Protector Of The Nerds: Tamora Pierce books

tfw a reference to briar moss makes the emelan nerds pop out of the woodwork

hi guys :3c

I'm a fan of Tortall and Emelan both, in different ways. With Tortall, it's nice to see the generations continuing on, and Protector of the Small is my fave.

With Emelan, I adore the emphasis on the magic of parts-of-life, growing and weaving and smithing. The way it doesn't show obviously as Great Destiny, the way it's most effective as a little extra nudge on top of competency with it, the way that making a thousand nails is more essential than cool or flashy things... and the troubles that the cool flashy things always bring.

 

they're so important to me

 

:D :D :D :D
HELLO
I AM HERE
daine and alanna were my favorites from tortall
and I always liked sandry
I think I actually the circle of magic books better than the tortall ones, because wooo no pointless love subplots!!!

 

i haven't read most of the emelan books (though i have read the first one) but i think i read all the tortall ones, starting with wild magic. i think maybe that one or the song of the lioness is my fave. i like 3/4ths of the protector of the small series but i'm not that fond of the last book in it for some reason. i found the beka cooper books hard to read, with their old journal style. i think i like the trickster's books but haven't read them as many times as i've read wild magic, the song of the lioness and protector of the small.

and yeah, the generations continuing on in tortall is awesome. makes it feel like it really has a history and a future and all.

 

wild magic was my favorite of the tortall books but I had, as I've said before, Issues with the last book and main couple.

 

I have so many feelings about these books.

Spoiler: personal blargh

So like....I was an only child, homeschooled, and the area I grew up in was populated by a lot of fundie-light/hardcore Republican/right-wing Christian types (as in, when I worked in the local library, the Superintendent literally refused to buy Laurell K Hamilton books, because there would have been An Outcry. Also he was Catholic and his wife refused to work on 6/6/2006 but that's another story)

Anyway...Daja was pretty much my first introduction to a non-white female protagonist, and Rosethorn was my first introduction to Not-monogamous not-straight relationships, Alanna and Daine taught me about things like consent and how it's ok to be the weirdo in the group, and Keladry....The best thing I learned from her was her mantra, "I am stone". It doesn't sound like much but it was super important to me because I was one of those kids who would cry at the drop of a hat and I got into so much trouble for it haha. Basically all of Tamora Pierce's books would have gotten me grounded for life had my parents known about the contents.

Spoiler

i mean, I got grounded for almost a year for reading harry potter and lying about it, and those are actually hella tame in comparison, I think

 

weird fun thing, beka cooper's book cover is exactly what i looked like in junior year high school, to the point that I'm a little worried there's a doppelganger out there
(also I love the cooper books but i also love the trickster books)

Spoiler: this was an unexpectedly huge picture

the oldest pictures i can find of me in high school:

Spoiler: god these are bad pictures

 

I actually like the Circle of Magic books in general better than Tortall. Sometimes I forget they're by the same author.

Also it's a shame the third Beka Cooper book never happened, the first two are favorites of mine!

 

I read pretty much every one of her books voraciously. Wild Magic was my jam.

 

@kmoss
you have a clone!!!!!!
the reason I read wild magic first instead of the lioness quartet is cause daine looked like me and my sister
what with the BIG CURLY HAIR THAT WON'T FUCKING STAY PUT
XD
if you go back in the selfie thread I think you'll see some of my hair in Prime Curl Hell and you'll see what I mean.

 

I liked the first Beka Cooper book. And the first Trickster book. I can't remember why I couldn't get into Beka, but Trickster only had two books, and that was Wrong. :P (Also, I dunno. I guess I get really attached to certain characters, and then when I read about their children it's not the same thing? Like, I don't care what their kids are doing, I want to know how to they got from there to here!)

 

I´ve only ever read the Song of the Lioness books, didn´t know there were more Tortall books.

 

gUYS THERE ARE BOOKS ABOUT NUMAIR WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS
Edit: Because apparently they aren't scheduled for publication until 2017 why is this my life

Ahem.
So, @littlemissCodeless, yeah, there's a bunch of books including some I was unaware of until just now!
Edit 2: Here's all her books, not just Tortall

 

so many books. SO MANY

 

i recall that tamora pierce has been planning the numair books for a really, really long time. like, i first heard "numair books might be a thing" years ago on her website.

 

(Slightly) unrelated side note, I bought The Song of the Lioness on Kindle in German because I'm more-or-less mostly lazily learning German and I figured I might as well read something that I love, and also I've read it 2340876 times, so even though I might not understand the words, I'll still get the gist because I know what's going on. So far, though, I haven't had the oomph to sit down and actually read though, because I still have to sound out a lot of German words and I'm hella lazy.

 

fun fact, i think when i was like 11 i looked like tris on the cover of tris' book? complete with the silly bandana.
I love the emelan books, it's been a little over a year since i reread them i think?

edit: i also was The Awkward Kid and read too many books and also glasses, so, tiny everett was basically a selectively prickly tris

 

KICKS DOWN THE DOOR AND HOLLARS ABOUT DAJA AND BRIAR AND TRIS AND SANDRY AND AA A A A A

(Dirty secret: I maybe stole my english teacher's copies of the books in like, sixth grade. Whoops.)

The Trickster books are my favorite of the Tortall books, but Emelan holds a tight grip on my heart because Daja was the first lgbt protag I'd read in a kids book (with Corny following soon after) and Sandry's fear of the dark validated babby PR's nyctophobia like. So much. All these kids with all their trauma and all their hurt being helped and healed and growing and learning and aaaaaaa.

(Also like. Craft magic. The difference between academic and ambient magic, and the ways it affects how the magic gets used and built into the world. What I'm saying is that the Emelan books really shaped how I considered world building from the ground up.)

edit: And you can pry bi!Briar from my cold dead hands because I have so many emotions about bi!Briar and ace!Tris and all of them loving each other and never teasing each other over this shit.

 

YESSSSSSS bi!Briar and ace!Triss is where it's at!

Also, yes to everything you said about worldbuilding, holy crap. I never really realized but I agree that Tamora Pierce's interpretations of magic had a huuuuuge influence on how I worldbuild.

 

I want them all to be bi cAUSE I WANT THEM ALL TO DATE AND SNUG
babby's first poly ship