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Ran straight (and somewhat by accident!) into a new-to-me series still in the Tortallan world, where we last left Alanna. This is the first in another quartet, The Immortals. We meet Daine when she applies for a job, giving her age (falsely) as fifteen: she wants to help transport and care for a herd of semi-wild ponies under the direction of horsemistress Onua. Daine is alone in the world after her family was killed by bandits, and following other traumatic events that we will have to wait to learn about. Onua quickly realizes that Daine has a way with ponies and with all animals that goes beyond skill or talent; but she does not have the Gift, the magic we learned about in the Lioness quartet. Instead, we eventually learn, Daine possesses wild magic. It is far more rare and less controllable by its user, but Daine will have much to offer those who befriend her.

And she is so befriended. With Onua, Daine travels from her homeland of Galla to Tortall and to the capital city Corus. I am familiar with Corus, but Daine is not: she is from a distant country with few people in it, and finds the city overwhelming. Moreover, she meets Sir Alanna of Trebond and Olau, the famous “lady knight,” and is starstruck – and confused to find this hero so approachable, with her calloused hands and all. It continues from there, as young Daine meets the queen, the king, and other dignitaries, and finds them all real and regular people with callouses! (I love this.) Onua becomes a great friend, and equally important is the mage Numair, who will begin training Daine in earnest in her wild magic. The young girl remains employed by Onua to help find and train ponies for the Queen’s Riders, a venture of Thayet’s and Alanna’s since we saw them last, and to assist young Riders in learning in how to care for their steeds. But she will also turn out to be integral to the safety of the kingdom of Tortall, because her connection with animals allows her access as well to the Immortals, including spidrens, stormwings, dragons, griffins, and more.

I am barely scratching the surface, because the lonely, orphaned Daine is involved not only in collecting many human friends and built family, but also all the animal ones of the world: she can talk to the creatures of land and sky, and once she gets there, the sea; as she learns more about her wild magic, she can speak to them in groups of her choosing or singly; she can heal them; and they are all inclined to love her. The relationships here are many, and complex enough to threaten to overwhelm a tender-hearted thirteen-year-old who’s already lost everyone she loved once.

I’m over the moon about this continuing installment in the Tortallan world, for all the reasons I loved that last series I read. I will say, though: where I expressed some hesitation about the racial characterizations in books past (about the desert tribes), here there are black and enslaved people, whose portrayals are not egregious, but are also not as sensitively written as I think we’d expect today. Most central is Sarge, a former slave, whose voice on my audio production is played to stereotype. Heads up on this issue. It’s not ruining things for me, but I’m sorry about it. (This book’s original publication date was 1992. I guess I’m not surprised.)

That said: I am looking forward to book 2.

Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: adventure stories, audio, children's/YA, coming of age, historical fiction, speculative fiction |