Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales

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. show more 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! show less

I'm listening to the audio, and I can't tell if the reader is influencing some of my enjoyment level. There are multiple readers. I've had to skip three stories because they were downright unsatisfactory. But other stories are solid and welcome. There is a plumping out of the universe, glimpsing tail ends of other stories and characters already familiar.

The last two move out of Tortall and inhabit modern urban fantasy. Jarring.

I'm a fan of Tamora Pierce's young adult fantasies, which I discovered as an adult after a friend who loved her books from childhood was horrified when I asked her Tamora who? She can fall into a preachy political correctness, which can be seen from time to time in these shorts, but she also writes among the strongest female protagonists in fantasy, yet alone Young Adult. She's the perfect counter to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga with her active, kick-ass heroines and creates imaginative magical realms.

My favorites among her books are The Protector of the Small series with Keladry and the two Trickster novels with Aly. Those books are set in Tortall (as are most of her novels) as are six of the stories in this anthology. In addition show more there are three other tales of high fantasy, one urban fantasy and one short work of mainstream fiction.

The relatively low rating I'm giving this book reflects that I just didn't find her shorts as compelling as her novels. It's not that like some I'm no fan of the short story--there are authors who I think shine in the short form, even surpassing their long fiction--Stephen King and Isaac Asimov spring to mind. But I don't think Pierce's talents of world-building and character development are displayed to most advantage in the short form, and if you're new to her, I wouldn't start with this book. I don't think these stories have the "punch" of really strong short stories, instead many of them made me wish they could be longer and more fleshed out--although in that regard I guess that proves Pierce certainly writes characters you want to linger with! (I'd love to see more of Adria of "Lost" or Arima of "Time of Proving" or Ri of "Mimic" again someday.)

That said, if you are already a Tamora Pierce fan, there is a lot to enjoy here. If you love her Immortals series, then you'll probably grin at "Elder Brother" which tells of the tale of Qiom, the apple tree Numair inadvertently turned into a man, and "The Dragon's Tale" from the point of view of "Kitten" the young dragon Daine adopted.

"Nawat" about the half-crow/half-human triplets born to crow-man Nawat and his mate Aly of the Trickster books is the longest tale in the book--novella-length at 70 pages. At times I found it a bit TMI squicky rather than humorous as obviously intended and all too weird in its mix of human and beast, but ultimately oddly touching.

My favorite Tortall-based story, based on characters from the Lioness Quartet, doesn't really have a fantasy element at all. The pleasure of that story opening the book, "Student of Ostriches" is precisely how the Kylaia teaches herself martial arts from the close observation of real animals. A wicked kick from the ostrich and a punch from giraffes and she "learned more kicks from zebras, a double hand strike from lions, and a back-of-the-fist blow from elephants."

I also found Pierce's one urban fantasy tale, "Huntress" genuinely scary--maybe because the Central Park setting hits all too close to home for a native New Yorker like me.

And at the end there's a teaser from the next Beka Cooper novel Mastiff that has me salivating at the thought of the release of the entire novel. show less

Love it. I had read one of the stories before - Huntress - though I didn't recognize it until Felix started talking about lionesses and I'd forgotten how it ended (in fact, I thought it was much darker than it really is). The rest were new to me and they're all great. Skysong's story, Nawat and Aly's children, the Ostrich, Proving Ground...yeah. They're all memorable, great glimpses into either the continuing lives of old friends or new beginnings - new characters I'm pleased to know (and would be delighted to know more of!). All - except Qiom, and he had Fadala - female protagonists, finding their places or stretching into their powers. Nice! And The Testing was fascinating for a different reason - is Tamora Pierce a Foreign Service show more brat, like me, or was it only her character? I can tell stories - well, not quite like X-ray's, but the reactions I get are similar... Anyway. Lots of fun - that's a library book, but it's now firmly on my wishlist.
Student of Ostriches - I like her, great curiosity about the world. Elder Brother - Qoim is interesting, poor guy. I'd like to see his adventures when he gets to Tortall, as well. And Fadala is also neat - she should meet the Lioness. The Hidden Girl - Very interesting, particularly her take on Fadal! Though she's going to run into trouble with her companion - I doubt she can pretend to be aged when they're camping together. Nawat - Great. It's fascinating to see him make adjustments - and the ones he won't make. His comment about the betting and the response are really funny. The Dragon's Tale - Again, neat. Seeing things from Skysong's perspective - and Spots' - is fun. The opal dragon is neat - and Skysong's babbling is funny. It's going to take her a while to run out of things to say. Lost - Adria is great; another one I want to see more of. And the darkings keep getting more interesting. Time of Proving - a very interesting culture. I don't think they've been mentioned before - actually, neither of them. The only bull-men I know of are the immortals (Tauros?), who are nearly brainless. Plain Magic - great! I love the mage, the girl is neat, and the dragon is beautiful. And again - I'd love to see more of them. Her spells are all thread magic - reminds me of Sandry. Mimic - another new culture, and a new kind of dragon. The Pact is interesting, too. Repeat, repeat - want to see her/their future adventures. Huntress - This one I'd read before, somewhere. I didn't recognize the beginning, but Felix and his "lionesses" was familiar. I also didn't remember how it ended - I thought it would be darker than it is. Not that it's very light as it is... Testing - Fun. Tamora says it's semi-autobiographical - I wonder if the being a FSB (Foreign Service Brat) is one of the true parts. I suspect so - she had the right sort of stories, though Tamora's bio doesn't mention it. Being an FSB myself, it really caught my attention. Though I don't think I would have done as well as X-ray. show less

This was a nice collection of short stories. I liked the stories at the beginning much more than those at the end, and could have honestly done without "Huntress" or "Testing", which had different feels than the rest of the stories and were, in my opinion, much weaker.

The contains eleven stories in total, of which 7 take place in the same world as her Tortall books - though oddly enough, none of them are located in Tortall proper. All of the Tortall stories were a delight, and I loved seeing and revisting some favorite characters again, if only briefly.

Fans of Pierce will love this collection. Those who have not yet discovered her would do well to pick it up.

These short stories have all the things I like best about Tamora Pierce - strong characters, interesting settings, and a sense of justice. The stories set in Tortall are a fun visit while waiting for the next book in that world, and I found the rest of the stories enjoyable. Sunflower in particular, made me laugh.

I enjoyed this brief trip back to Tortall and the other worlds of Pierce's imagination. My favorite story of the lot was probably "Nawat" -- which is interesting, as the Trickster duology is one of my less-favorite series by Peirce. I also enjoyed "Lost" and "Mimic." I didn't care as much for the last two stories in the book, both of which were set in our world, so maybe that was the problem. While I felt that the general level of quality was consistent, I did notice that four or five of the stories share the same basic plot: a young woman with skills (fighting, magic, mathematics, etc.) that set her apart from the rest of the people in her village/family faces obstacles and is rewarded by finding a teacher who can take her away and show more help her develop her skills. It's a great plot, and in a few cases I would be interested in reading more about those characters -- but the similarities were a bit glaring. All in all, though, an enjoyable read which I would recommend to fans of the author's full-length fiction. show less