Trickster's Choice

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I read this series - since I hadn't reviewed it here, at least since 2007. Much too long. I do love Aly - her frustration over not being allowed to do what she's able and interested in doing, the matter-of-fact way she uses her skills when she ends up needing them - she gets caught in a pirate raid and is taken as a slave, and coolly damages herself in fights so that she won't be chosen as a bed-warmer. For instance. She's exceedingly lucky in who ends up getting her...and then she finds out it's a god meddling (as so often happens in Tortall). She never really feels out of her depth - the job she has to do, and the tools and allies she has to do it with, are exactly what she needs and what show more she's been training for all her life (hmm - more meddling?). I find it very amusing (I can't now remember if it's in this book or the next) when she realizes what Kyprioth's wager with her actually was... This is half a story - well, it's a good story and has more or less an ending, but the second book is really necessary to complete the arc. One story in two books (and according to the author's afterword, the only reason it's not another four-book series is Harry Potter and the realization by publishers that people really will read big fat books). show less

Yes, Aly's over-talented and kind of annoying. Yes, the book has a serious case of "A white person tried their best while writing this." But just when I thought all of the messiness had killed my nostalgia, it snuck up behind me about 2/3 of the way in and hit me with a brick.
Trickster's Choice shows us a rich new part of the Tortallan Universe that both introduces a unique new setting full of interesting characters and creatures and offers new insight into what we learned about the world in earlier series. Pierce, who has earned a lot of credit for dealing explicitly with women's issues like sexism, rape, and birth control, is certainly less informed on the subject of race, but I appreciate that she writes about racism and colonialism show more with the same level of honesty and passion that she does with subjects more in her comfort zone. Over the course of the book, Aly gets to know and care about a wide variety of interesting characters in the oppressed ethnic group (the dark-skinned raka) and understand the politics of the ruling class (the white luarin), and the racial dynamics are shown to be as messy and fraught as they are in real life. It's not a simple situation of two ethnic groups at war with one another, because these two groups have been interacting with one another for centuries. So there are mixed characters; there are raka nobles and luarin slaves; there are foreigners and gods and crows, all with their own motivations and perspectives. Attention is drawn to the intersections between race, gender, and class. The main character says a lot of things about racial dynamics that I don't really agree with (for instance, that the luarin enriched the isles through their rule), but the fact that there's so much room to argue about various interpretations of the setting's politics and history, and that there are so many parallels to real world discussion of racism and colonialism, is a testament to how fully realized the setting is.
But is it a good book? I didn't enjoy the first half very much at all, primarily because Aly is so much of a white saviour. However, that made me enjoy the second half a whole lot more, because the book is such an interesting deconstruction of the white saviour trope. I also enjoyed the second half a lot more because I got invested in the setting's characters and politics... much like Aly, actually! I'm looking forward to rereading the second book.
While Trickster's Choice is perfectly passable if you treat it as a fun YA adventure and no more than that, I believe that the most interesting way to read it is as a response to and investigation of the white saviour trope, particular as it appears in novels like Trickster's Choice--those occupied with the adventures of young, noble, European-coded heroines in foreign lands. Comparable texts include Pierce's own Song of the Lioness (particularly the third book) and Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword. You might not want to read this book to learn about colonialism--it's probably better to seek out texts by victims and scholars of colonialism and racism for that. But once you have some knowledge of the subject, it's absolutely a worthwhile read. show less

Aly, daughter of George Cooper and Alanna the Lioness, doesn't really know what to do with her life aside from spywork, which her parents are against. Good thing a god is ready to intervene and puts her down smack dab in the middle of a tricky situation in the Copper Isles, where the white Luarin colonizers have ruled over the native Raka for hundreds of years. After she is captured by pirates and sold into slavery, the trickster god Kyprioth has a deal for Aly -- keep the half Raka, half Luarin girls of the Balitang family alive for the summer, and she can go home. This is finally the test of her spy skills she's been waiting for -- but is she in over her head?

As always, I turn to Tamora Pierce and Tortall when real life gets show more stressful, and this duology was next on my reread list. Don't look at me for objectivity about any of Tammy's work. Can I see some issues with the book as an adult? Sure. Tammy does a pretty good job of writing about complex race relations in this book, but she's still a white woman a little out of her depth and Aly is still something of a white savior. Did I still love every minute of my reread? Absolutely. 5 stars from me. show less

With Alianne, or Aly, of Pirate's Swoop, Pierce adds another strong, capable heroine to her already quite full canon. Daughter of Alanna and George Cooper, Aly's story is about finding one's way in the shadow of parents who are known for greatness. One might expect the daughter of the Lioness to follow those footsteps into knighthood, but Aly's talents lie elsewhere.
I find the strength of this series to be in the over-arching plot, which is extremely high stakes and laced with intrigue. Whereas Alanna's books were all tied together by her preventing a usurpation of the throne by an ambitious Duke, Aly's are about the effects of colonialism and the attempt of an oppressed people to retake their ancestral homeland. This plot does not show more meander; it matters. This has been a consistent strength of Pierce's Tortallan books. Within this strong narrative frame, Pierce takes ample opportunity to develop her heroine into a snarky, capable, and likable character. show less

I love Pierce's books, high fantasy young adult works featuring strong heroines. Aly is the daughter of the heroine who started it all, Alanna, from The Lioness Quartet. I liked her a lot more than her progenitor though, and prefer the two Trickster books to that early quartet or the Immortals with Daine. I was surprised to find out that among her characters Aly is the one Pierce likes the least. I think she's my favorite, even though Keladry gives her a run for her money. But then I think the very qualities that put Pierce off are exactly what I find attractive. I love Aly's cunning. She's well-named as a trickster who triumphs using her brain and not a sword. Reading the reviews, some seem to think her too clever by half, but I show more enjoyed Aly nimble mind and wit and ability to get out of scrapes and triumph. And she gets into a big one at the start of the book, where she gets kidnapped into slavery and winds up in a land reminiscent of Indonesia. Another great ride, and I like the sequel, Trickster's Queen even more. show less

This book is the first in the Daughter of the Lioness/Tricksters subseries, and is about Aly, who, like the title says, is the daughter of the Lioness (aka Alanna- the first of the Tortall heroines). Unlike most of the other books in the series, this one doesn't involve Tortall much and mostly takes place on a set of islands west of that country, which I found to be a fresh and interesting spin- not that I'm bored of Tortall; I just think it's cool when we get to learn about the surrounding countries.

I found Aly to be just as interesting as her predecessors and I enjoyed her relationships with the other characters. The only flaw I found in her was that she was almost too clever and lucky. (I'm trying to not go into more details than you show more can get from the back cover or on Amazon or something, so how can I word this...) Granted, a lot of her luck can be based on the fact that a god is helping her out; although that's dubious in itself since it's a trickster god involved. The other main thing that made her so clever and lucky was her vast knowledge of spywork. I know that she was raised to have those skills, but it just seemed like she always knew what to do in any situation. Somewhere along the lines a teenager is bound to mess up, right? Still, though, that flaw wasn't a problem because it didn't really detract from her character; she's still witty, intelligent, and strong. It just kind of made me go "hmm..." after I finished the book and I realized how lucky and skilled she was the whole time.

The other characters in the book are well-rounded and interesting, too. I'll admit that I now have a crush on Nawat, one of the main characters; he's adorably innocent, although there's a reason for that, but I don't want to give it away. Suffice it to say that he's not really *human* per se. He brings a lot of humor into the story (although all this talk about eating bugs was kind of gross, now that I think about it) and is a good counterpart to Aly, and keeps her from being too serious about things. The other character I really liked was Dove, one of the girls in the family where Aly ends up. I have no idea how she is in the next book, but as of now, I'd love to see a series with Dove as the main character. Even as a 12 year old, she's just so smart and level-headed, and just seems like a good candidate for a series heroine.

As for the plot, I enjoyed the change to a different location we didn't previously know much about, and I loved the bits of humor throughout; without that humor, the book wouldn't have been nearly as good because it's a pretty dire situation that Aly is dropped into. I loved all the spying and sneaking stuff Aly is able to do (even if she is really good at it), and I thought the storyline was deep enough to hold your attention, but not so bogged down in politics and race issues that it became boring. I also enjoyed the cameos of previous characters (Kel! Daine! Numair! Hi, guys!).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure if it's my favorite in the series (I think I prefer Daine or Kel to Aly), but it's definitely a good continuation to the super good Tortall series. I certainly wasn't disappointed by this book; I think it's just about as good as the rest. :) I'll give this 4 1/2 stars out of 5. show less

Tamora Pierce returns to the world of Tortall, in this story about Aly - the teenage daughter of Alanna the Lioness and George Cooper. At the beginning of the novel, Aly is a bored young noblewoman, desperate to take her father's path as a spy but not being allowed to. Her relationship with her mother is fraught, since neither stubborn woman will back down on their ideas about Aly's future. After yet another argument, Aly decides to spend the summer visiting relatives rather than endure her mother's wrath, but ends up being taken by slavers en route. She is shipped to the Copper Isles and purchased by the Balitang family.

While there, Aly is visited by a minor God - Kyprioth, who used to be all-powerful to the raka people of the islands. show more He offers a wager - if Aly keeps the two eldest daughters of the Balitangs family alive til autumn, Kyprioth will return her to her family and speak to George Cooper on her behalf about becoming a spy.

From there, Aly is plunged into a life fraught with dangers, where the mad royal luarin family have reason to see the Balitangs first driven into exile and then attempt murder. Aly comes to see that Sarai, eldest daughter of the Balitangs, has both luarin and raka royal blood and therefore is destined to bring the people of the Copper Isles together.

Surrounded by interesting characters - such as Nawat Crow - Aly is determined to win her wager...

As is her wont, Pierce has once again given us a sassy and fiercely independent young woman, who is prepared to die out of loyalty to friends and who sees men as no more than a pleasant diversion in the pursuit of duty. Aly manages to overcome her title of slave and becomes integral to the lives of the Balitangs, through straight talking and unquenchable spirit.

My one complaint about Aly - who otherwise is a genuinely likeable young heroine - is that she is almost too clever and resourceful. We are given to understand that she has received training and advice from such illustrious personages as George, Alanna, Daine and Thayet (all characters from Pierce's previous novels about Tortall), but Aly still seems to know the answer to everything.

The book is filled with warm and interesting characters. Pierce is able to give us people and animals that we can take easily to our hearts. By the page-turning climax of the book, we care deeply for the people who have crowded the novel with their lively characters, realistic dialogue and genuine motivations.

Enjoyably, Pierce also writes strongly about divisions between the people of a land because of the colour of skin. She explains sensibly (in the words of Aly) that no one should be prejudiced against because they are the wrong colour. It is excellent that such a widely-regarded author is using her work to encourage racial equality and acceptance of the healthy differences between different people. The raka (black) and luarin (white) have both been responsible for atrocities in the past, and now must learn to live together and become simply the people of the Copper Isles.

I very much enjoyed the little details that Pierce embued this novel with to show a different culture to that of Tortall (which is very much based on feudal Europe). The Copper Isles are shown to be rich with exotic wildlife and landscapes, and the fiery food is very different from that Aly is accustomed to eating.

Happily, it is not essential to have read Pierce's other Tortall novels in order to enjoy this one, so new readers to the world can dive right in - however, it is extremely likely that, after enjoying this book, they will rush out and buy the rest. Readers accustomed to Tortall will both enjoy hearing about characters from previous books and be pleased to see this new plucky heroine take her place amongst them. show less