Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen

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I've been re-reading Tamora Pierce lately and started in on Trickster's Choice this morning on my commute. The Daughter of the Lioness books easily my least favourite of the Tortall books (save for the Provost's Dog trilogy, which I haven't finished) mostly because Pierce makes a LOT of narrative choices that I find incredibly problematic. I'm not

Comments

[scrollgirl]

I'm glad to see you agree with me! And that you saw glimpses of Sarai being great as well. She might not have been as subtle or coolly pragmatic as Dove (characteristics which Aly valued, because she herself was like that) but Sarai had passion *and* compassion, nor any illusions about the luarin nobility, and I can hardly see how a queen *wouldn't* benefit from those qualities. Sarai and Dove could have been a magnificent duo

[scrollgirl]

TC is slightly more enjoyable than TQ, but yeah, those books are too problematic for me to really root for Aly and Dove the way I do Tammy's other female protagonists.

it would've been nice to see her as the queen and Dove as the Cunning One from the prophecy.

Ooh, I like this so much! And I think you should write this AU! Seriously, I totally encourage you to tackle this, if you're looking for a plot bunny. It would be great to see Dove as the clever, cunning, invisible adviser to Sarai the beautiful, beloved, public figure. It could be about those who love freedom, raka and luarin, fighting for a new regime that embraced equality and justice and diversity, rather than simply pitting race against race. It would be fantastic!

[tafkarfanfic]

I've only read Trickster's Choice and it made me uncomfortable with reading another, specifically because of the "What These People Need is a Honky" trope. Are others in the series better?

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There are only two books in the Daughter of the Lioness series, Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen, and I agree with q_sama that you probably wouldn't like TQ.

Just for your info, Pierce has two fantasy universes, Tortall and Emelan. The Tortall universe has a bunch of series, which I'll list by main character:

• Alanna cross-dresses as her twin brother in order to train to become a knight. Lots of feminist victories over sexist males, but also some cultural appropriation (though not as bad as the Trickster books, iirc). Alanna's books are probably the most "adult" of Pierce's novels.
  
• Daine is an orphan with a traumatic past who is taken in by Alanna's friend, Numair. Numair discovers Daine has "wild magic", so the books are mostly about them exploring Daine's powers with animals and fighting monsters against a backdrop of an impending war with Carthak, an Egypt-analogue country. Warnings for animal deaths and discussion of mental illness, though you'd have to ask someone who knows whether the mental illness was handled properly.