Trickster's Choice

This book was recommended to me in middle school. You know why? Because the main love interest is "sooooo hawt!".

...calm down.

I’m not saying anything against my friend. She was young, she was excitable, and her hormones were raging.

Puberty lets you get away with all kinds of shit.

But I never trust that a book is worth reading just because a character is attractive. If books were judged by that standard, then Stephanie Meyer would be the most celebrated author of our time.

Literary greatness?

So I never got around to reading it at the time, but it was always at the back of my mind, toying with me, luring me to it, calling me: please, oh please, peruse my pages!

Nah I’m just kidding I totally forgot about it.

Until a few weeks ago when I saw it on my friend’s bookshelf. I asked her if it was good, she said yes, and so I decided to read it. I mean, if the book itself wasn’t good at least I knew that the love interest was cute, right?

But it didn’t matter. Because this book ROCKS!!!

But I do have to warn you, just in case you start reading this and hate it, then curse my name, then voodoo doll me, it starts out slow. It took me a loooooong time for me to become familiar with the world that Tamora Pierce has created. And let me tell you, has she put time into creating it. Tamora Pierce is one of the most prolific young adult writers I have every encountered and, I’m a little ashamed to say, this is the first book of hers that I’ve read. A ton and a half of her books, though, take place in the world of Trickster’s Choice, with different series starring different characters.

We got:

The Song of the Lioness series starring Alanna the Lioness, a girl who wants to be a knight:

The Immortals series starring Daine, a young mage who is discovering her powers:

Don't you wish you could model for things like this? And then find yourself in bookstores doing weird shit with butterflies? That's all I want.

Oh, and if you don't know what mage means, look it up. I'm encountering it more and more in the young adult books I read.

Then there's The Protecter of the Small series starring Kel, another girl who wants to be a knight like her idol, Alanna.

Am I the only one who feels just a little uncomfortable by that third one? I mean, it's literally just a picture of her chest.

Then comes the Trickster series starring Aly, Alanna’s only daughter.

Holy sequel, Batman! There's another one! YES.

And then, finally, the Beka Cooper series, which takes place 200 years before the start of the Alanna series:

This cover makes me want to piss myself a little.

Allllll of these stories take place here:

And the characters from different series interact with each other often. In other words, this has the potential to have an incredibly huge and geeky fanbase. And I’m pretty sure it does.

So, back to why Trickster’s Choice is the shit. Once I got acclimated to this new and very strange world with all it’s magic and immortal creatures and freaking unicorns and all that, I was able to appreciate the character of Aly. Now, she starts out the series as seeming like an unappreciative daughter who only cares about her looks and loves to meaninglessly flirt with local boys. But as the book goes on she surprises you. This girl knows her shit. Like reeeaaallly knows it. She gets kidnapped and turned into a slave and then becomes bodyguard to two of the most hunted girls in the kingdom, and she manages to keep her head, and save everyone’s ass, like, literally all the time. There is rarely a moment where Aly is not saving someone’s ass.

"We owe our asses to you."

She's also super good at persuading people to do whatever she wants. She keeps certain information from some people and then reveals it to others just to her advantage, so that she’s always holding all the cards. She’s scary good at this. Almost too good. There were moments when I was like, does she have flaws??? But, you know what, I got over it, because the plot was amazing, and I actually kind of liked that she was sort of invincible.

What makes this book so great is that it’s not a story of luck and chance. It’s a story of strategy. Everything that Aly does has a purpose in the long run and she is incredibly smart about it. Her foresight is freakin’ 20 20. It’s ridic. (that’s short for ridiculous. I like to shorten words. It saves ti).

It’s a mother flippin’ joy to read this book because you just want to know what Aly will do next and how she’s going to save the day. And it’s not like she’s saving the day by charging into huge armies with a lance and some throwing stars. Nooooooo she’s spying. She sneaks around pretending to be an innocent slave when in fact she’s searching through trunks and eavesdropping on important conversations.

It’s so boss!

So, guys, guess what? We have ourselves a GEM!!!

Tamora Pierce created this.

Now we know that young adult fantasy isn’t full of horrible writing, and dumbass characters that no one can relate to. Thank you Tamora Pierce for helping to save the integrity of the genre!!!!

Oh and the main love interest is totally cute. My middle school friend was so right.