#lioness quartet: the goddess is the protector of women

[clonerightsagenda]

While there are critiques to be made about the Tortall Tricksters duet and I've seen other people with more standing make them, I do think it's interesting for Pierce to take the Great Mother Goddess who was the divine patron of her original main character and have her also be the patron goddess of a group of white supremacist colonizer villains. Like yeah maybe the goddess backing the armed enforcer of fantasy!Western Europe's royal family doesn't always have great politics. When Aly rebels against her mom she does not fuck around

[book--brackets]

Future Competitions

In light of recent requests and submissions, once this competition is over, we'll be starting back up again with a whole new set of books! If you'd like to submit a title, check my pinned post and the list below to make sure your submission is eligible. I can no longer add to this list. Any further titles are being kept privately by me, but there are there, I promise! I am now tagging asks with the titles submitted.

A to Z Mysteries

Abhorsen

A Dog's Life

Adventure (Blyton)

Adventures of the Bailey School Kids

Adventurers Wanted

Alcatraz VS the Evil Librarians

Alex Rider

All-of-a-Kind Family

The American Girl Books

Amulet

Anne of Green Gables

Animal Ark

Animorphs

Applewhites

The Babysitter's Club

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

Beacon Street Girls

Beatrice Bailey

The Belgariad

Bella Sara

Betsy-Tacy

Black Beauty

The Black Stallion

The Blackwell Pages

Books of Bayern

The Borrowers

Bridge to Terabithia

The Boxcar Children

Captain Underpants

Casson Family

The Cat Club

Catwings

Charlotte's Web

The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci

The Chronicles of Dragon

The Chronicles of Prydain

The Circle of Magic

Clementine

The Clique

The Cloak Society

Cobble Street Cousins

The Cooper Kids Adventures

Coraline

Damar (McKinley)

The Dark Hills Divide

The Dark Is Rising

Dear America

Dear Canada

Deltora Quest

The Divide (Kay)

Dork Diaries

Dragonbreath

The Dragonfly Pool

Dragonhaven

Dragon Rider

Dragon Slayer's Academy

Earthsea Cycle

East (Pattou)

Echo (Ryan)

Edgar & Ellen

Emily (Montgomery)

Emily Windsnap

The Enchanted Castle

Encyclopedia Brown

Esperanza Rising

The Ever Afters

The Faerie Realm

Fablehaven

Fairyland (Valente)

The Faraway Tree

Ferngully

First Light (Stead)

Five Children and It

Flat Stanley

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Gallagher Girls

Geronimo Stilton

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Giver

Goddess Girls

Goosebumps

Graceling

The Great Brain

The Greenglass House

Gunnerkrigg Court

Half Upon a Time

The Hardy Boys

Hatchet

Heist Society

Help, I'm Trapped...

His Dark Materials

Holes

How to Train Your Dragon

The Hunger Games

Igraine the Brave

The Immortals Quartet

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Ingo (Dunmore)

The Inheritance Cycle

Inkheart

Iron Hearted Violet

Island of the Aunts

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Ivy & Bean

Journey to the River Sea

Julie of the Wolves

Junie B. Jones

The Kane Chronicles

The Kid Who Ran for President

Kiki Strike

Killer Unicorns

Kingdom Keepers

The Last Apprentice

The Letter for the King

La Quête d’Ewilan (in French)

Legend (Lu)

Les Chevaliers d’Émeraude (in French)

Leven Thumps

Liesl & Po

Little House on the Prairie

A Little Princess

Little Women

Lockwood & Co.

The Lost Conspiracy

Macdonald Hall

The Magic Thief

Magic Treehouse

The Magisterium

Magnus Chase

Malory Towers

Matt Cruse

Maximum Ride

Melissa (Gino)

Merlin (Barron)

Michael Vey

Miri and Molly

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

The Missing (Haddix)

Mister Max

The Mistmantle Chronicles

Misty (Henry)

Molly Moon

The Moorchild

Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

The Music of Dolphins

My Secret Unicorn

My Side of the Mountain

My Teacher Is an Alien

Nancy Drew

Nevermoor

The Neverending Story

Nimona

The Ogre Downstairs

Out of My Mind

The Penderwicks

Pendragon

Peter and the Starcatchers

The Phantom Stallion

The Phantom Tollbooth

Pillage (Skye)

Pippi Longstocking

Pixie Tricks

Poison (Zinn)

Pony Pals

Princess Academy

Protector of the Small

Rainbow Magic

Rain Reign

Ramona

Regarding the...

The Roman Mysteries

Rose (Webb)

Rowan of Rin

The Royal Diaries

Running Out of Time

Sammy Keyes

Savvy

School of Fear

The Search for Wondla

The Secret Garden

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Secret Series

Septimus Heap

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Seventh Tower

Shadow Children (Haddix)

Silver Brumby

Silverwing

Skullduggery Pleasant

Song of the Lioness

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Stardust

Stargirl

The Strictest School in the World

Swallows and Amazons

Sweet Valley High

The Swiss Family Robinson

A Tale Dark & Grimm

The Tale of Despereaux

Tales of Alderley

Tales of Magic

Ten Kids, No Pets

The Thief Lord

Tiffany Aching

Tillerman Cycle

Time Hunters

The Trumpet of the Swan

Tuck Everlasting

Tuesday McGillycuddy

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Uglies

Un Lun Dun

Undertow

Unicorn Chronicles

Upon a Marigold

Upside-Down Magic

The Vengekeep Prophecies

The View from Saturday

The War That Saved My Life

Wayside School

The Westing Game

When You Reach Me

Where the Red Fern Grows

Wildwood Chronicles

Windsingers

Wings & Co.

Winnie the Pooh

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Worst Witch

You Be the Jury

[tigriswolf]

@bkstrq

SO. First book review up and running.  

Chronologically, Provost’s Dog starts the Tortall ‘verse, but I’ve never read that series; I just couldn’t get into the diary format. Song of the Lioness comes next but was the first written.  The first I read was The Immortals. 

Obviously, I say to start with The Immortals (Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, The Realm of the Gods).  Then go to Song of the Lioness (Alanna: The FIrst Adventure, In the Hands of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Lioness Rampant) after you’ve already met the characters. Protector of the Small is my absolute fave (First Test, Page, Squire, Lady Knight) then there’s Daughter of the Lioness (Trickster’s Choice, Trickster’s Queen).  Tortall and Other Lands completes it, with stories that take place outside of Tortall and with other povs. 

Now that you know the order to read them in, I’ll tell you the basic plot and characters. 

Alanna of Trebond wants to be a knight but girls aren’t allowed; so she trades places with her twin brother, who DOES NOT want to be a knight, and pretends to be a boy for 8 years. She manages through sheer badassery, though a few characters figure it out and others have to be told for plot reasons. 

Daine Sarrasri is a 13-year-old orphan running from her past who wants to find somewhere no one knows her. She picks the land with the legendary Sir Alanna, at the same time mythical monsters are popping up all over the place. 

Keladry of Mindelan is the first KNOWN girl page in a couple hundred years, and there are very many people who want her to fail. 

Alianne of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau wants to work with her da in his spycraft and has no idea how to interact with her mother, the legendary Sir Alanna. 

Kel is my absolute fave, but Daine is a close second. Both of those quartets are just as good as they were when I first read them years ago.  Those four span about 30 years, so the characters keep showing up in various stages of their lives across the books.

I will admit that there are some problematic elements, but you can literally see Tamora Pierce grow as a writer. Each of the women is their own person, badass in different ways, with varying levels of femininity. The plots have twists and turns, and while the bad guys are fairly obvious, it’s a real battle, with realistic losses, to defeat them. 

Also, when reading, keep in mind that Song of the Lioness came out in the 80s, The Immortals in the 90s, Protector of the Small and Daughter of the Lioness in the early 2000s. There’s another series for Tortall in the works, which is YAY. 

Dude, also also, there is a REASON my tag for Tortall is ‘zombie dinosaurs no seriously’. It is AMAZING and one of the best scenes of ANYTHING EVER.