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The Immortals #1-4
The Immortals Quartet
The orphan Daine applies for a job that takes her and her trusty pony Cloud from her birthcountry of Galla to the kingdom of Tortall. Here she finds a new life and a new family, and learns that she has the magical ability known as "Wild Magic," which enables her to speak to animals, heal them, and take their shape as well as bend them to her will. She makes friends with a lineup of chacters and creatures, including the black-robe mage Numair Salmalin, a young dragon named Skysong (nicknamed Kitten), the legendary Lioness, Alanna of Trebond, King Jonathan, and Queen Thayet of Tortall.
912 pages, Paperback
First published September 23, 2003
About the author
Tamora Pierce
106 books85.6k followersHey, folks! I just discovered that apparently I have given some very popular books single-star ratings--except I haven't. How do I know I haven't? Because I haven't read those books at all. So before you go getting all hacked off at me for trashing your favorites, know that I've written GoodReads to find out what's going on.
I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!
Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!
I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.
I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.
Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned!
I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!
Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!
I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.
I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.
Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
June 24, 2018
In this four volume omnibus edition from the Science Fiction Book Club, we are treated to the story of young Daine, the wild magic that helps her communicate with all animals, and the adventures she has while learning about herself and the life she is to lead.
This was not quite as compelling as Song of the Lioness, but of course the idea of being able to talk easily with any animal, to really understand them and know what they were feeling is the major appeal here. Daine had just as much to prove to and about herself as Alanna had in the other series, she simply proved it in a different way.
The first book (Wild Magic) was my favorite, since it dealt more with Daine herself and the efforts she made to become who she was supposed to be. In the other three, while Daine is still exploring her new life, she is drawn into the politics and diplomacies of the Tortall kingdom. The fourth book (The Realms Of The Gods) was actually my least favorite. At least the darkings helped bring a few touches of lightness and humor to an otherwise fairly gruesome story.
This was my second time reading this book, but unlike other reviewers I had not read Tamora Pierce when it was age-appropriate for me to do so. Mainly because the author is only about three years older than I am. I discovered her through the SFBC, and I am glad I did because I enjoy her world and her messages very much.
I am about to start the final omnibus I have of her work, Protector of the Small. I've read that once before also, but I have just a few vague memories of the story. Time to back away from the keyboard and return to Tortall to See What Happens Next!
This was not quite as compelling as Song of the Lioness, but of course the idea of being able to talk easily with any animal, to really understand them and know what they were feeling is the major appeal here. Daine had just as much to prove to and about herself as Alanna had in the other series, she simply proved it in a different way.
The first book (Wild Magic) was my favorite, since it dealt more with Daine herself and the efforts she made to become who she was supposed to be. In the other three, while Daine is still exploring her new life, she is drawn into the politics and diplomacies of the Tortall kingdom. The fourth book (The Realms Of The Gods) was actually my least favorite. At least the darkings helped bring a few touches of lightness and humor to an otherwise fairly gruesome story.
This was my second time reading this book, but unlike other reviewers I had not read Tamora Pierce when it was age-appropriate for me to do so. Mainly because the author is only about three years older than I am. I discovered her through the SFBC, and I am glad I did because I enjoy her world and her messages very much.
I am about to start the final omnibus I have of her work, Protector of the Small. I've read that once before also, but I have just a few vague memories of the story. Time to back away from the keyboard and return to Tortall to See What Happens Next!
December 3, 2017
So yes, as you can see I’ve been doing a little rereading. I finished the Lioness quartet and was still feeling a bit nostalgic so I thought what the hell I’ll just keep going! When I was younger this was my favourite of all the Tortall books, I wanted to be Daine and speak to animals and heal them, she was my hero. Again, reading this as an adult is different to preteen me reading it (thank god). For one thing I was so invested in Daine and Numair’s relationship, from the get go I was like they belong together. Now the thought of a sixteen year old and her thirty year old teacher/mentor getting together is downright horrifying. I believe that Tamora Pierce has answered this question previously by saying that it’s the time period (it’s a medieval fantasy) and she’s partial to an older man. For me, as soon as I read the age difference in the first book I just couldn’t put it out of my head, it was constantly in the back throwing popcorn. Now in saying that, the rest of the book I still adored, but it would be harder for me now to recommend this. I LOVE it, but I can imagine parents coming after me if I gave it to a twelve year old today. In saying that there’s nothing inappropriate going on, it’s a clean read, but parents 🙄. Also, adult me still kinda wants to go out and commune with nature and animals are reading this.
July 5, 2016
"THIS IS AS LOVELY AS COLTS FRISKING IN THE SUN"
(Cloud has the right of it when it comes to these books)
(Cloud has the right of it when it comes to these books)
March 28, 2025
One way I've been using this site that's perhaps a little bad-brained is that I'm posting reviews based on the physical books that are passing through my hands, even when it might make more sense to break them up. (The other way that's perhaps a little bad-brained is that I'm doing all this shouting into the void at all.) I do think from a book-history point of view it's perfectly defensible; I remember the concrete objects of these that I first encountered thirty years ago, the Point Fantasy paperbacks, though, now, having looked at the cover of one of those, it's something quite different to the thing I thought I had this concrete recollection of; I found the modern paperbacks of the first and second books I just posted reviews to to have covers that diminished their effect (one has a picture of the badger god, who just looks like a badger); anyway, this worked out cheaper than getting paperbacks of 3 and 4, and it permitted the very specific experience where I finished the third book and debated getting up from the chair and went on to read all of book four.
It's been an odd little trip down memory lane: I remembered the magic in these, the insistence on visualisation in the first book, the bronze cores of animal selves and the filaments and wires of Daine's powers, as something genuinely weird and strange; now I find the descriptions to be rather flat. (I don't think she uses three nouns as good as cores, filaments, wires.) Similarly a lot of what felt disarmingly off-kilter in the character relationships now just feels problematic. Of course there's also the jadedness of having a hundred other other worlds to compare Pierce's subcreative efforts too, and a general over-familiarity with the readymades of narrative structure. Actually, something that's interesting about these is that Pierce sidesteps the thing one expects (increasing military stakes, slow escalation to world-ending threat) and instead makes book two more local than book one, and then has books three and four go to different narrative modes. In the third book, Emperor Mage, Daine, Numair, Alanna, and a bunch of forgettable others are on a diplomatic trip to end hostilities with the evil empire who've been manipulating things off-stage for the previous two books. Instead of general war being declared it transpires that the gods have grown unhappy with this empire, and one of them wants to use Daine as a vessel for revenge. One of the reasons that the evil empire is evil is that they have slaves, which sits a little awkwardly with them being vaguely Carthage-coded when Tortall, where the good guys are from, is vaguely Arthurian Britain-coded. The emperor gets an ironic comeuppance: returns, changed, in book four, Realm of the Gods, at the head of a new coalition of forces: is only heard as a series of noises off for the majority of that book, as Daine and Numair are instead on a quest to escape the divine realms, which have sort of a dreamlands vibe.
It's interesting that the four books are such different structures within a ten-chapter action/beat framework where the first chapter starts in medias res and Daine, our Teenage Protagonist, gets to act independently and decisively at chapter nine. How she does so in Emperor Mage is the most satisfying ending, sidestepping not only her various parent-substitutes but the death-god that wants to ride her, motivated to a level and chaos and revenge in the mistaken belief that Numair, foremost of her parent-substitutes, is dead. She's shape-shifted to lead a pack of hyenas, sacred to the death god, to the evil emperor who has a superstitious fear that these creatures will end him, and when that's done and Numair emerges from the shadows to reveal he's faked his own death she returns to her human form in shock; he gives her a cloak to cover her nakedness, and yes, this is anticipating how in book four, when he's thirty and she's fifteen, he's going to be promoted from a parental substitute to a romantic interest. In chapter nine of that one she ends up inventing a new kind of bird to be as she flies to pursue the emperor to his eventual death; as she and Numair are making out in celebration the horse to which she is psychically bonded gets to wrap things up with a one-liner. It's that kind of book.
I did wind up on the Tamora Pierce wiki earlier today; one footnote led me to her saying, well, in the medieval period that age gap wouldn't be that weird, and this is essentially a medieval setting. On the other hand, Tortall is a country whose medieval period is egalitarian, with gender equality and universal literacy. (Similarly one might adopt the 'but it's meant to be medieval times' defense to the iffiness of Daine coming to not-Africa from not-England to tell them slavery is bad. This is also complicated by the extend to which race is often ambiguous: unclear whether 'Verilidaine Sarrasri' is a white person, except on, oh, every book cover this series was saddled with. There's a coyness to Pierce's descriptions of people's skin tones, where one gets the vague sense some people are not totally Caucasian; it's unclear if Onua's people, for example, are meant to be giving gypsy or giving South Asian, and Numair Saladin (whose birth name is Arram Draper, and is basically Howl, from the book, not the movie); the one exception, and an odd one, is that very occasionally someone is described as being, like, black as hell.
Anyway, there I was on the wiki, looking to see if Pierce returned to these characters, and, oh:
The footnote led to a dead link but seemed to suggest this was from some message-board communication from the author. It's funny how the project of writing the politically correct fantasy kingdom seems to have led Pierce by a series of small adjustments and nudges and improvisations to some truly wild shit; yes, that bit of body horror above isn't in the books, but Realms does feature Daine ambushed while bathing by a kind of bull demon that explicitly wants to rape her. (She kills it, but feels sorry for it: it's only doing the things its instincts lead it to.) I can't work out if she's writing for prepubescent girls with a surprising frankness about sexual matters or if she's writing more pruriently for older girls (and writing down to them, somewhat, if she didn't expect it to be incredibly obvious that Daine's father is a god about five hundred pages before it is made clear.) There are weird things going on with gender and with the martial throughout, with how Daine is forever crossing between subverting contests of brute strength and then just having to merk people; there's a a repeated beat of Daine's various fuzzy animal friends confirming their willingness to straight up die for the cause. In the last book it's more or less established that the animal gods are Platonic ideal forms of the animals whose pantheons they form, whose existence as thus has rendered them sapient--again, we get there, I think, by adjustments, nudges, improvisations--and that gives us the arc in which the first platypus is despatched to the mortal world to take on one of the Four Horsemen. I don't know, man; I wrote that sentence and I have no idea how to sum up, after that.
It's been an odd little trip down memory lane: I remembered the magic in these, the insistence on visualisation in the first book, the bronze cores of animal selves and the filaments and wires of Daine's powers, as something genuinely weird and strange; now I find the descriptions to be rather flat. (I don't think she uses three nouns as good as cores, filaments, wires.) Similarly a lot of what felt disarmingly off-kilter in the character relationships now just feels problematic. Of course there's also the jadedness of having a hundred other other worlds to compare Pierce's subcreative efforts too, and a general over-familiarity with the readymades of narrative structure. Actually, something that's interesting about these is that Pierce sidesteps the thing one expects (increasing military stakes, slow escalation to world-ending threat) and instead makes book two more local than book one, and then has books three and four go to different narrative modes. In the third book, Emperor Mage, Daine, Numair, Alanna, and a bunch of forgettable others are on a diplomatic trip to end hostilities with the evil empire who've been manipulating things off-stage for the previous two books. Instead of general war being declared it transpires that the gods have grown unhappy with this empire, and one of them wants to use Daine as a vessel for revenge. One of the reasons that the evil empire is evil is that they have slaves, which sits a little awkwardly with them being vaguely Carthage-coded when Tortall, where the good guys are from, is vaguely Arthurian Britain-coded. The emperor gets an ironic comeuppance: returns, changed, in book four, Realm of the Gods, at the head of a new coalition of forces: is only heard as a series of noises off for the majority of that book, as Daine and Numair are instead on a quest to escape the divine realms, which have sort of a dreamlands vibe.
It's interesting that the four books are such different structures within a ten-chapter action/beat framework where the first chapter starts in medias res and Daine, our Teenage Protagonist, gets to act independently and decisively at chapter nine. How she does so in Emperor Mage is the most satisfying ending, sidestepping not only her various parent-substitutes but the death-god that wants to ride her, motivated to a level and chaos and revenge in the mistaken belief that Numair, foremost of her parent-substitutes, is dead. She's shape-shifted to lead a pack of hyenas, sacred to the death god, to the evil emperor who has a superstitious fear that these creatures will end him, and when that's done and Numair emerges from the shadows to reveal he's faked his own death she returns to her human form in shock; he gives her a cloak to cover her nakedness, and yes, this is anticipating how in book four, when he's thirty and she's fifteen, he's going to be promoted from a parental substitute to a romantic interest. In chapter nine of that one she ends up inventing a new kind of bird to be as she flies to pursue the emperor to his eventual death; as she and Numair are making out in celebration the horse to which she is psychically bonded gets to wrap things up with a one-liner. It's that kind of book.
I did wind up on the Tamora Pierce wiki earlier today; one footnote led me to her saying, well, in the medieval period that age gap wouldn't be that weird, and this is essentially a medieval setting. On the other hand, Tortall is a country whose medieval period is egalitarian, with gender equality and universal literacy. (Similarly one might adopt the 'but it's meant to be medieval times' defense to the iffiness of Daine coming to not-Africa from not-England to tell them slavery is bad. This is also complicated by the extend to which race is often ambiguous: unclear whether 'Verilidaine Sarrasri' is a white person, except on, oh, every book cover this series was saddled with. There's a coyness to Pierce's descriptions of people's skin tones, where one gets the vague sense some people are not totally Caucasian; it's unclear if Onua's people, for example, are meant to be giving gypsy or giving South Asian, and Numair Saladin (whose birth name is Arram Draper, and is basically Howl, from the book, not the movie); the one exception, and an odd one, is that very occasionally someone is described as being, like, black as hell.
Anyway, there I was on the wiki, looking to see if Pierce returned to these characters, and, oh:
Daine was instrumental in gathering intelligence during and in the lead-up to the Scanran War. She helped defend the refugee camp Haven, and served as a messenger and scout to the Tortallan forces. However, she couldn't do so any longer once she became pregnant around August of 461 HE, because the baby was giving her a hard time by constantly changing its shape in the womb and forcing Daine to do so likewise.
The footnote led to a dead link but seemed to suggest this was from some message-board communication from the author. It's funny how the project of writing the politically correct fantasy kingdom seems to have led Pierce by a series of small adjustments and nudges and improvisations to some truly wild shit; yes, that bit of body horror above isn't in the books, but Realms does feature Daine ambushed while bathing by a kind of bull demon that explicitly wants to rape her. (She kills it, but feels sorry for it: it's only doing the things its instincts lead it to.) I can't work out if she's writing for prepubescent girls with a surprising frankness about sexual matters or if she's writing more pruriently for older girls (and writing down to them, somewhat, if she didn't expect it to be incredibly obvious that Daine's father is a god about five hundred pages before it is made clear.) There are weird things going on with gender and with the martial throughout, with how Daine is forever crossing between subverting contests of brute strength and then just having to merk people; there's a a repeated beat of Daine's various fuzzy animal friends confirming their willingness to straight up die for the cause. In the last book it's more or less established that the animal gods are Platonic ideal forms of the animals whose pantheons they form, whose existence as thus has rendered them sapient--again, we get there, I think, by adjustments, nudges, improvisations--and that gives us the arc in which the first platypus is despatched to the mortal world to take on one of the Four Horsemen. I don't know, man; I wrote that sentence and I have no idea how to sum up, after that.
December 24, 2008
A little old for young adults. There is sex in the Immortals series also. Not as good as her other books.
July 15, 2023
I feel like I have to review all four books in this series together since they comprise one story arc.
My overall rating of 3 stars doesn’t really reflect the disparity between the books.
Wild Magic (Book 1). 4 stars
Wolf Speaker (Book 2) 4 stars
Emperor Mage (Book 3) 3 stars
Realm of the Gods (Book 4) 2 stars
Wild magic and Wolf Speaker really capture Daine and her magic really well. After book 2 things start to crumble a bit and by book 4 I was highly disappointed in the writing and the plotting. I also thought that someone was pushing the author to include a touch of romance because there was a very clumsy and uncomfortable romantic angle which was poorly executed.
After reading this quartet of books I really understand, or can surmise, why the author is taking so long to produce the second Numair book. I think she has tried to write a duology to fill in the story of Arram Draper, before he became Numair but she has really painted herself into a corner because the events of this set of books don’t easily mesh with that story. Still, I’m a huge fan of Tamora Pierce and if anyone can make it work, she can!
My overall rating of 3 stars doesn’t really reflect the disparity between the books.
Wild Magic (Book 1). 4 stars
Wolf Speaker (Book 2) 4 stars
Emperor Mage (Book 3) 3 stars
Realm of the Gods (Book 4) 2 stars
Wild magic and Wolf Speaker really capture Daine and her magic really well. After book 2 things start to crumble a bit and by book 4 I was highly disappointed in the writing and the plotting. I also thought that someone was pushing the author to include a touch of romance because there was a very clumsy and uncomfortable romantic angle which was poorly executed.
After reading this quartet of books I really understand, or can surmise, why the author is taking so long to produce the second Numair book. I think she has tried to write a duology to fill in the story of Arram Draper, before he became Numair but she has really painted herself into a corner because the events of this set of books don’t easily mesh with that story. Still, I’m a huge fan of Tamora Pierce and if anyone can make it work, she can!
September 27, 2021
This was my favorite Pierce series as a kid (only narrowly winning out over the Circle of Magic). I loved Daine, I liked the perspective of seeing people from the Song of the Lionness as adults, I enjoyed that Daine had found family, I thought the adventures were cool. I'll even admit that it may have been the first time I really dug the tortured hero trope or the secret orphan trope. This was the first book in which I ever had a book crush. Wild nature magic was also feeling like my jam. It was a good quartet as a kid. As an adult I think there are some troubling aspects - for example, Pierce seems to like pairing a lot of her female characters up with older men, while they're still troublingly young. For more than one, it's their first and only relationship. Kind of like Woman Who Rides Like a Man, I may have to reexamine Emperor Mage with my adult eyes re: cultural representation. To that extent, I'm totally sure of my love for it, but not as sure about recommending it to kids.
December 23, 2018
Book #1: Wild Magic
Date Finished: December 20th
Rating: 4 stars
Book #2: Wolf-Speaker
Date Finished: December 21st
Rating: 4 stars
Book #3: Emperor Mage
Date Finished: December 22nd
Rating: 4 stars
Book #4: The Realms of the Gods
Date Finished: December 23rd
Rating: 4 stars
I really, really enjoyed reading the series. I love Daine, and Kitten, and Cloud, and the wolves, and everyone! I've always had a soft spot for animals, so that could be part of it. I think I liked Kel's series slightly better maybe, but I definitely enjoyed this one more than Alanna's, not to say that Alanna wasn't good.
And I also liked how there was hardly any romance, and when there was, it was only in the fourth book, and wasn't much of anything. Alanna's and Kel's romances bored me, but Numair was nice, so that also made Daine's romance better.
I think my favorite overall was Kitten. She was so cute and funny!
Date Finished: December 20th
Rating: 4 stars
Book #2: Wolf-Speaker
Date Finished: December 21st
Rating: 4 stars
Book #3: Emperor Mage
Date Finished: December 22nd
Rating: 4 stars
Book #4: The Realms of the Gods
Date Finished: December 23rd
Rating: 4 stars
I really, really enjoyed reading the series. I love Daine, and Kitten, and Cloud, and the wolves, and everyone! I've always had a soft spot for animals, so that could be part of it. I think I liked Kel's series slightly better maybe, but I definitely enjoyed this one more than Alanna's, not to say that Alanna wasn't good.
And I also liked how there was hardly any romance, and when there was, it was only in the fourth book, and wasn't much of anything. Alanna's and Kel's romances bored me, but Numair was nice, so that also made Daine's romance better.
I think my favorite overall was Kitten. She was so cute and funny!
July 28, 2019
4.5 stars This series was so good! I'm still a little bit upset that it took me so long to read Pierce's work, because I know I would have loved this when I was younger, but I'm so glad I finally did! I loved Daine and how she always emphasized kindness and compassion, mostly using those qualities instead of brute force to solve her problems. However, the mental image of her riding an army of dinosaur bones into battle is pretty bad ass. I'm only taking off half a point because I thought the mild romantic elements were clumsy, and I don't love the fact that she ends up with her much older teacher, but it's not a huge part of the story so it didn't ruin it for me. I can't wait to read her other series in this world
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2016
This is an omnibus, containing all 4 of the Daine books. I highly recommend them. They're a bit different from the Alanna and Keladry books, since Daine has wild magic, rather than the mage Gift; and she is not trying to become a knight. Note: the descriptions below may contain minor spoilers, since it is nearly impossible to describe the story otherwise. But they should not affect your enjoyment of the books! If you hate spoilers of any kind, read no further.
Wild Magic
After her family is murdered by bandits, Daine hooks up with Onua, the horsemistress for the Queen's Riders. Daine has 'a knack with horses', which is really her wild magic for speaking with animals, although she doesn't recognize it and is afraid to admit it for fear she might be mad. Her horse Cloud, helps her and guards her. While traveling with Onua, they find an injured hawk, which Daine helps to heal - the bird eventually proves to be the magician Numair, a shapechanger who is 'stuck' in hawk form. They meet Alanna, the King's Champion, and have a bout with some Stormwings and spidrens, immortal creatures who have somehow been released from the Divine Realms where they had been imprisoned. The beaver god tries to teach her about her gift and gives her a claw which will help him find her if she needs him. She continues to learn more about using her wild magic, with Numair as a teacher. When they reach Corus, she meets King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Among other adventures, she adopts a baby dragon, whose mother was killed helping them fight. Everyone wants her to live with them, but she chooses to stay as Onua's helper with the trainee Riders.
Wolf-Speaker
The Long Lake pack of wolves, Daine's old friends who helped her when her family was killed, have sent for her. She is led to the pack, who tell her that the land in the valley near their lake is being dug up, the trees cut down, and the game frightened away or killed. Daine and Numair and the little dragon Skysong travel with the wolves. They find that the nobles of Dunlath and their mages are mining for something and caring nothing for despoiling their land. They have also imprisoned ogres, who are forced to do the mining, overseen by soldiers. The local animals including Daine's wolves, decide to help by voluntarily stealing and spoiling the soldiers' supplies - it appears the animals have changed since their contact with Daine. Daine meets Tkaa, a basilisk, who can understand the baby dragon's chirping speech. He joins the group, as does Lady Maura, who has run away from Dunlath because she feels her sister and brother-in-law are traitors. The Dunlath mages put up a dome over the area that prevents mortals from passing, although Tkaa can go through it. Despite the efforts of the Dunlath mages, the group eventually triumphs, and leaves Maura and her faithful servants (and the ogres) to try to bring the land back to its former state.
Emperor Mage
Daine, along with her teacher Numair, Alanna, Duke Gareth, and several other Tortallen nobles, travel to Carthak for peace talks. Daine is included because Emperor Ozorne of Carthak dotes on his birds which have become sick, and he wants her to heal them with her gift. Prince Kaddar, the emperor's young nephew and heir, is detailed to escort and amuse Daine while the peace negotiations are going on. She meets Master Lindhall of the University, who was Numair's teacher and friend when Numair (then called Arram) was at the university. Kaddar shows her the emperor's menagerie which includes immortals (including captive Stormwings) as well as other strange animals, and his collection of dinosaur bones, both of which feature later in the story. Ozorne wants everything his way; he wishes to kill Numair, whom he hates, and to keep Daine. He has ignored the gods and let the temples of his city fall into disrepair. One of these gods, the Graveyard Hag, decides to influence Daine, much to Daine's dismay and fury, to cause her to bring Ozorne's rule to an end. Plot piles upon plot, and leads to an explosive and exciting ending.
The Realms of the Gods
The barrier, which previously imprisoned the immortals in the Divine Realm, is in tatters, and all kinds of immortals have descended on the land. Tortall's armies are hard put to defend all sides of the country, and neighboring countries are taking advantage of that and are trying to invade. Numair and Daine are traveling again, when an accident takes Daine to the Divine Realms (with the help of her beaver god patron.) There she meets her dead mother and her previously unknown father, the god Weiryn. While there, she meets other animal gods, and learns that the battle with Chaos has escalated because Uusoae, the queen of Chaos, had joined with mortal mages (including Ozorne) to loose chaos into the world. Daine wants to go back to help Tortall in the battles, but in order to leave the Divine Realms, they must travel to find the dragons, who are the only ones to safely transport them back. Little creatures called Darkings appear - they are Ozorne's spies, but some of them decide to help Daine instead. After many adventures, they finally convince a dragon (Skysong's grandparent many times removed) to take them home and help them. Many battles ensue, but finally Uusoae and her cohorts are defeated, and Daine must decide whether to remain with her parents in the Divine Realms, or return to her mortal friends.
February 2018 - I am now rereading this, having read the new Tempests and Slaughter, which is the beginning of the Numair Chronicles covering his early life. Which is another great book!
Wild Magic
After her family is murdered by bandits, Daine hooks up with Onua, the horsemistress for the Queen's Riders. Daine has 'a knack with horses', which is really her wild magic for speaking with animals, although she doesn't recognize it and is afraid to admit it for fear she might be mad. Her horse Cloud, helps her and guards her. While traveling with Onua, they find an injured hawk, which Daine helps to heal - the bird eventually proves to be the magician Numair, a shapechanger who is 'stuck' in hawk form. They meet Alanna, the King's Champion, and have a bout with some Stormwings and spidrens, immortal creatures who have somehow been released from the Divine Realms where they had been imprisoned. The beaver god tries to teach her about her gift and gives her a claw which will help him find her if she needs him. She continues to learn more about using her wild magic, with Numair as a teacher. When they reach Corus, she meets King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Among other adventures, she adopts a baby dragon, whose mother was killed helping them fight. Everyone wants her to live with them, but she chooses to stay as Onua's helper with the trainee Riders.
Wolf-Speaker
The Long Lake pack of wolves, Daine's old friends who helped her when her family was killed, have sent for her. She is led to the pack, who tell her that the land in the valley near their lake is being dug up, the trees cut down, and the game frightened away or killed. Daine and Numair and the little dragon Skysong travel with the wolves. They find that the nobles of Dunlath and their mages are mining for something and caring nothing for despoiling their land. They have also imprisoned ogres, who are forced to do the mining, overseen by soldiers. The local animals including Daine's wolves, decide to help by voluntarily stealing and spoiling the soldiers' supplies - it appears the animals have changed since their contact with Daine. Daine meets Tkaa, a basilisk, who can understand the baby dragon's chirping speech. He joins the group, as does Lady Maura, who has run away from Dunlath because she feels her sister and brother-in-law are traitors. The Dunlath mages put up a dome over the area that prevents mortals from passing, although Tkaa can go through it. Despite the efforts of the Dunlath mages, the group eventually triumphs, and leaves Maura and her faithful servants (and the ogres) to try to bring the land back to its former state.
Emperor Mage
Daine, along with her teacher Numair, Alanna, Duke Gareth, and several other Tortallen nobles, travel to Carthak for peace talks. Daine is included because Emperor Ozorne of Carthak dotes on his birds which have become sick, and he wants her to heal them with her gift. Prince Kaddar, the emperor's young nephew and heir, is detailed to escort and amuse Daine while the peace negotiations are going on. She meets Master Lindhall of the University, who was Numair's teacher and friend when Numair (then called Arram) was at the university. Kaddar shows her the emperor's menagerie which includes immortals (including captive Stormwings) as well as other strange animals, and his collection of dinosaur bones, both of which feature later in the story. Ozorne wants everything his way; he wishes to kill Numair, whom he hates, and to keep Daine. He has ignored the gods and let the temples of his city fall into disrepair. One of these gods, the Graveyard Hag, decides to influence Daine, much to Daine's dismay and fury, to cause her to bring Ozorne's rule to an end. Plot piles upon plot, and leads to an explosive and exciting ending.
The Realms of the Gods
The barrier, which previously imprisoned the immortals in the Divine Realm, is in tatters, and all kinds of immortals have descended on the land. Tortall's armies are hard put to defend all sides of the country, and neighboring countries are taking advantage of that and are trying to invade. Numair and Daine are traveling again, when an accident takes Daine to the Divine Realms (with the help of her beaver god patron.) There she meets her dead mother and her previously unknown father, the god Weiryn. While there, she meets other animal gods, and learns that the battle with Chaos has escalated because Uusoae, the queen of Chaos, had joined with mortal mages (including Ozorne) to loose chaos into the world. Daine wants to go back to help Tortall in the battles, but in order to leave the Divine Realms, they must travel to find the dragons, who are the only ones to safely transport them back. Little creatures called Darkings appear - they are Ozorne's spies, but some of them decide to help Daine instead. After many adventures, they finally convince a dragon (Skysong's grandparent many times removed) to take them home and help them. Many battles ensue, but finally Uusoae and her cohorts are defeated, and Daine must decide whether to remain with her parents in the Divine Realms, or return to her mortal friends.
February 2018 - I am now rereading this, having read the new Tempests and Slaughter, which is the beginning of the Numair Chronicles covering his early life. Which is another great book!
April 8, 2018
I read these books a number of years ago, but I didn’t remember much. Daine is a delightful character, and I love that she gets to be strong without having to be seen as acting like a man, which so many authors think they have to do. I had forgotten that it included so many Alanna characters as supporting characters, which I really loved, as those are some of my favorite books in the world.
April 30, 2018
I have read these before, but always worth another perusal. Since I had read the new book about Numair, I wanted to refresh my memory about the events after he came to Tortall. Tamora Pierce is one of my family's favorite authors.
May 28, 2016
I loved this series! Tamora pierce never fails!! I loved all of these characters and I'm happy that characters from the lioness quartet were in it as well!!!
December 5, 2019
This was such an excellent quartet, I highly recommend it.
January 27, 2020
Daine is great and I liked her books a lot, except that I can't get behind the Daine/Numair romance at all (I wish Pierce were less into the older man/girl he met as a child trope overall).
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