Great for those who love books about talking animals and bratty ten-year oldsDaine and her master, Numair, head out to meet up with Daine's old pack of wolves. Apparently, there is some disturbance to the hunting grounds, and the wolves want the two-leggers to stop mining and farming and such so the game will return. But the rulers of the land, Tristan and Yolane, refuse. Can Daine bring about peace without a bloodbath?You know that saying about how a sequel is rarely as good as the original? Yeah, that applies here. Sure, this is nowhere near the worst I've ever read--I doubt it would get on a top 100 worst list--but this book is pretty darn dull and contains some of the most annoying tropes.First off, our story's premise is weak and feels very "sequel"-ish. Daine and Numair are summoned by the wolves to solve a problem? I read the beginning and cringed. There is little I dislike more than a weak reason for a sequel. The sad thing is, the setup at the end of "Wild Magic" is pretty open-ended and ripe for adventures. I just felt the way the adventure started here was weak.A lot of the characters that were so carefully crafted last time are gone or absent for much of the book. Onua, King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, Tahoi, and more disappear all together; Numair and Alanna appear in very minor roles. Instead, we get probably the third thing I hate most about this book: talking "cute, furry animals". Now we have a billion wolves (including cute pups that is sure to make all the little girl that are reading this squeal and run to their parents begging for a puppy), a squirrel (which has to be THE most annoying anthropomorphized animal, in my book), a basilisk, and, of course, our dragon, which is now called "Kitten". And every time I heard that damn dragon called "Kitten", I wanted to murder something. I've read some animal books in my day (the James Herriot novels, "The Art of Racing in the Rain", etc.) and enjoyed them, so it's not the fact there are animals in this novel. It's the fact that I felt these animals were employed for two purposes: A) the "AW HOW CUTE" factor and the B) "ZOMG!Daine is so awesome" factor.Speaking of Factor B, we round out to my second most annoying thing about this book: Daine "I'm starting to pole vault over the Mary Sue fence". (I know, it's shocking that this isn't #1 Most Annoying.) I despise Mary Sue characters because they tend to cheat at characterizations and thumb their noses in your face for being so normal. Last book, I could ignore Daine's Mary Sueness because she was young and inexperienced and the book was just written so well, it was hard to be annoyed by her Mary Sueness. Here, the ONLY thing that tempers it (and this is probably what makes it #2 instead of #1) is how prejudiced Daine is towards Stormwings and Ogres and how often she is called out on it. I got to hand it to Pierce: there are NOT many authors who call out their characters for bad behaviors and there are fewer that do it to their resident Mary Sues.And now, for the absolute Most Annoying Thing about this book...*drumroll*Maura!Who is Maura, do you ask? Well, she's an annoying, whiny, little ten-year old brat who tags along with the group, gets into trouble, screams, and generally makes herself a nuisance...AND WON'T LEAVE NO MATTER HOW MUCH PEOPLE TELL HER TO. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I *HATE* it when a kid is dragged into a story and then the other characters must then proceed to baby said character all over the place because said kid is too STUPID to GO @#$%ing HOME!Okay, so I've ranted over what I didn't like...so why bother with the three stars? Well, Pierce's writing is still interesting (even if her story is so boring I tuned out and really didn't miss much...). She is developing her story to go somewhere--hence why Daine is honing her talents controlling animals and her own animal instincts. We also get the one big plus factor in this novel: the Stormwings AREN'T all bad guys, they can be just as caring and loyal as any other being. And that last one, in particular, is a HUGE deal, because, let's face it, many children and teen novels wouldn't bother to make villains anything but cliched.It wasn't as good as "Wild Magic", but it doesn't mean that I'm turned off Tamora Pierce or the Immortals Quartet. I'll be starting up with "Emperor Mage" in the morning. And hopefully, the story will be back to what it was in "Wild Magic".
The second book in the series begins after Diane's training under him has progressed a sufficient amount and she has trully begun to master her ability to shapeshift and communicate with animals. It is also here that all of the responsibilities that come along with her powers begin to trully be explored as a regular part of th world. Being that she is the only one who can understand animals, the wolves comes to her. Being between the human world and nature and playing the part of the typical fantasy druid (as a very general and basic description mind you)she races out to see if she can somehow keep the local people from chopping down the woods. The story picks up speed from here and then hits the nitro as the initial tiny problem blosseums into a larger and larger web of problems. The main thing that this book taught me specifically past what the other books teach me, is that is showed me how to begin to weave togeter the strands of events and locations and the overall social dynamics of a world of my creation, into a rapid, but controlled growth in the scale of a plot. This is essential for any plot that does not involve the characters somehow suddenly stumbling upon some grand destiny at the expense of leaving their old lives behind. True, though this does happen is some form all the same, it is not at once, and the slow progresssion allows the reader to come along for the ride with the hero in discovering that their adventure is about to begin. I have always found this to be an excellent way to build on a character and showing more about thek and the world they are in, without stalling the plot. In essence, the setup for the main plot becomes its own subplot.
What do You think about Wolf-Speaker (2005)?
Book two of The Immortals series finds Daine and Numair heading to the valley of Dunlath to answer the call of help from Daine's old wolf pack. The Long Lake pack have asked her to come help rectify the balance in their new home; wood cutters are destroying the forest and chasing away all the game. But it turns out the problem is far more complicated then it seems. With the presence of Ogres, Stormwings, and traitors to the crown, to name just a few, Daine must discover and use all her available resources to pull through this situation successfully.My Second favorite of this series, Wolf Speaker delves much further into the animal aspect of the story. Daine spends a great deal of time conversing and dealing with any number of the forest dwellers, and I enjoyed where that took the storytelling. Flicker the squirrel and Maura (one of the few new human characters) have some great parts to play, and Kitten (introduced in Wild Magic) is awesome, but then when has there been an un-awesome dragon? Especially a baby one. Maura's relationship with one of the Stormwings has downright laugh-out-loud moments; But mostly its nice to see Daine's character develop. A 14 year-old girl, discovering untold powers but still unsure of how and when to use them is, in itself, a great element.Although this story has considerably less of the Tortall characters in it, I thoroughly enjoyed both the new characters and mysteries unraveling at Dunlath enough so that I didn't regret that there wasn't more of Alanna or the others. But by book three I was glad they were back!
—Rhiannon Ryder
I think I set my bar so high for this series from the first book that this book was inevitably a letdown. I loved the first book. I loved being introduced to all the characters, I loved learning about Daine's "wild magic" and her journey into self-discovery. Even the lengthy and confusing battle at the end didn't ruin it for me. This book, however, just dragged on. Daine is traveling with her mentor, looking for a missing group of Riders and re-encountering the pack of wolves with whom she bonded and which came to her assistance when she needed it before we were introduced to her in the first book. They were a crucial part in her development, and it was disappointing to me that they were so lacking in character.I found the plot boring and uninspired. Even if I didn't read the first few books in the series, I grew to like the characters from my introduction to them in the first book of the Immortals, and it was to my disappointment that they didn't make an appearance in this one. The mystery was boring, I didn't like the antagonists...before you say, well, no shit, Sherlock. They're supposed to be unlikeable. I mean that they were so...villainous, traditionally so. They were one-dimensional and boring. I also did not like the fact that Daine spends so much of her time interacting with animals. I like human interactions, I like it when Daine is out of her comfort zone. Animals are nice and good, but I'm not a furry. I'm really not into animals as characters. I prefer human interactions, and this book was lacking in that. I'm hoping book 3 will be better.
—Khanh (Clowns, Nightmares, and Bunnies)
This didn't excite me as much as its predecessor, Wild Magic, primarily for the following reason:Daine and Numair are in the forest thenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine and Numair and some wolves are in the forest thenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine and Numair go to a castle thenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine hangs out with wolves and thenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine meets some immortals, good and bad, and thenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine enters into the mind of an animal to talk to Numair through a barrier.Daine is always tired because it takes a lot of energy whenDaine enters into the mind of an animal.Daine enters into the mind of an animals to go everywhere, all the time, forever and ever amen. Okay, that's it, you get the point. I still love Tamora Pierce and I'll still keep going with the series because I like the world.
—Flannery
