Mar 29
Childhood - Tortall protags before the start of each series
seen from Colombia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from South Korea
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from Vietnam
seen from Malaysia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Latvia
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Poland
Childhood - Tortall protags before the start of each series
The Tortall books are for horse girls, girls who wish they could talk with their pets, and girls who picked up as many chairs as their little bodies could lift when their teacher said “I need some strong boys to help me move these chairs”.
modern History museum in Tortall
do they have one of the Conté crest rings? maybe there's a page of Beka's journal alongside recreations of pieces of evidence from reports, in a display with a plaque explaining different "dog" slang terms and a preserved piece of a tattered old dog uniform, complete with dirty white puppy trim and the hint of a bloodstain
a leather scrap described as the stirrup from the saddle of the Lioness's first mount, Moonlight. in the hall of wartime events, there's a rusty old piece of scrap metal that resembles a jointed finger ending in a knife, and a drawing of the killing devices copied from a soldier's letter home
a Stormwing feather, a Bazhir burnoose, a to-scale tilting field with a broken lance in a display, a knife made by Raven Armory, a shukusen carried by the Yamani ladies in waiting who attended Queen Shinkokami...
a walking tour will take you around the city, pointing out parts of the old walls and the building that now stands on the site of what was once called the Dancing Dove. occasionally the tour passes through squares with elaborate and historic fountains, and if you get the tour guide with a special interest in social movements, they'll tell you the story about how King Gareth's Fountain supposedly served as a safe space in the chaos of the bread riot in fall of 247
Hey Tamora Pierce fans,
How often do you remember that a major premise of the Beka Cooper books was that their society was slowly falling back into patriarchal and traditional roles of womanhood? And that it took like 200 years after that for them to get back to women in leadership positions?
Because like. It’s about once every two days for me.
Turn a man into an apple tree for her.
Tear down a whole palace for him.
Kill her attackers and leave them in a fountain.
You know.
Simple showcases of love that anyone can do.
Favorite Tortall Series?
Song of the Lioness
The Immortals/Wild Mage
Protector of the Small
Trickster Chronicles
Beka Cooper
Tempest and Slaughter
I’d love to hear why!
Question for folks: how do we feel about the Mastiff plot twist 14 years later? I remember thinking it was a cop-out when the book was first released but on reading it again I don't actually mind it so much.
(Not using any names to keep this post spoiler-free for folks just going through the tag!)
Personally for me I think I was so mad about the twist that I wrote off the entire book, which is a shame because I think Mastiff actually kind of... justifies the other two books in the series? It takes otherwise standalone stories and places them into a larger Tortallan context, and it does its best to fill in some lore gaps as well (the Sight, the Ysandir, the existence of wild magic prior to Daine). It's a good book, and I'm a little embarrassed that I judged it so hard based on the final few chapters for so long. (In fairness to me, I was 16 at the time and not very inclined towards nuanced critiques.)
So I'm curious - do you like it, hate it, don't care either way? Has your opinion changed since you first read it? Do you think it adds to or detracts from the rest of the book? Would you have felt differently if it had involved a different character?
Books of Tamora Pierce in order
Tamora Pierce is an American novelist of YA fantasy novels. She is the author of the Tortall universe and Circle universe novels. Tamora’s unique name is due to the fact that the nurse misspelled her name on her birth certificate. Tamora began writing as a young child and became interested in fantasy due to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tamora attended the University of Pennsylvania, during which time she wrote her Song of the Lioness series. She gets much of her inspiration for her writing from Sir David Attenborough nature documentaries, fantasy novels and Arthurian legend.
Beka Cooper
Terrier (2006) — Buy on Amazon!
Bloodhound (2009) — Buy on Amazon!
Mastiff (2011) — Buy on Amazon!
Circle of Magic
Sandry's Book / The Magic in the Weaving (1997) — Buy on Amazon!
Tris's Book / The Power In The Storm (1998) — Buy on Amazon!
Daja's Book / The Fire In The Forging (1998) — Buy on Amazon!
Briar's Book / The Healing in the Vine (1999) — Buy on Amazon!
The Circle Opens
Magic Steps (2000) — Buy on Amazon!
Street Magic (2001) — Buy on Amazon!
Cold Fire (2002) — Buy on Amazon!
Shatterglass (2003) — Buy on Amazon!
The Circle Reforged
The Will of the Empress (2005) — Buy on Amazon!
Melting Stones (2007) — Buy on Amazon!
Battle Magic (2013) — Buy on Amazon!
Daughter of the Lioness
Trickster's Choice (2003) — Buy on Amazon!
Trickster's Queen (2004) — Buy on Amazon!
The Immortals
Wild Magic (1992) — Buy on Amazon!
Wolf-Speaker (1993) — Buy on Amazon!
Emperor Mage (1995) — Buy on Amazon!
The Realms of the Gods (1996) — Buy on Amazon!
The Numair Chronicles
Tempests and Slaughter (2018) — Buy on Amazon!
Protector of the Small
First Test (1999) — Buy on Amazon!
Page (2000) — Buy on Amazon!
Squire (2001) — Buy on Amazon!
Lady Knight (2002) — Buy on Amazon!
Song of the Lioness
Alanna: The First Adventure (1983) — Buy on Amazon!
In the Hand of the Goddess (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
Lioness Rampant (1988) — Buy on Amazon!
Tortall
Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales (2010) — Buy on Amazon!
Tortall: A Spy Guide (2017) — Buy on Amazon!
Graphic Novels
White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion (2007) — Buy on Amazon!
Song of the Lioness Graphic Novels
Alanna (With: Vita Ayala,Sam Beck) (2025) — Buy on Amazon!
Protector of the Small Graphic Novel
First Test Graphic Novel: (With: Becca Farrow) (2024) — Buy on Amazon!
Anthologies
Lost & Found: Award-Winning Authors Sharing Real-Life Experiences Through Fiction (2000) — Buy on Amazon!
Firebirds Rising (2005) — Buy on Amazon!
Young Warriors: Stories of Strength (2005) — Buy on Amazon!
Dreams and Visions (2006) — Buy on Amazon!