The Realms of the Gods

I've been loving finally reading Tamora Pierce's books, and I've enjoyed the Immortals series even more than The Song of the Lioness, especially the last two books. This one wasn't quite as thrilling as Emperor Mage (which had dinosaurs) but it was still very enjoyable and expanded the mythology of the Tortall universe in interesting ways.

This is the least fun book of the quartet. The characters seemed to be just plodding along a pre-set track. Daine and Numair are caught in the Divine Realms for most of the book, isolated and powerless, while their friends are dealing with a serious war. Somehow, they manage to save the day, mostly because Dane has a knack for befriending the oddest allies, like the darklings.

The rest of their friends is what make these books worthwhile. And that's why the book suffers so much.

With all-out war between Tortall and Carthak finally erupting, Daine and her mentor Numair are killed-- only to be rescued by Daine's mother, now a goddess in the Realm of the Gods. Daine takes this surprisingly easily, and soon sets off to return to the mortal realm, across what must be one of the most boring and tensionless landscapes ever devised. Basically, this is a really long journey where it feels like nothing is at stake, and the stops aren't even interesting. All that happens is that Daine and Numair realize they're in love, and given she's sixteen and he's thirty, that's not even remotely good. I could at least buy it had it been foreshadowed at all, but any romantic affection had not even been hinted at in earlier books. Or show more even earlier in this book. The ending is underwhelming, too, making this definitely the weakest volume of The Immortals (though not quite the weakest Tortall novel, an honor that belongs to In the Hand of the Goddess). I did love the darklings, however. show less

2/5/12:
I reached this book with bittersweet feelings because it is the last in the series, and while there are cameos of Daine and Numair in later books, they are only cameos.

As a mythology junkie, this book was pure awesome. Pierce provides tantalizing glimpses of some of the other, before unmentioned, gods in the pantheon, and how new gods are created.

Daine and this series aren't my favorite among Pierce's characters or books. I think because I find the environmentalist themes unsympathetic and preachy. Pierce's imagination never flags though, and that does make all her books enjoyable and in this one I especially love how she gives another dimension to the Stormwings in this conclusion to the series, and the Darklings are adorable. And if Daine isn't my favorite Pierce heroine, well, I think Daine and Numair are my favorite Pierce couple, and Numair my favorite male Pierce character. Some I'm sure will decry the age difference (she's a teen and he's a 30-something), but I think they play well off each other, and I liked how their relationship grew over the four books, here finally show more building to romance. show less

Again, a lot of interesting scenes, and this one has a rich story to tell as well. However, it's a bit scattered, and again Daine is being pushed by others - though it's more her own choices this time, much less manipulation than in Emperor Mage. Good but not wonderful.

A good wrap up to the series and a fair amount more violent and sexy than I remembered, this is probably my least favorite of Pierce's books. I still liked it, but I don't have the same connection to the characters that I do with some of the other series and the age difference with Daine and Numair ends up playing just a little icky because she's still so young (I know 16 in a medieval/renaissance world isn't that young, but it still feels young to me) plus they had the student/teacher thing going for awhile, so just a leeetle bit icky. Not terrible, just enough to be slightly distracting. I feel like this was the last of Pierce's books where she's still working on finding the exact style that works for her. Listened to the Full Cast show more Audio recording; Full Cast continues to impress with consistently excellent and enjoyable recordings. Previously read a couple times at least. show less