Trickster’s Choice, by Tamora Pierce
Alianne of Pirate’s Swoop is the daughter of Alanna the Lioness and George Cooper. In many ways however, she takes after her father. She loves the world of spies and intrigue that he taught her, but both her father and mother flatly refuse to let her use her talents. When Alanna comes back home to rest for a while, Aly slips away to avoid arguing with her mother day in and day out. She promises herself that this is just a quick jaunt and that she’ll be back before her mother leaves. But even though pirate raiding season has not arrived, someone forgot to tell a band of pirates that. They capture Aly and sell her as a slave in the city of Rajmuat in the Copper Isles. She finds herself working for a very unusual family, but pushing her curiosity to the side, Aly makes plans to escape. While escaping isn’t a huge problem for a girl of Aly’s talents, she finds herself deciding to stay. For a god has just poked his nose into Aly’s life and made her a wager she can’t refuse. And everyone knows that once a god has taken interest in you, they never leave you alone.
The plot of Trickster’s Choice is certainly clever enough, and Pierce’s writing is at a decent level, but the book does not thrill as much as others that she has written. The character of Aly is not as well written as others, and that takes its toll on the story. While the plot is certainly good, the way it resolves itself is not always to satisfaction. Aly is supposed to be this amazingly wonderful spy who can do no wrong: but she does time and time again. I can accept a few mistakes from her: no one is perfect. But the amount of slip ups in her cover story and actions make me want to scream. If she is supposed to be so wonderfully good, why can’t she even stay ‘in character?’ And her mess ups never seem to amount to anything, which they should. I would have settled for less slips, and more consistency.
The character of Nawat though, was a wonderful move. He is the type of character Pierce excels at writing, but never seems to reuse. He is funny, strange, nice, and fits wonderfully in the story. This reformed crow in human shape sees life differently than everyone else, and his outlook is quite cute. He also keeps the story from bogging down under the weight of seriousness, without feeling like he is the gag trick Pierce pulls out when she needs it. He truly makes the story better: without him Trickster’s Choice would not be half as good.
On the whole I can say that Trickster’s Choice is a decent book, but not as good as the Protector of the Small quartet. The writing isn’t quite as good, and Pierce did not adequately form the character of Aly before turning her loose in a book. This book is good for the young teen level as are all the others of Pierce’s oeuvre. I like to read it, but I try not to expect too much from it.
The plot of Trickster’s Choice is certainly clever enough, and Pierce’s writing is at a decent level, but the book does not thrill as much as others that she has written. The character of Aly is not as well written as others, and that takes its toll on the story. While the plot is certainly good, the way it resolves itself is not always to satisfaction. Aly is supposed to be this amazingly wonderful spy who can do no wrong: but she does time and time again. I can accept a few mistakes from her: no one is perfect. But the amount of slip ups in her cover story and actions make me want to scream. If she is supposed to be so wonderfully good, why can’t she even stay ‘in character?’ And her mess ups never seem to amount to anything, which they should. I would have settled for less slips, and more consistency.
The character of Nawat though, was a wonderful move. He is the type of character Pierce excels at writing, but never seems to reuse. He is funny, strange, nice, and fits wonderfully in the story. This reformed crow in human shape sees life differently than everyone else, and his outlook is quite cute. He also keeps the story from bogging down under the weight of seriousness, without feeling like he is the gag trick Pierce pulls out when she needs it. He truly makes the story better: without him Trickster’s Choice would not be half as good.
On the whole I can say that Trickster’s Choice is a decent book, but not as good as the Protector of the Small quartet. The writing isn’t quite as good, and Pierce did not adequately form the character of Aly before turning her loose in a book. This book is good for the young teen level as are all the others of Pierce’s oeuvre. I like to read it, but I try not to expect too much from it.
posted by Tai Schutz | Sunday, January 14, 2007
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