an empathy for animals, is reluctant to become an apprentice in magic. When she rescues an ungainly creature from an eagle, her life changes.

Huntress
This is set around Central Park in New York City. Corey has always found it hard to keep friends, partly because her mother's family worships the moon goddess, but Corey has never seen anything to believe in. Sometimes magic hides in unexpected places, even if you don't believe in it.

Testing
This is a straight fiction story, based on the author's own experiences (as explained in the prologue to the story), about how girls in a home test all their new house mothers.

( )

I originally reviewed this book on my blog - The Cosy Dragon. For more recent reviews by me, please hop over there.

This is a collection of short stories all written by Tamora Pierce. Six are easily identifiable as belonging to the Tortall universe. Three appear to be short stories of a different universe, but possibly could also be from Tortall. The last two don't fit in with the explicit fantasy theme at all, although one has a touch of magic.

'Student of Ostriches ' is the first short story in this book, which I recently read and reviewed from the book Young Warriors, edited by Tamora Pierce.

'Elder Brother' is the other side of the story for the tree who has become a man, after Numair changes an evil mage into an apple tree (see the Wild Magic Quartet - to be reviewed soon). Qiom has no idea what to do as a human, and Fadal decides to help him adjust to his new life. It is hard for both of them because Fadal has secrets too. I really enjoyed this story, both as a supporting story for the other quartet, and for exploring Fadal's character. The land they are in sounds somewhat like a Muslim country to me, because all women must be veiled tightly, and only protected by their menfolk.

'The Hidden Girl' overlaps with 'Elder Brother'. The protagonist encounters Qiom, and happens to be teaching in the same town in which Fadal is almost burnt. Teky is hidden behind her veils, and through that she tries to teach the real voice of the Oracle, that says veiled women should not be powerless. The last line of this story really gave me a giggle! Very enjoyable.

'Nawat' is told from the perspective of Nawat, Aly's crow friend. Before reading this story, it is important to have read the Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen book so that you understand about crows (and don't spoil their relationship for yourself!). It's a longer short story, well written and hearttouching. I did have problems with the way the birthing was presented and also that the 6 month old was able to say understandable words. Otherwise, yay, another Aly story!

'The Dragon's Tale' features Kitten, the dragon daughter of Daine! Yay! Kitten is unable to talk, but she still gets her message across well. Kitten is on tour, and is totally bored. Instead she finds someone in need with rare two toned magic just like Numair.

'Lost' has a darking in it. I'm fond of darkings, and they are so clever. It's a story many people may be able to identify with, being beaten for things that they cannot be blamed for. The ability of Adria for her mathematics is wonderful! I love hearing about someone who is excellent at what they do, but yet is not aware of it.

'Time of Proving' involves a being of some kind that I couldn't identify. It shows the importance of helping a friend, even when that friend is rather unworldly.

'Plain Magic' also has a dragon! My favourite. It appears that Pierce enjoys writing about Dragons as much as I enjoy reading about them. Once again, someone who shows great skill is held back by others who are frightened of her abilities.

'Mimic' has a different type of creature. When compared to Kitten, it doesn't seem to be the same. Saying too much more is would ruin it for you. I did enjoy the growing up theme, and also the benefits that are reaped by the protagonist for caring for something that appears to be dying.

'Huntress' and 'Testing' do not belong with the rest of the short stories. 'Huntress' seems quite jarring after the enjoyable short stories from before - a little too serious to belong with the rest, and with an entirely different type of magic. Personally I found 'Testing' to be a good general teen novel. I sympathised with the protagonist, but I didn't really understand why Pierce had given her panic attacks - it didn't really contribute to

An enjoyable read. The majority of these stories are valuable additions to the Tortall universe. Recommended for teenagers. Some I would say were ok for children, but others (particularly 'Huntress') are unsuitable. ( )