Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

2020 Review:

I had honestly forgotten a majority of this book since I read it last. Might do again, given how much I read, but that’s just my brain.

Pretty awesome, altogether. Kel’s well suited to taking care of people, which is what she does throughout. Part of the ending made me choke up, which is good. I rarely get choked up at book these days.

2024 Review:

So, as my review from 4 years ago states, I had forgotten, like, 99% of what happens in Lady Knight. That's definitely not a bad thing, just a thing that I apparently do with books I haven't read in a while. Lady Knight is worth remembering, though, as I feel it shows off Kel's skills and tendencies in a really fun way.

I feel like Lord Wyldon definitely picked Kel's first knightly assignment well, even if it did end up having unforeseen consequences. As young as she is, it's really impressive that she manages to keep her refugee camp well under control. This is partially from her learning from Lord Raoul and just Kel's own tendency to take control in a manner more befitting a "commoner." I also feel like Kel has more empathy toward pretty much everyone, so that definitely helped.

Lady Knight is interesting in that it takes place over 7 months, instead of the 4 years of Page and Squire and the year of First Test. Much of that time is spent in Haven, Kel's refugee camp, where we get ourselves invested in Kel's refugee charges. I didn't really realize this until later, but it's actually really important, because otherwise, I'm not sure we as readers would be all gung-ho about Kel hauling off to go rescue them later. It's totally within Kel's nature, but we needed attachment to them and there's only one book to do so and not even the whole book... anyway... it wasn't boring and Tobe and Meech are the kiddos I'd lay my life down for.

There's a paragraph in my personal notes where I wax poetical about Kel, Neal, and Merric being babies. Like, seriously, they're 18 in this book and 18 year olds are just... ahhhh. I could not imagine being one of those refugees faced with literal teenagers... I get that they're adults in the medieval-y fantasy world Pierce has concocted, but still... 18 is so young.

I was, again, moved to tears by all the coming together in support of Kel. First Raoul sending Dom and his squad out, then Neal, Merric, and them, then Owen and Tobe... just... tears. Many of them. And again at the very end... Lord Wyldon, my dude, has apparently completely come around.

Uh... yeah. Pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I really liked Lady Knight and I think it's a fitting end to Kel's quartet.

Remembering Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

 Possible spoilers for Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce. Sorry, not sorry.

I feel a little compelled to write this before I start rereading Lady Knight partially because I've read my current review (which will be posted with the new one later) and because I think I'm actually remembering a bit. My current review of Lady Knight is short and basically says that I remember nothing about it. This was in 2020.

So, basically what I'm remembering is about Maggur's metal devices. In Squire, Kel manages to bash one "to death." I'm fairly certain they're somehow powered by the souls of children. I'm also fairly certain this is made clear during Kel's Ordeal by The Chamber's vision.

I also think I remember something about a battle along a shoreline involving Peachblossom and/or Hoshi. I confess I could be mixing that up with something Alanna did in Song of the Lioness, but I really don't know. Well... I do, because what I'm remembering didn't happen in Song of the Lioness so... yeah. Still feels a bit like a misremembered something or other.

Ah, yes, Cleon and Kel break up. Pretty sure that's something that happens. I do not remember whether or not they end up sleeping together before that, but they definitely break up. Cleon's got that whole arranged marriage thing and Kel's nowhere near the mindset to get married and have kids and all that.

I know this isn't much and I'm definitely not remembering as much as I did in my other Remembrances, but I had to get it out of my system before I started rereading Lady Knight again.

In Other News

In finished another OviPets project! Cyberdramon, based on the Digimon of the same name. Cyberdramon took me approximately 8 months to complete.

Squire by Tamora Pierce

I quite enjoyed Squire. It was well paced and well written. I enjoyed getting to know Lord Raoul and the King’s Own. I feel like Kel grew into more of her own person with them. Not that she wasn’t before, but Raoul gave her permission to grow into her sense of humor along with her serious streak.

Oh yeah, and this book has a lot of Kel crushing on Dom and having a relationship with Cleon later… the joys of reading adolescent romance… however, I do like that Kel’s affections don’t center on any one person for long. I think it’s definitely more realistic to the average girl’s experience. That is, any non-ace girl, which is the only experience I can actually speak to. Although honestly… my first few kisses with my boyfriend almost exactly mirror Kel and Cleon’s, so that’s fun. I love Kel’s mother. Ilane of Mindelan is a gift to her children. I truly believe all parents should be as frank about sex as Ilane is. It’s awesome.

I find it interesting that there’s this thing here about bought magic not being as good as magic you’ve done yourself. But like… not everyone can be a mage and a majority of the people talking about this aren’t mages so… it’s just a little weird. Kind of reminds me of the arguments about crafty things or kids even… not as good if you didn’t make them, apparently. It’s not ultimately that big of a thing throughout the book, just an interesting note.

I feel the conclusion to the Lalasa kidnapping was interesting, to say the least. It puts actual ruling in perspective for Kel and the reader. We’re reminded that the rulers or rule at the behest of their people, be they monarchs like Jonathan and Thayet or not. At least, that was my takeaway.

On a related note, I’m not going to discuss what happened to Joren and Vinson during their Ordeals in this review. However, I will say: I wish we had something like The Chamber of Ordeal for our lawmakers and presidential candidates.

At this point, I don’t really know what else to say about Squire. Kel’s journey from Page to Knight feels both conventional and unconventional at the same time. Raoul was right when he said times were changing and knights needed to be more flexible. I feel like Kel’s squire-dom reflects that.

Favorite Line

"Haven't you ever noticed that people who win say it's because the gods know they are in the right, but if they lose, it wasn't the gods who declared them wrong?" - Lord Raoul of Goldenlake

Page by Tamora Pierce

A reread review, for which there are some slight spoilers. However, if you know this is the second book of four and have read the titles, I don’t really think it’s that much of a spoiler, but there we go. You’ve been warned.

During the winter banquets, Kel is assigned to her sisters at one point. Orie explains that they can’t be seen on friendly terms with her. So I’m thinking… okay, don’t? Treat her like you would any other servant or page and get on with life. Just… ugh. The whole thing. Poor Kel being shunted around tables that first Midwinter. People are so stupid.

I absolutely despise Lord Wyldon for jumping to the conclusion that Kel could not handle the combat situation she and her team of pages found themselves in. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Sir. And why is that your initial reaction upon rescuing your pages? On a slightly separate note, I do think the group of pages getting ambushed like they were put a bit of perspective into Wyldon’s training style. Like Kel at the tilting, he realized he’d gotten complacent with his training style and needed to mix it up and increase the difficulty. While I know the pages find it off-putting, I feel like this sort of training escalation should have been a thing from the beginning. And as usual, I wrote all that before someone (Lord Raoul) said as much in the text.

In contrast, I like that it is mentioned that the bandits are actually largely impoverished people. It’s not really discussed, in the way a lot of things about impoverished people aren’t discussed ever, but I do appreciate that it was noted. Definitely a minor note in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like this bit of world-building outside the palace is needed.

There’s a lot of adolescent… I’m really not sure how to put this, but… flirting? Noticing? Going on in Page. Kel is noticing Neal. Cleon is really noticing Kel and she’s oblivious. It’s all very hetero-normative, non-asexual stuff that I just did not vibe with when I read it the first time. It does make sense and the pages are getting older and they’re pretty much all sexual beings rather than asexual plants (a term I very much identified with as a teenager when I heard it). It’s very there. As are, of course, actual mentions of Kel getting her first period and breast bands. Top notch handling of that whole mess. Glad she apparently gets mild period symptoms, which I infer based on them never being mentioned again…

Kel gets to show off her skills as a natural leader and teacher here. First the bandit fight and mock-battle later for the leadership and then with Warric and Iden and Lalasa for the teaching. It’s fun to see her fit into those roles. Kel and Lalasa have an interesting relationship. They’re such contrasts to each other, but fit really well into the dynamic they end up developing. I do not remember if they continue to have a relationship after Page ends, but I hope so.

I do not remember being in tears at the end of Page the last few times I read it. But here I am, being a sucker for the relief of the happy ending and everyone being happy for Kel and the other new Squires. Go figure. Of course the last straw was <name redacted> buying Peachblossom for Kel… which I knew was going to happen, but here I am, tearing up anyway.

Page was good. Condensed those four years quite well and at the same time didn’t feel at all rushed. I enjoyed the new characters, liked the growth of those that remained, and am just all over pleased with how Page worked out.

Favorite Line

"You may want anything you like," her mother would have said. "That doesn't mean you'll get it."

In Other News

I finished another OviPets project! This one is just a Pink Spaniel. Nothing special, really, but I like them. They took me approximately six months to complete.

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

A Spoiler Free Review

I loved Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. I am a big sucker for lore-dumps and this had a lot of lore-dumping in the form of philosophizing about the Doors and how they function. The gang at Eleanor's school learn a bit more about the function through Antsy's explanations and then spend a bunch of time philosophizing throughout their adventure. It's great.

I did enjoy getting to see Antsy coping with her new "age" and being on Earth again. I thought the way she ended up dealing with her personal issues was well done. She's a pretty good character and I hope we see more of her at some point in the future.

Sumi seems to have picked up a lot of wisdom and a penchant for spouting nice-sounding wise-isms. I don't know how else to put that. Not gonna lie, though, a majority of my favorite lines came from Sumi. She resonated with me a lot here.

A lot of the philosophizing about the Doors had to do with the "Be Sure" maxim that is etched into every Door. I thought it was an interesting discussion and it was definitely a good thing for the school gang to meet up with Stephanie and see how well she just fit into her world. I think being able to see someone in their correct time and place *cough*Sumi's out of time-line whack*cough* was helpful to the discussion.

I was also happy for the discussion around adults harming children, which also spoke, at least to me, of how the more "adultier adults" view younger generations. Vineta embodied all that and was told so a couple of times. Just because you suffered, doesn't mean everyone else has to suffer, too; and it doesn't give you the right to go on causing suffering... basically to paraphrase.

Overall, I fell right back into the universe of Wayward Children really easily. It was really like coming home. Seanan McGuire's voice in these is just fantastic. She creates the atmosphere of the different worlds pretty effortlessly. Mislaid in Parts Half-Known definitely tops my list of favorites already this year. So good.

Favorite Lines

"People who can't change aren't really perfect, and no matter how much we love it somewhere, that doesn't mean it's good for us." - Sumi Onishi

"Just because someone hurt you when you were a child, that doesn't make it right for you to hurt anyone else." - Antsy Ricci

"Try to conversion-therapy me into someone I'm not, see if I ever do anything nice for you ever again." - Stephanie

"I found a fruit that tries to run away when you touch it!" chirped Sumi. "Can I have one for a pet?"

"What a fun way to say goodbye," said Cora [Miller], as they began walking after Antsy. "Not ominous at all. Nothing about this is disturbing. I'm having a wonderful time."

Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey

Technically a Reread Review

Winds of Fate is a dense book. So much detail packed into it. It’s really no wonder I don’t remember much from my first read. There’s a bunch of Darkwind’s story to flesh out, Starblade’s backstory, Elspeth and Skif’s journey, Nyara’s story, and then bits from Dawnfire and Mornelithe. It’s a lot and it’s skillfully woven together.

I had completely forgotten about this big ol’ plot point of everyone forgetting and not being able to talk about magic in this book. So clearly forgotten it that this plot point has led to a gigantic amount of frustration in any book in the chronology past Vanyel’s books. I have ranted about it in other reviews at length. I still am not sure what about his Herald-Web spell made all this nonsense happen, because that wasn’t explicitly part of his spell, at least not that I can remember. The problem of magic in Valdemar is just as frustrating to me as it is to Elspeth. That all this has something to do with Stefan becoming part of The Forest of Sorrows is odd. Stefen was supposed to bolster the view of regular Heralds and Herald Gifts, not somehow make magic anathema to the point it’s currently at in Valdemar. So very, very odd.

So, Quentin knows elementals exist. He has a little bit in his thoughts about “an earth-elemental in the scullery.” So… why are the vrondi not identified as elementals instead of just “whatever watches Valdemar?” I do find it somewhat funny that Need is the one to finally tell someone about the dang vrondi.

I have always enjoyed Elspeth as a character. She’s been fun to watch grow up through Talia and Kero’s books. I love that she’s decided being herded in a particular direction by the Companions is not in her cards. It’s pretty great. Love me a good independent female lead. I’m also actually really glad she has the cajones to stand up to Skif’s nonsense. Not nonsense I ever thought he’d be party to, mind, but utter nonsense all the same.

Skif… doesn’t really feel like the Skif from earlier books. I’m going to chalk this up as us basically jumping from child Skif to teenage Skif to “present day” Skif who is honestly acting horribly toward Elspeth. I’m not sure if it would have helped getting something from his POV during this adventure, but perhaps. I’m also not sure how I feel about his insta-bond with Nyara. Seems detrimental, if I’m honest.

Knew Mornelithe was evil, but to make his daughter a) into a Changechild and b) desire him as much as she does is just sick. Mornelithe actually reminds me of Hadanelith from The White Gryphon. They both use a twisted form of BDSM to warp and control their “playthings.” Both are just gross, personality-wise. Mornelithe just managed to get into an actual position of power, where Hadanelith was skulking around wishing he had it. All this was written before the reveal that Mornelithe has memories of his past lives, and… I won’t reveal it here, but Skandranon is mentioned so… yeah. Go figure I’d make a connection relating to him.

We get confirmation here that the Dhorisha Plains are the former site of Urtho’s Tower. So that’s fun. Really there’s a lot more connection between Winds of Fate and The Mage Wars than I was expecting. Not bad, by any means, just bits and pieces I found interesting.

I want to say I liked Winds of Fate, but that’s mainly because I didn’t hate it. It was good, just not super awesome and didn’t really leave me with a feeling of finality to this piece of the story. That’s definitely not a bad thing, given that this is the first of a trilogy… just a thing. I am looking forward to rediscovering Elspeth’s journey in the next one.

Favorite Line

"The hertasi were fond of referring to these unwelcome intruders as 'fertilizer.'" - Darkwind's Narration

Pokemon Scarlet: Mochi Mayhem Review

Definitely not gonna lie: I hated this epilogue. Pretty much everything about it.

I think my hatred of Kieran from the DLC should be pretty obvious, given my last two reviews. However, I'm not sure if the fact that I'm also not fond of Arven, Nemona, or Penny was ever addressed. But... yeah. Not a fan of any of those three. Suffered through them as part of the main storyline and was kind of glad not to have to deal with them again... until this epilogue.

Arven especially came across as, like, weirdly protective in a way that just put me off. Like, I dunno if it's just because I'm a cis-female playing a female character or what, but the way Arven behaved toward Kieran or even the mention of Kieran was not great. He was acting almost as if our characters were dating or something... which is definitely more friend-zone in his case, if anything. Where the heck did that come from and why did no one catch that?

The whole mochi thing... eeehhhh... I kinda want to know why everyone just chalked Carmine's weirdness up to a curse at worst and just Carmine being weird at best. She's a kooky character, to be sure, but the dancing and the "Mochi" repetition was concerning in ways no one was taking seriously. I mean, it is a Pokemon game and maybe I'm taking this too seriously, but... I dunno. It just rubbed me completely the wrong way.

I will concede that the scene where Arven and Penny are force-fed mochi and Kieran gets hit in the face with it was amusing. Wasn't great, but was amusing.

I really just wanted to get back to catching the Legendaries as I played through this thing. I really don't feel like it was necessary. Pecharunt isn't even interesting. I have zero motivation to use it.

On A Side Note

This glitch happened while I was searching for Groudon

A most exciting battle. This was my view.

First Test by Tamora Pierce

A Reread Review, Possible Spoilers

I've read First Test a few times and, during this reread, it really struck me how much more detail there is in Keladry's story than there was in Alanna or Daine's. I can much more easily visualize life as a page during Kel's time. We also get a good chunk of Kel's inner dialogue, which makes her character feel much more like a person.

We know from the start that Lord Wyldon doesn't think women have any business being knights or even fighters. However, it really, really struck me this time around just how ridiculous his views on that are. The standout among his views was this:

"My experience with females is that they begin early."

Pertaining to flirting and relationships. Kel is 10 in this book. 10. And Wyldon believes she's going to start being all flirty and distracting the boys in a sexual manner. I really wanted to punch him upon reading that this time. While he does allow Kel to stay at the end (that's not a spoiler, this is a tetralogy after all), his views haven't exactly changed and he believes that her feelings growing up might be an issue. I heartily rolled my eyes. Wyldon does, however, treat Kel fairly, in my opinion. Do I wish he'd insisted that, starting that year, everyone would be given a probationary year before becoming a page? Yes. Yes, I do. But since that doesn't happen and given what does and how he reacts to it, I'd say he actually does treat Kel fairly despite his obviously messed up views on girls.

There is a scene between Duke Baird and Kel after one of her fights with Joren and his crew that reminded me very much of a semi-similar scene in Stephanie Meyer's New Moon. This scene was far superior to the New Moon scene. Neal's ranting both to Kel and himself made me chuckle.

Speaking of Neal... He's my favorite side character. He's just the right kind of snarky BFF Kel needs to balance out her very Yamani-esque affectations. On a side note, I do really like that Kel had some experience with fighting training in her past, even if it wasn't precisely what she needed for Tortallan knighthood. That Kel's experiences in the Yamani court before the age of ten were helpful at all was honestly kind of surprising, but... yeah, apparently they start them young on the Yamani Islands.

I had fun rereading First Test, though I don't really have any more thoughts on it. Definitely an excellent start to the Protector of the Small tetralogy.

A Side Note

While rereading this, I kept thinking back to how, when I first read Protector of the Small, I thought it was really neat that Tamora Pierce had a Japanese analog culture in her writing. I remember voicing this thought to my best friend and she was very dismissive and semi-angry about it, as though having another culture represented in a fantasy novel was a bad thing or something. I don't quite remember. We were 12.

Scarlet Adventures #11

A Pokemon Appreciation Post.

That is all.

I swear there was water here a second ago...

Who's that Pokemon?!

Just washing Dialga, God of Time

I love how Dialga's like: Why walk when I can float?

Somehow merged with a Beartic upon exiting a battle.

Registered Piplup, my favorite little dude.

Just look at 'em! How can you not love them?!

A random Shiny Hisuian Qwilfish

Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

I really, really enjoyed Valdemar. It was a fitting end (at least I’m pretty sure it’s the end) to The Founding of Valdemar trilogy. It hit all the points it needed to, but didn’t feel tedious in doing so. There were even some things that got cleared up satisfactorily that I didn’t even think were going to be fixed in a good way.

Lythe and Rothas are an interesting addition. I honestly thought they were just going to end up as a sort of side-quest thing. Turns out, they were really helpful and actually quite fun as characters.

The first Companions seem angelic, in their true form. Especially with the “fear not” thing Ardatha talks about. I do like that they and Kordas came up with how the Heralds would function. Glad to know it wasn’t just Companions appearing and dictating to their Chosen how it was going to work.

The first Herald/Companion rescue mission had me tearing up. I am a sucker for that sort of coming together thing… as I’ve stated multiple times in my reviews. The generosity of the Valdemaran also made me tear up, even if their surplus of stuff to kit out the Heralds was super convenient. Not a bad kind of convenient, as it makes sense in terms of what’s been laid out so far.

I’m very happy to have an explanation as to what an Adept is. That’s been a tad fuzzy, in my estimation. Lackey actually goes a lot more into the details of magic here, where she hasn’t exactly gotten that technical about it (at least as far as I’ve currently read in the Valdemar series. Jonaton and Kordas go very in depth with the coronation thingy, like, waaay more than I was expecting, just for example. Honestly, my brain is somewhat boggled at the sheer amount of magical detail we get throughout the book.

The big battle at the end made me long for more magic in the rest of the series. I’m kind of glad Valdemar came out in the middle of my reread, or else I might have been much more salty about the lack of magic in the rest of the series, even knowing The Founding of Valdemar is a prequel. Jonaton is just super inventive with his uses of magic here.

I feel like there was an inordinate amount of attention paid to the death of Sydney-You-Asshole. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also kind of sad the cat finally died, but I’m not super fond of the overly long farewell he got after everyone realized he was gone. I’ve also never thought about or even realized that Haven had a crest or a flag or whatever, so having an explanation as to why there’s a black cat on it was just like… huh. Okay then. Sydney will be missed, I guess, just not exactly by me.

But yeah, Valdemar was a fun addition to the series. I think it did a really good job doing what it needed to do as a prequel and being entertaining in its own right.

Favorite Lines

The way you remember things is not always accurate to what it actually was, but you know the way it felt. - Kordas

Celery. The vegetable of depression. - Restil 

“I have a Companion with a somewhat sarcastic vein.” 

     :It’s not a vein. It’s an entire mine. Nice of you to notice.: - Restil & Darshay

Magic is all about playing the odds and hoping you stay lucky! - Koto

The Immortals Series Overview

The Immortals by Tamora Pierce

This post will contain spoilers for Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, and The Realms of the Gods. There will also probably be spoilers for any books earlier or later in the Tortall chronology.

So, I have a little confession to make: I really don't think I actually read The Immortals before. But I also kind of remember at least listening to at least one of the books on a long and trauma-blocked car trip so... yeah. This was an interesting experience, especially as there were little details about The Immortals that I know based on reading Protector of the Small and Daughter of the Lioness... like the existence of Darkings, for example. But yeah, if I read/listened to The Immortals before, I have zero memory of it. So that's fun.

All that said... I feel like The Immortals hangs together a lot better as a series than Song of the Lioness did. There were time-skips and bits of things that happened between the books, but it feels like a much more cohesive whole. Daine's journey from orphaned wild-child to a formidable mage in her own right was pretty smooth and we got to learn how her powers worked along with her. I like knowing the how of magic systems and we definitely got the how.

As I'm thinking back on the series now, Wild Magic mostly fades into the background when thinking of the story as a whole. Daine got accepted into the upper eschelons of Tortallan court? (I'm really not sure what to call it. Jonothan and Thayet's inner circle? Dunno, it's weird) pretty quickly. It was honestly blind luck that landed her there. Not that I can picture her in any other part of Tortall, but yeah... that was hella convenient.

The introduction of Numair was interesting. He fit right in with Alanna, Jonothan, and the rest so quickly I could almost forget he wasn't in Song of the Lioness. I don't really know how well his origin in the currently still-being-written Numair Chronicles is going to fit in, but that's not really a discussion for right now...

It was nice seeing Alanna and Jon again, even if it's from an entirely different perspective. Jon seems to have settled nicely into his role as King. Thayet clearly had a steadying influence on him. Alanna is ever Alanna. It was interesting to see her interact with her kids for the brief amount of time we got. My main experience in that arena is the Daughter of the Lioness duology, where that relationship is strained... but again, this is supposed to be an Immortals Overview.

I think Wolf-Speaker was probably the weakest of the quartet. It did introduce Tkaa and the Immortals who might want to stay peacefully in Tortall as well as cementing Ozorne as the overall Big Bad. I didn't really enjoy it, though Daine's growing abilities were fun to experience with her.

Emperor Mage actually introduced us to Ozorne and politics, though the politics weren't really that strong in Daine's case. She had more to contend with, what with The Graveyard Hag looming in the background. I liked seeing what a more active goddess was capable of. A lot of what actually happens in Emperor Mage happens in the background while Daine's running around with Prince Kaddar.

Finally, The Realms of the Gods. Basically a camping book... without the grueling camping or active warfare that's going on at the same time. We do get a big ol' battle at the end, but most of the book is Daine and Numair traveling mostly unimpeded through the Realms of the gods. It was kind of fun, once they actually landed places... like the Dragonlands. Dragons are always fun and getting independent ones is even more fun. Alas, this was for a brief moment before the last battle, where Ozorne is finally defeated.

I mostly did not feel like Ozorne was much of a threat in either of the books where he actually appears. I mean, sure, he is ultimately the channel for the Goddess of Chaos, but he doesn't actually do much. As Daine rightly points out to him. He schemes behind the scenes and ultimately brings his own downfall upon himself.

Also, The Immortals feels like a bad title for this quartet. There are Immortals in the books and this is where they ostensibly return to Tortall but... it's not really about them. It's about Daine and Daine's journey to at least find the true extent of her powers. Also, a good chunk of the "Immortals" aren't actually immortal so... yeah. Not a great name.

I did enjoy reading The Immortals and hopefully it'll stick itself in my brain this time. I don't really have a whole lot to say about the series as a whole. For all it's hanging together well, it was also very much four different stories about the same person in slightly different parts of her life. It's not bad, just... not very thought provoking, as it were.

Editing Me: I just realized I did not mention Kitten. Like, at all, pretty much ever in any of my reviews for this series or this Overview. Kitten is awesome. I love me a little dragon. It's like having a scaled cat, only... ya know, not as awesome, because cats. Kitten is adorable and magical and I love her.

The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce

I quite enjoyed The Realms of the Gods even if it did feel long at times. I do feel like The Realms of the Gods is supposed to be more epic feeling than it is. That might just be a me thing, but Daine and Numair’s encounters and travel through the Realms are just over really quickly. There’s no time to dwell on even descriptions of the places they’re traveling through, unless you’re an old rickety bridge. That said, it was a rather convenient way to skirt around writing a whole war. That last battle, though, was a proper epic battle. I’ll have to read it again to catch all the details.

I really did not remember the Darkings origins were in this book. It is both interesting and scary that Ozorne created them. As I definitely remember reading the Daughter of the Lioness, I remember the Darkings, but I do not remember them being nearly as active as Leaf and Jelly. They’re stirring pots! Definitely not a skill Aly’s Darkings display later in the continuity.

I should probably mind the Daine/Numair romance… but I don’t. Probably because I’m use to it. My second and most-read of Tamora Pierce’s books was The Protector of the Small quartet in which Daine and Numair were already a couple. Seeing the beginning of that relationship is kind of fun, even if it does bring the age difference into it… which also doesn’t bother me. Like, at all. Genuine love and affection can happen between people of disparate ages, which is fine if they’re adults. I think Daine’s either an adult or close to at this point so… zero issues.

Honestly never thought I’d see the day when a main character uses their own poo as a weapon. Wow.

I did quite like the representations of the gods there at the end. The Cat putting in an appearance was a nice little wink to the audience. I did think, as I said before, that the actual Realms could have done with more description, though I did like what we got. I only wish there was a map.

In Other News

I finished an OviPets project! This is Tyrannomon, based on the Digimon of the same name. Tyrannomon took me approximately 5 months to complete.