#listen i can rant for DAYS about tamora’s books shes my fave

[nightinngales]

would you rec tamora pierce’s stuff for adults? like it is good bc it’s good or is it good bc nostalgia? (aka should i read it?)

I absolutely would.

is my enjoyment of it probably at least colored by a bit of nostalgia? probably, but i also didn’t read these books until my late teens. they’re marketed as YA, and all of them follow a female protag. tamora is known for being one of the best in terms of representation next to the one dude whose name escapes me right now (fucking percy jackson author you know who i mean) and probably one of the first to do it (as in, before support of lgbt+/minority rep went more mainstream and became a bit more common)

the tortall universe is comprised of currently 3 different series (4 books), 2 shorter series (2 books), and i believe a fourth one is being written currently. chronologically:

the song of the lioness: focuses on alanna of trebond, a girl who masquerades as her twin brother so that she can become a page and train to be a knight in his place. deals with sexism, feminist themes, etc.

the immortals: focuses on daine surrasin(sp? sorry i don’t feel like looking it up lmao) who lost her parents in a bandit attack and joins with a caravan. she finds she has a particular type of magic that allows her to talk with animals, and like shit happens. iirc daine isn’t presented as white but it’s been a while since i read this series since tw: large age gap relationship. it’s presented in a way that’s not as creepy as it could be (daine is 18 by the time they get together) but like. the guy in the story has known her since she was 15-16 and he’s in his 30s. for me it was a dealbreaker so i couldn’t read it past that point, but the first 3 books of this are great regardless.

note: tamora has said she won’t include another relationship like this since it made some fans uncomfy. i believe she just drew from her own experiences as i think her husband was quite a bit older than her but the point is that she listened. if you decide to read tortall and want to skip this, you could just look at a summary. tamora does a good job of making her books accessible even to brand new readers, though obviously understanding references helps.

protector of the small: focuses on keladry of mindelan, the first girl to want to become a page following alanna. this series really ramps up the rep significantly as two side characters are involved in a lesbian relationship, kel speaks of lgbt relationships, and tamora herself has confirmed that kel is likely ace/aro.

other series include: beka cooper, trickster’s choice. also recently started series following daine’s husband’s earlier years before he met daine. first two are both great series in their own right but shorter. beka is sort of like a prequel lowkey cop/detective type novel. trickster’s choice follows one of alanna’s daughters. the husband books i couldn’t tell you as i don’t care that much about him lmao

the holy grail of tamora’s rep though goes to the emelan universe which is comprised of:

circle of magic (4 books), the circle opens (4), the circle reforged (currently 2 books last i heard), for a total of 10.

focuses on four main protags with found family trope: briar, daja, tris, and sandry. briar is an asian boy, daja is a dark-skinned black woman who is later revealed to be lesbian (through the cutest way ever too). their adoptive parents, lark and rosethorn, are both bisexual in a polyamorous relationship, though the poly part is only hinted at really. i believe tamora has also said it’s possible sandry may end up as ace but she hasn’t gotten to that point yet. there’s also multiple characters who are disabled, either upon first meeting them or later on in the series.

the circle series deals with a lot of prejudices such as racism, xenophobia, classism, mental health, and obviously lgbt issues as well, disability etc. it’s genuinely an amazing series that doesn’t get NEARLY enough attention. tw for the series for some darker concepts, such as murder, depictions of ptsd, plague, death, war etc, and (attempted) sexual assault - the last one is only in the 9th book (will of the empress) and implied/talked about very briefly before being WILDLY unsuccessful, but i thought it worth mentioning just in case.

bonus: the first 6? ish books of emelan universe have fully cast audiobooks with great actors. will of the empress is also fully cast and the acting in that one (especially by sandry) is phenomenal. so if you enjoy audiobooks as well i’d definitely check them out.

is it “high brow” adult fiction? no. it’s easily digestible as YA fiction tends to be, written so that teens can easily read it, but it does deal with heavier issues and tamora has been a pioneer of minority representation for literal decades.