Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce

The problem with reading a book in series literature, for me at least, is that once I begin I feel impelled to pick up the next one and the next one until I run out of extant books in the series or the series concludes. I get really frustrated actually when I have to wait for the next installment because the writer hasn't written it yet. This is why I tend to wait for series to conclude and then read them all in one big marathon. I do T.V. the same way.  It's a character flaw.

Luckily, "The Lioness's Daughter" series is a duet. Also luckily, I managed to finish it before having to go back to school.

Trickster's Queen picks up about six months after the end of of Trickster's Choice. Aly has earned her place as spymaster and has spent the winter building and training a network of spies. The old king is dead and the Balitang family is going back to the capitol city. This sounds like a good thing. But it's not. With all the deaths, the youngest child Elsren is now the presumed heir to the throne and that's not a very safe position to be in.

The court intrigue deepens and the pressure from Kyprioth increases as fears drawing the notice of two of his god siblings. Despite her youth, Aly has earned the respect of her raka conspirators, but can she keep track of all moving pieces and keep her prospective queen alive?

This is an excellent continuation from the first book even though the feel is much different. Trickester's Queen is less action oriented. It is more focused on the plotting and intrigue. While there is plenty of action still, the narrative is more driven by following Aly's complex schemes which provides a very different reading experience.

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce

Every time I think I've finally finished all the Tamora Pierce books, Jess keeps handing me another. I'm appreciative, they are good books, but whenever I start one I get trapped in it until I finish it. It's a nice problem to have I guess, but I'm looking forward to reading books that I can put down when I need to.

Trickster's Choice is the start of a the "Daughter of the Lioness" storyline set in the Tortall world. This story-line follows Alanna and George's daughter Aly. Aly takes after her father, the ex-master thief turned spy. She's headstrong and a thrill seeker and completely uninterested in the traditional life-pursuits for a young noblewoman.

What she really wants to be is a spy. However, Mom and Dad don't want their little girl in that much danger. Who would? It's infuriating to Aly though, and after a heated discussion with her mom, Aly decides to sail down the coast a little and cool down. That's where she runs into the pirates who capture her and sell her into slavery.

Soon, Aly finds herself tangled up in the local politics of the Copper Isles and talking to local gods, specifically Kyprioth the trickster god.

So, in reading Pierce it seems that she like's coming sideways at real world issues in her books. She's taken on gender issues and slavery. This one seems to be coming at issues of race and conquest. It's interestingly pragmatic about the issues in a way that we often aren't. One of the things I've always valued about books is their ability to shed light on the issues of our world without the baggage so that we can think clearly about it. Most people seem to take literature, especially fantasy, at face value, but I think when it's well done, it can be more thought provoking than even the best history which must always be examined for agenda.

In any case, good read. Appropriate for high schoolers and precocious middle schoolers. Solid themes and thought provoking. Some, minimal romance but nothing lascivious. Strong characters both female and male.