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Friday, October 5, 2012

Retro Friday Review: Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce

Retro Friday is a meme hosted by Angie of Angieville and "focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc."

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce
Publisher: Listening Library
Publication date: Hardcover in 2003
Length: 11hrs 57 min
Source: Audiobook from Library
For: Fun
Series: Trickster series, Book 1

Alianne has grown up daughter to Alanna the Lioness and lived in that shadow all her life. Her parents are reluctant to let her out on adventures, so she takes matters into her own hands and ends up as a slave to a royal family in the distant Copper Isles. Undaunted, Aly must use all her skills as a spy and daughter of a knight to work out a deal with the trickster god Kyprioth and to not end up dead amidst all the political intrigues and conspiracies around her.

Things I Liked:
I made the mistake of listening to this one before I finished the Song of the Lioness series.  There are some spoilers for the end of that one, since this is about Alanna's daughter :)  Ah, well.  I enjoyed it very much.  It's got all the elements of a great fantasy story, complete with complex cultures and wonderful characters with difficult choices.  I love Ali for her sheer determination sometimes to do exactly what she wants when she wants.  Does it get her in trouble?  Definitely.  But she's still so fun.  And Nawat was both creepy and fun.  Kept me interested and invested to the end and fortunately I have the sequel waiting for me to read. Trini Alvarado did a pretty good job, but more on that below.

Things I Didn't Like:
I have to admit, high fantasy is not the best option for audiobooks sometimes.  I think because there are so many fantasy-names (that are ridiculous, but we love them that way) and so many characters and so many cultures and details that it's best to imbibe those things visually.  I got quite confused a number of times and I would tune things out when I didn't know what was happening.  The Trini Alvarado does a pretty good job and despite not really doing many different voices, her expressive voice does make it enjoyable.  Glad I have the next one in print, though.

Read-alikes:
Might be good to read Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce first :)
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Reminded me a bit of The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
a few

mrg-factor:X
some implied stuff

v-factor:->->

Overall rating: ****

What books do you prefer in print versus audio?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

6 comments :

  1. So, I just recently read this myself (LOVED IT!) and I too had a hard time keeping things straight - and I was reading it! Then I got to the end and FOUND A GLOSSARY! I may have yelled in irritation :) At least I knew to look for it in the sequel!

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    Replies
    1. Blast, a glossary? That would really help (at least when reading). I'll look for one next time.

      Delete
  2. I love the whole Tortall series and I must say that the long ass series should be read in order. Song of the Lioness is just one quartet that is part of the larger series.

    I'm so glad you read this though and did enough it.
    Thanks for the great review

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, how many other series are set in Tortall? I think I heard that a few are, but I'm not sure I can handle too many more :)

      Delete
  3. Did you read Trickster's Queen as well? I have both as an audiobook with Trini Avarado and they are some of my favorite go-to books for cleaning and cooking. They make the time fly by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't read Trickster's Queen yet, but I do have the book on my shelf. They do tend to distract me from whatever I'm doing (driving).

      Delete

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