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Post by devilinthedetails on Nov 18, 2021 7:21:00 GMT 10
I thought it might be fun to create and share our own tier-rankings for the Tortall books.
Please feel free to offer your own rankings and to invent your own tier systems (or to use mine as a model if you like) in this thread.
I'd love to see all the different ways that people rank the Tortall books!
My Tortall Book Tier-Rankings
Excellent and Most Meaningful to Me-Alanna The First Adventure for introducing me to the Tortall world, making me fall in love with characters like Alanna and her friend, and for giving me a strong heroine to admire in the heroic fantasy I love to read. Lady Knight for all the deep, complex relationships Kel has with people and for the fact that Kel remains single at the end of her series and truly becomes the Protector of the Small.
Very Good-First Test, Page, and Squire. I just love Kel's character (she is the Tammy heroine most like me in temperament), her relationships with her friends are wonderful, Raoul mentoring her is awesome and moving, and I like how her relationship with Wyldon changes throughout the series, and we can see how much she changes him. I'll also probably put Wild Magic and Emperor Mage in this tier because I love all the different characters Daine meets when she arrives in Tortall and being able to spend a ton of time in Carthak was really cool. Bloodhound would also rank here for me since I loved exploring Port Caynn and enjoyed characters like Nestor and Okha.
Very Good despite Some Moments that Made Me Roll My Eyes/Pound My Head in Frustration-In The Hand of the Goddess and Lioness Rampant are in this category because sometimes the attitude toward Roald's desire for peace irritates me a lot and because I really wish certain elements of Alex's treason had been better developed (or really developed at all). Terrier and Mastiff probably also rank here for me. Mastiff for Tunstall's treason, and Terrier for how annoying Beka's mother's writing was in the beginning of the book. Talk about making me pull my hair out. Sheesh.
Enjoyable but I Wish Some of the Racial Relations Had Been Revised and the White Savior Tropes Removed- Woman Who Rides Like a Man for Alanna basically coming along and colonizing the Bazhir and helping Jon do the same, and both books in the Trickster duology for having things like Aly in black/brown face and Aly having to come in from Tortall to save the raka as if there couldn't possibly be a Cunning One born among the raka. There is also a white savor element in Alanna the First Adventurebut I do not feel it dominates almost the whole plot as in the Trickster duology and Woman Who Rides Like a Man. Woman Who Rides Like a Man probably feels the most "dated" of the Tortall books to me.
Books I Kind of Have Trouble Getting Into and Avoid on Re-Reads-Wolf-Speaker and The Realms of the Gods. The wolf plot just didn't work for me in Wolf-Speaker and Realms of the Gods just had some weird moments in it and stuff I just couldn't connect with very much. Daine in general is probably the Tortall heroine whom I connect with the least so that might be part of it.
So what are your thoughts and rankings?
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Post by mistrali on Nov 18, 2021 14:56:44 GMT 10
I’ll do a series ranking, since I’m not too familiar with some of the individual books.
My Tortall Series Tier-Rankings
Flawed but classic colourful, tropey genre fiction which hits the emotional buttons. Or: I’ll have a sausage McGuffin with extra cheese:
1. SOTL as a whole gives me that sense of wonder that I associate with ‘classic’ high fantasy. It has a sense of magic and a mystique about it. Alanna’s journey is a compelling one and she carves her own path using the classic Hero’s Journey formula. We get a glimpse of so many classic Tammy tropes including found family, talking animals (if Faithful actually counts here), the wise advisor. For all Alanna is the most ‘Mary Sue’ of Tammy’s heroines, she is still a relatable character in all the ways that matter. She cries when she gets angry, she’s mean, she feels her emotions at full tilt, she embodies bravery and a willingness to take untold risks for her own personal development. She is a legend and a trailblazer, albeit in a much flashier way than some of her counterparts.
Even in WWRLAM, most of the Bazhir characters were treated with respect - such as Ali Mukhtab being a total badass, Ishak’s believable descent into villainy, Mari, and Kara and Kourrem teaching Alanna about sewing.
Femininity: In general, considering the time period, I thought SOTL had a diverse portrayal of femininity within the admittedly narrow parameters of Tammy’s feminism lol. Despite the heavy-handedness I can see Tammy’s trying to acknowledge the limits of Alanna’s own experiences here. And in LR as well, where Alanna struggles with her own jealousy of Thayet and embraces a more femme/feminine-presenting side of herself. (Apologies if I’m using the incorrect terms here!)
A minor quibble, but the people at one of the podcasts also made a good point about Eleni’s idea that ‘Your body is what the gods made it and you shouldn’t try to change it’ being somewhat dated. While I can see her point, I wonder how this would’ve been approached if the series had been written later, and Tammy had been more in touch with trans issues.
The villains are a bit shallower, but that’s part of the fun, for me.
Broadly, I agree with a lot of the stuff Devil’s brought up about the emphasis on, e.g. early marriage and kids throughout Tortall. Tammy’s amatonormativity was/still is pretty ingrained at this stage.
2. ROTG: Leaving Daine/Numair aside for the minute, this is my favourite book due to the dragons and the quest element. Emily Rodda was my first exposure to fantasy, and I still love quest plots. Like SOTL, this is a classic adventure story with some fascinating worldbuilding and plenty of obstacles for Daine and Numair.
Bonus points for making me tear up when Sarra and Daine reunite.
Broadfoot also denies the existence of First Nations Australians, but I’m glad she didn’t try to write them in as it would’ve been a hot mess.
3. Terrier. A ‘quieter’, more slice of life book with an extremely engaging mystery. Beka is characterised to perfection. The plot is cohesive and the themes dovetail beautifully. I especially loved the refreshing change from the more outspoken or confident protagonists. Beka’s shyness wasn’t treated as something to be fixed, but just a normal trait that shows the diversity in human beings. I’m sure a shy kid could see themselves in Beka and maybe a more gregarious child could better understand shyness. Also, everyone is competent and it’s amazing. Beka’s magic suits her perfectly and is a cool power to have. The Breakfast Club is also reminiscent of Emelan.
4. Bloodhound. Only reread this once, but it was intriguing to see more of a white-collar mystery. Loved the undercover missions and the setup for the Beka/Dale fling. There was growing tension, both from the riots and the hunt for the counterfeiter/s. The part about Pearl and the the gang wars was less interesting and felt a bit like a retread of other Tammy books.
Very good, but less emotional connection: On reread, the first three POTS books blew me away. Phenomenal and absorbing. Especially the all-too-real bullying from Joren and his cronies, the sense of found family/career progression with Raoul and Lalasa. And Kel’s excellent character development. Kel earns her victory fair and square.
I also appreciated that Kel was less of a Tammy self-insert: calm under pressure, has an amazing relationship with her parents and tries to practice a stoic outlook.
But she is a bit too altruistic, in that her constant sense of fairness leads her into trouble that could easily have been avoided with a little self-preservation. I found myself wanting to tell her to ease up, chill out and stop crusading for others for a while. If Tammy wasn’t so skilled at writing interiority, I’d almost call it arrogance on Kel’s part to assume she knows what’s best for people.
I’d be curious to see the shadow side of this altruism. How could it have been used for more nuanced character development? How could it have been examined from both sides, like we saw with Tris learning to control her temper? I wish we had seen an occasion where Kel’s attempts to save the day made things worse in the long run and put people offside. Not because they’re bigots or because they’re commoners who don’t want to offend a noble, but because she’s misread the situation somehow or screwed up.
This light Protagonist-Centred Morality crops up with a lot of Tammy’s characters, like Sandry or Tris. The protagonist is always in the right. Whoever Sandry helps is always better off, even if they don’t realise it at first.
Can’t say I’m a fan of Paolini, but I appreciated that Eldest had the protagonist ruin a child’s life irreparably by blundering in and using the wrong spell.
As we see with her attempt to write Aly, Tammy’s style is such that her strong idealism bleeds through in these books and it can get a bit heavy-handed.
The other thing that really irked me was the shallow portrayal of the Yamanis. I did like the nod to more tolerance of gay people.
Also: I don’t care about crushes. Reading about Kel’s crushes three separate times made me roll my eyes. Either write them getting together or not getting together! I have no patience for all this pining from afar.
Good, but not top-tier:
1. Lady Knight was weaker than the other three. It’s a great book, but political fantasy isn’t my favourite, so I got bored with the New Haven stuff. And the baby-necromancy part seemed out of left field.
2. Mastiff. Thoroughly enjoyed it on reread, but it didn’t feel as tightly written as the other two books. The reveal didn’t work for me when I was younger - the motivation seemed to come out of nowhere. But it’s grown on me. We are all capable of anything, and although I still find it a bit contrived, it’s more plausible to me now. That said, I still do some mental gymnastics when reading the previous books.
Farmer, in particular, is a darling. I missed the cast from the other books, but hey, that’s also realistic and life moves on.
I think the Holborn arc should’ve been included in the books. But perhaps Tammy felt it would be too confronting or she didn’t want to take away from the mystery plot.
Squirrels and Parrots and Rabid Bears, Oh My! The first three Immortals books. The heavy doses of talking animals, plus animal-based immortals, along with Tammy’s inserting animals into nearly every other series she has, becomes a bit too much for me. I have never been an animal lover. The talking animals trope feels gimmicky, OTT and a bit juvenile to me. It’s very much geared towards the sort of kids (and adults, but I’m mainly talking about fans who first read them as children) who enjoy talking animals in the first place.
The body horror found in similar books such as Animorphs and Everworld appeals more.
I do like the clash between the mortals and the Divine Realms, but I don’t connect with Daine as a heroine.
Buddy, Can You Spare Me an Editor?:
1. Trickster. I can’t suspend my disbelief about this series without itching to take a red pen and rewrite it myself. I want the story I want, not what’s on the page.
A lot of the white savour themes permeate the plot and the other characters’ behaviour. A prime example being the Idiot Plot of Aly disguising herself as a ’maid from Tortall’ while speaking fluent Kyprish. Further, none of the servants seem to know what they’re doing - there goes that Idiot Ball again - but everything somehow falls into place.
The series could’ve been a lot stronger if it had been told organically, rather than forcing a square peg into a round hole.
Minor characters, in particular, are drawn beautifully. The series makes for a fascinating springboard into AU territory, but my experiential enjoyment of the story, when read cover to cover, simply pales in comparison to the fanfic potential/headcanon.
As ever, I wish Tammy had borrowed less from real-world cultures and invented more.
2. Nawat. Just no. This is a big misstep. I find it quite irritating that this plot line was even considered with Ochobai, the one prominent Tortall-verse character who has a physical disability. No one needs more issue fic about how people with disability are “just like everyone else”. It’s upsetting and potentially invalidating - especially to kid readers.
A real step backwards from Fire in the Forging, IMO.
Haven’t read/Other: Spy’s Guide. Not as familiar with T&S as with the others. I’m pretty neutral towards it. And the short stories were okay, but I didn’t enjoy them enough for a reread.
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Post by Rosie on Nov 18, 2021 20:39:34 GMT 10
I think my series preference looks a lot like the publication order, except that Tricksters is definitely bottom. SOTL has that nostalgia factor for me - it's the series I read first, when I was around eight or nine, and ITOTG is my favourite book out of them all. I know it's flawed, some of it as mistrali says is outdated, other parts are offensive, but I love the quest, the characters, the pantomime villain but also the real obstacles Immortals was my favourite in my teens, I think I was also drawn to the high fantasy, high romance aspect. It doesn't feel very Tammy, retrospectively, and now I like individual aspects of it (Maura, Kaddar, the mythological element, the immortals themselves). I want to like the use of magic, but it's random since everything else we have comes from the Gift, and the two main characters being the most powerful people ever is a little trying at times. Also I hate the phrase 'odds bobs'. The age gap and power imbalance is also uncomfortable. rainstormamaya (/rain-sleet-snow on AO3) has a great 'fix it' idea which I really hope she writes someday! POTS was never a series I identified with as many seem to, I like some of the characters, and I do like the realism, but it all leaves me a little cold and I guess I like it on a superficial level but I don't feel connected with it. Kel is too pragmatic and distant for me, and I know Blayce is supposed to be a let down, but I still feel let down. Provost's Dog - Terrier is a great book, but feels like a retrospective waste of characters, Bloodhound was fine, and I still hate Mastiff. I really like the use of language and slang, though. Tricksters - doesn't work for me. I think the only character I like is Sarai. I don't like the white saviour plot, I don't like the thirteen year old being the chosen one, I don't like Sarai being left out in the cold so that she feels her only choice is to run away. Book rundown from favourite to least favourite: ITOTG, LR, EM, Terrier, ATFA, ROTG, Squire, WM, Page, WWRLAM, WS, FT, LK, Bloodhound, TC, Mastiff, TQ.
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oskarshai
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Post by oskarshai on Nov 18, 2021 22:17:12 GMT 10
S-Tier Lady Knight: I thought this was a truly excellent culmination of Kel's storyline as well as being a more sophisticated type of narrative than I think we had seen from Tammy previously (specifically, focusing on how doing the actual work of pursuing egalitarianism and protecting the vulnerable is not glamorous, and the day-to-day is usually more important and sometimes even more difficult than the attention-getting heroics people might expect). I still think a certain level of tension exists between the presentation of "knighthood" as an aspirational goal in SOTL (simplistic but very interesting and fun to read about) and the presentation of "knighthood" as a grim but worthwhile reality in POTS, but I like both and I think Lady Knight is the best iteration of the latter. Plus I am more drawn to darker storylines and this is unquestionably one of those. Emperor Mage: A personal favorite. The plot is very intricate and well-paced and I think it's one of Tammy's best, especially for the length, which is much shorter than something like the Tricksters plot but feels like it's at least approaching a similar level of stakes. Carthak and more specifically Ozorne's court is an extremely entertaining setting with a lot of depth, and this is the one circumstance where I feel like Daine's somewhat sheltered (at least from human interaction) background works in the story's favor, because she is considered a refreshing change from court mores and her earnestness both gains her favor and access to restricted areas and information that she otherwise might not, and gets her both into and out of trouble when it causes others to underestimate her. Idk, it's just really good, and I also particularly like that all the characters' motivations and positions are believably ambiguous but also make sense upon examination. (A particular highlight for me is Daine having a moment of empathy for Varice and realizing that there is nothing wrong with being feminine or even with being a bit shallow, and that Varice being personally irksome to Daine and having been the object of her envy does not mean she deserves to die.)
A-Tier In the Hand of the Goddess: Likely my favorite of the SOTL books, largely because of its intense focus on and initial culmination of Alanna's arc with Roger (my favorite storyline) and the fact that it makes good use of its side characters and the group dynamic of Alanna's friends. It's not the strongest as a single cohesive narrative, partly because like ATFA it is more episodic in nature than the last two books of SOTL, but it has a lot of fun elements that I just happen to personally enjoy. Plus it's still set at the Palace (I like the Palace, and particularly the casts of characters who live there in both SOTL and POTS). Lioness Rampant: I struggled over this one, because I wanted to place it in the highest tier but couldn't justify it to myself when I started thinking about it. I dearly love the closing arc of this book and the culmination of the conflict surrounding Alanna, Thom, and Roger, but there are some things weighing it down. 1) The Rogues Gallery of villains who just kind of team up for no reason. I find this a bit corny and don't feel that it's adequately explained in the text how these people would have all connected and how they possibly could have stayed on the same team for so long, given that all of them are varying levels of unhinged who have very little interests in common aside from hating Alanna (or other people in her life). 2) Thayet. As much as I like her, and as biased as I might be, I think her introduction as Jonathan's love interest was far too sudden and made the culmination of her entire arc up to that point feel anticlimactic. In a perfect world I think I would have had Alanna bring her back and introduce her at court without the blatant implication that she was meant to be the "perfect queen" for Jon, so that the relationship could have developed more organically (and actually on the page, instead of just being narrated in exposition form). 3) Generally rushed and frequently awkward resolution of the personal dynamics that had built up tension over the course of the series. Why didn't Alanna spend more time reconnecting with her friends? Why didn't we spend more time working through Jonathan and Alanna's feelings after they had spent 3/4 of the series being the main pair in focus and had just broken up and then spent a long time apart? Why didn't we spend more time on Alanna reconnecting with Thom after years separated from him? How did she actually come to the personal conclusion that she wanted to be with George, aside from the fact that he was the only one of her love interests who was both still alive and still interested in her? Etc etc etc. I think a lot of the time spent establishing Liam as a character (I don't dislike him, but I don't understand the amount of space he took up in the narrative relative to his importance to the whole story of SOTL) could have been better spent on something else. But alllllll that being said, I love this book and it's still a joy to read for the most part. (I also think Roger's motivations are pretty crazy, but they're crazy in a fun way so I'll give that a pass.) First Test, Page and Squire: This one's hard for me just because the first three Kel books kind of tend to blend together in my brain as one story, and don't really feel as much like their own discrete narratives as the books in the previous two quartets did. I would say that POTS is not necessarily my favorite quartet (that's SOTL), but the quality of the writing in these books is overall very consistent and pretty high relative to the more varied quality levels and often cluttered plotlines of previous books. The first three POTS books to me are just a down-to-earth, very grounded story about a person working to overcome prejudice and help further the goals of social justice, civil rights and egalitarianism, and they work well for that because these are all themes that Tammy seems to genuinely care about and that passion shines through in the writing and most especially the character of Kel, her flaws and strengths (especially her strengths, like patience and persistence), and her priorities. I'm a little iffy on the choice to create the Yamani Islands culture incorporating so much of Japanese culture and history, and I also feel that a narrative about social justice and egalitarianism is always going to feel a little tense, dissonant or misguided within a setting that will never move toward its culture deconstructing the monarchy and feudal system and creating a more democratic system of government (because it's high fantasy and you don't do that in high fantasy) – but overall I consider this quartet and Kel's basic storyline probably the strongest all around of all of them.
B-Tier Alanna: The First Adventure: Despite the fact that technically speaking this is Tammy's least adept work (obviously, as she wrote it relatively early), I think it still holds up well and displays a huge amount of intrigue and promise. It's a bit weighed down by exposition and by plotlines that don't really go anywhere – I personally think the Ralon plotline was done better in the form of Joren in POTS and could probably have been cut and replaced with something more interesting – but it's a sentimental favorite. I love the creepy lore about the Ysandir and the Old Ones and I wish it had gone anywhere outside this book, and Roger's introduction as a manipulative and ruthless but somehow still likable villain remains iconic (causing a whole plague all the way from carthak! we stan a king). Points off for the prophecy storyline (contrived, slightly problematic, and also didn't really play into future storylines except by allowing Alanna to get a foot in the door with the Bazhir) and general lack of decluttering.
Tricksters: A duology that I have a lot of mixed, both very fond and very disappointed, feelings about. It's hard to sum up in a paragraph or so but, pros: 1) the character of Aly (I love her and I think she's a great protagonist), 2) Aly's dynamic with Kyprioth (great real exploration of how mortals' relationships with gods work in this setting, which I felt like wasn't really addressed in the SOTL books and Alanna's feelings about it were more retconned in later), 3) the larger narrative being about a global and even divine-level conflict that Aly personally had little to do with beyond serving as a cog in the machine, 5) the political intrigue in the second book (political intrigue my beloved <3 i will put up with so much just to have a court intrigue plot), and 4) the other characters, who were all fantastic. Cons: 1) White savior narrative – I do think that Tammy was not oblivious to this element and took pains to try and push back against the trope, but it's arguable as to the extent that worked, 2) Nawat – god bless him but I do not like the handling of his character after the early portions of the first book, and I also do not like the handling of his romance with Aly, 3) Aly's insane level of power creep – yes, she is very smart and very good at her job, but she's sixteen – even making her eighteen would have helped by leaps and bounds in terms of believability in the later parts of the story, and 4) the "lie" narrative about Aly keeping her backstory a secret, which by the end of the second book felt very perfunctory and didn't really dovetail well with the rest of the plot. I also think Tammy is fairly adept at writing the spy thriller genre as the details felt sensationalized (as with any spy thriller) but generally solid and entertaining to read. My overall opinion of these books is that they have some very high highs and some very low lows, and that the full package is entertaining and substantive enough to be worth returning to, although it occasionally gets into some frustrating territory.
C-Tier The Woman Who Rides Like A Man: Objectively speaking I think this book has a lot of problems, but my dumb little lizard brain gets distracted by the fact that Alanna is trying to cope with handling Roger's sword for most of the story, which I like a lot for obvious reasons. I think it's really fun how Roger is dead at this point but still looms very large over Alanna's life and doesn't totally feel like he's gone, which makes his return in LR very memorable because it both is and isn't shocking. But aside from that – the racial and cultural issues are handled a bit clumsily (even as a kid I found it pretty weird that a white guy would be made Voice of the Tribes, no matter what the reasoning might be); Jonathan's bratty phase is believable but deeply annoying to read (his dynamic with Alanna is definitely at its least interesting and least fun in this book); and this book also started the pattern, continued in LR, of Alanna going to George for comfort after suffering a personal tragedy and expecting him to just kind of wait for her and give her whatever support she needs or wants, which I don't like. (There are other portrayals of their relationship that I like more, particularly in later books, but I just don't really feel like SOTL's setup of it did it very many favors.) Wolf-Speaker: I don't have much to say against this book except for the fact that I find it a bit boring. The only interesting part of the story to me is Daine learning to use her powers, and that's a major focus of practically every Daine book so it's not really anything special. That said, I do like her relationship with the wolf pack and I appreciate the introduction of likable side characters like Maura and particularly Rikash, and the plotline about saving the ogres from exploitation and stopping illegal mining also could have been worse (although I think it was a bit too convenient that Daine happened to be 'away' during a lot of major plot developments that could then just be explained to her by other characters). I do think the Daine books tend to founder a bit in the political waters that Tammy tends to steer towards, just because Daine knows basically nothing about politics and shows little interest in learning, but it still works pretty well in this one. Terrier: Reads more like a fun experiment than a fully realized story, but I do think the murder mystery works relatively well, and Beka's relationship to the setting (the most important relationship in the book, imo) is well established, engaging, and interesting. A cop solving a crime in their own hometown and even their own neighborhood is always going to be more interesting than them solving a crime they have no personal connection to. Still kind of copaganda-ish to my eyes now, personally, but I don't know if I can really blame the book for that as that opinion is very informed by the politics of the last decade.
D-Tier
Wild Magic: Although like all of these books it's still a fun read, I consider this the weakest of the Immortals books in terms of the overall narrative. It's largely setup with comparatively little payoff within this book, and there are also a number of things set up that never get paid off in any book (Daine's friendships with the trainees and Palace residents, the magical vision and the presence of a diverse number of harmless Immortals like the undine [we get other harmless Immortals later like the kudarung, but this book implies there could be some kind of expansive bestiary of them, and in other books we almost exclusively see the same six or so species – undines in specific are never mentioned again], Daine's backstory, and lest we forget, MAMMOTH, her deceased dog and best friend alongside Cloud who is not mentioned again after Wild Magic). I also find the plot just generally a bit confusing, partly because Daine keeps having to be told what's going on and it feels like she's often mentally several beats behind the action. Not as strong of an opener as ATFA, despite the fact that Tammy's writing was technically better at this point. The Realms of the Gods: This book is pretty fun as a culmination of the broader Immortals plot (I dearly love the chessboard scene and its eventual payoff), but as its own story I feel it kind of falls flat. The actual Realms of the Gods are an interesting location to talk about, but their changeable nature (and hard-to-explain-or-relate-to elements like how "everything in the realms of the gods is in its ultimate or most perfect form") makes them feel more like a video game level than a real, visceral environment that I can get immersed in as a reader, and there is also a lot of focus placed on expositing how divinity works in the Tortall universe that just gets a little old on rereads. Plus the storyline is kind of meandering and oddly paced, and I don't love how the establishment of Daine and Numair's relationship is handled either.
Bloodhound: Boring. I don't have much else to say about it because I didn't get to it on my recent reread of all the books (I stopped midway through Terrier because my hyperfixation stopped before I could finish the whole series), but I personally thought it was just kind of a waste to move Beka out of Corus after spending so much time establishing her relationships there and I did not care that much about the conflict or about Pearl as a villain. Felt like any generic police procedural episode to me – engaging enough to hold your attention until the mystery unravels, then you forget about it.
F-Tier
Mastiff: Ruined all the other Beka books in retrospect, which is a pretty hefty accomplishment that part of me kind of respects just on principle. I'll be real, this book didn't introduce anything I couldn't have done without (Tunstall made a terrible villain, and I found Farmer dull and his relationship with Beka very rushed) and I wasn't all that drawn in by the plot, and so I've only read it once and doubt I would do so again without a compelling reason.
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Post by Lisa on Nov 19, 2021 23:26:27 GMT 10
#1 - tie between SOTL and POTS. I think the inconsistency in pacing of POTS keeps it from being an outright #1 (given that the books cover one year, three years, four years, and one year - and the last two have twice the page count). I'm clearly into training to be a knight among a sea of young men. While the politics are shaky and even problematic, I feel like these two series are the most entertaining, and they're the ones I'll most often reread. Also, for me, they have the best characters. Favorite book(s): Page, In the Hand of the Goddess Least favorite: Lady Knight, The Woman who Rides like a Man (the latter due to Issue - but WWRLAM also has some of my favorite moments?) #3 - Immortals. I actually don't care for this story as much as the others ranked below it, but it gets a high ranking because it's *consistent*. I prefer Daine in this series to how she appears (scholarly and book-wise) later in the chronology. I'm not one for overly personifying animals, so this series - and the subsequent books - kind of rub me the wrong way at times. But if we're going to communicate with animals like this, her magic is pretty cool and well-established. Favorite book: Wolf-Speaker Least favorite: The Realm of the Gods #4. PD. This series would've been so much higher if it weren't for Mastiff. The nonsensical character assassination was a bridge too far for me. I also thought Tammy could've been cleaner with the journaling approach, and we probably didn't even need the George-related prologue. I like that Corus felt more to me like the lower city of SOTL era Tortall. (This series does get a special shout-out, because I had the privilege of working with Tammy on part of it. So it's pretty special to me even if I don't care for it as much.) Favorite: Terrier #5 - Tortall and Other Lands - I'm not keen on all of the short stories, but I think they were generally quite good. My favorite is the one about the girl who loves numbers and math, which was dedicated, in part, to me. It was a pleasant surprise and a good story, to boot. #6 - Tricksters. I'm as surprised as anyone that this isn't ranked lower, because I hate so much about it. The first one was all right, and I think had Tammy taken a different route with the prophecy (such as making Chenaol fill Aly's role) I would've enjoyed it more. Preferred: Trickster's Choice #7 - Tempest and Slaughter. I've been stuck on Chapter Four and haven't finished the book yet. I just have 0% interest in Numair and his backstory at this point. HONORABLE MENTION: The Spy's Guide. I find it hard to rank this one, since it doesn't flow like a story. But I think it has a lot of cool information from a fan-focus, and there's a really nifty timeline in there.
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Post by shoresoflight on May 24, 2023 19:43:38 GMT 10
SOTL has an undisputed place in my heart because of the sheer joy these books brought me as a teen, and how much Alanna's character meant to me. I am uncomfortable with some aspects of how the Bazhir are written, but I actually think the Bazhir characters in Woman Who Rides Like A Man are well written, human, and nuanced in a way that equals the Tortall cast. I loved the balanced take on femininity and how Alanna learned to balance both sides of her character, to realise that she could be a woman and a knight and whatever else she wanted to be - her learning from Kara and Kourrem is one of my favourite scenes! I also am a big fan of how the 'love triangle' was resolved, mainly how everyone managed to be an adult about it (which is pretty rare in YA...) - the strength of Alanna and Jon's bond and how deeply intimate their relationship still is, Jon and George's friendship and the fact that George gives up essentially everything he's worked for and betrays his Rogue principles, not for Alanna, but for Jon (!), Alanna having the freedom to finally choose to accept George's love, marriage and the possibility of children because she knows she can have this AND continue to fight.
Immortals - I adore Daine's pov especially in the first book, mostly because she's the only non-noble pov character we get. Alanna, Kel and Aly have their struggles but they all also come from a place of relative privilege and security, although they definitely risk losing it at various points, but Daine comes from nothing - Wild Magic is my favourite because its core arc isn't about the magic or the kingdom but about a lost girl finding a new home. I also love her little mannerisms of speech that mark her out as a commoner - the differences in grammar, her saying 'Odd's Bobs', her honest amazement every time she encounters a new noble or royal who doesn't look down on her. Emperor Mage was also amazing for the deep look at Carthak and the very iconic way Daine brings the palace down around Ozorne's ears.
POTS is objectively well written and I love Kel but I never connected as much to it - I think Kel's cool and collected perspective didn't grab me as deeply as Alanna's fire, and the books got a bit too long and unnecessarily detailed by the end. But I like what Kel's character stands for, that she is the ordinary non-magical non-Gods-chosen girl who earned her shield and becomes the embodiment of what a knight should be. And I love that she is single at the end and doesn't seem bothered by it. I also liked how realistic a view POTS gives on the negotiation between conservatism and progressivism and what the reality of compromise in politics is - society doesn't change just because of one female knight, legend or not. It's the hard, tedious work of years, for Kel, for Jon and Thayet and their allies, and this quartet showcases that most.
Trickster started off really promising for me, I actually love Aly as a character for how different she is from the lady knights, how fraught her relationship with Alanna is and how she puts to use what she learned from George. But I think the whole spy intrigue isn't the author's strength, and it was definitely a noticeably white perspective on a revolution... I winced several times while reading the second book, and don't think I could get through it again.
I haven't actually read Tempests because I never really was that interested in Numair's character and backstory (I prefer him in some fanfiction to be honest), and I could never get on board the romance with Daine unless I pretend she is considerably older. But I miss the stories of this universe, so I might give it a shot!
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