Reviews

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Only show reviews with written explanations

crystalstarrlight's review against another edition

4.0

“If you look hard and long, you can find us. If you listen hard and long, you can hear any of us, call any of us that you wish.”

Daine is a 13 year old orphan when Onua, a civilian horse keeper for the Queen's Riders, finds her and hires her as an assistant. The pair travel to Tortall and meet up with Alanna the Lioness and Numair along with evil Stormwings. What is different about Daine and why are the Stormwings in Tortall?

A long time ago, I read "The Woman Who Rode Like a Man", mostly because it starred a woman (and isn't that title cool) and partly because it was in a library display bin. Unfortunately, it turned out to be #3 in a series and had enough sexual situations (or imagined ones) that my prudish teenaged self revolted against it. But now that I'm older (and less prejudiced), I really wanted to give Tamora Pierce, an author who consistently puts females at the forefront of her novels (withOUT resorting to Love Triangles), another chance. The other plus was I am TOTALLY in a fantasy mood and the book I'm reading is just not quite doing it for me.

"Wild Magic" is a fun book full of magic and adventure, which is an absolutely perfect combination for me. It's quick paced, it's got likeable characters, and it has a unique story.

The characters are a lot of fun to be around and learn more about. Daine is a young girl with a talent for speaking to animals--a talent she learns to cultivate. She also has been pretty burned and through her interactions with Onua (and others), she learns to open up. Sometimes Daine ventured pretty close to Mary Sue territory, but on the whole, she was a pretty likeable protagonist. In fact, upon finishing this book, I almost felt she was the female equivalent of Harry Potter. Onua was probably my favorite character (and I wish more of the book had been from her viewpoint--yeah, I know, that would be stupid, having a young adult book about an adult). I loved how she took a chance on Daine, how kind she was, and how intelligent and upbeat she was. Numair was also a lot of fun, being this powerful mage, and yet having charm and intelligence. Alanna also appears, and while she wasn't my favorite character (red hair AND violet eyes?), I liked how she had grown up, gotten married, was respected and honored, and yet STILL had a hot temper (no magical cures for character faults!).

The story was VERY interesting. It was part journey (one of my favorites) with a smattering of Learning about Magic/History and Fighting against Evil. And yet, not ONCE did I ever feel that the story was old, boring, overused, etc. It was interesting, it kept me engaged, and it was brisk without being TOO fast.

The version I listened to was read by Tamora Pierce herself (cue squeeing) and had a full cast dramatization. I REALLY liked it--the actors made the novel even MORE interesting. If I have any complaint, it is that the voice actress for Daine sometimes went WAY overboard--if this had been a movie, the scenery would have been torn to shreds.

"Wild Magic" is a perfect fantasy, filled with magic, adventure, and fun characters. While I enjoyed it, I definitely think that teenagers would probably enjoy it even more (particularly those closer to Daine's age). I'm definitely on board for Book 2, "Wolf Speaker".