Tempests and Slaughter

A new Tamora Pierce book! About the origins of Numair! YES! I waited SO ANXIOUSLY for this book to make its way through the line of holds at my library and get in my grabby hands, and I was rewarded. Tempests is classic Tamora Pierce. It's set in Carthak, not Tortall, but the themes and feel are exactly what I was expecting. I love diving back into my favorite fantasy worlds, and Tortall ranks right near the top. (It might be the top, I haven't sat down and attempted to rank them - that would probably be a futile effort!)

My only issue with the book, really, is that it feels like an introduction. I know it's the first part of a trilogy, but the rest isn't OUT YET! So I feel like I've read the first third of a story and now I have to wait. Tempests introduces a LOT of story threads, and resolves exactly none of them. It managed to do so without leaving us on a cliffhanger, though, so there's that, at least. I'm probably going to go re-read the books around Numair's adult life to tide me over until the rest of this trilogy comes out!

I think my favorite character overall was Enzi - he was hilarious and obstinate and I'm looking forward to the rest of his storyline.

I was surprised but pleased to see a gay couple as side characters - and that it wasn't mentioned the character was gay until his husband arrived on the scene. It wasn't a defining point of his character, his spouse just happened to be male. I've said it before, but I love seeing the change in fantasy - it's gone from “that's strange or scandalous” to “absolutely no big deal, people have differently-gendered partners.” It will be even lovelier once real society reaches that point!

Final verdict: Tempests and Slaughter was an excellent addition to Tortall, but if you like books that resolve their storylines, you might want to wait until the rest of the trilogy is published. If you can't wait, just expect that you won't get many answers from this first book!

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

I'm so sad. I loved this but I didn't realize the next one hasn't been released. I should have looked before I started it. It looks like there is no release date either.

1: Tempests and Slaughter ★★★★★
#2: The Exile's Gift ???

(This review can also be found on my blog.)

I have been a Tamora Pierce fan for as long as I can remember. My first read by her was Wild Magic and I've adored just about everything I've read by her since (for some reason I can't get into the Circle of Magic series, but I guess that's a personal problem). When I saw that Tempests and Slaughter, the first in a series detailing the youth of Arram Draper (later known as Numair), I almost died of excitement.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC through a Goodreads giveaway, which I practically inhaled. It was wonderful to get to see a different side of Numair and to see his beginnings. I loved finding the characters who I knew would continue to play a role in his future, and who I recognized from the other Tamora Pierce books I've read.

In my opinion, this does lean a little more towards MG than YA, mainly due to Arram's age at the outset of the book (around 11, if I remember correctly). While I'm not usually a MG reader, I love the world and characters that Tamora Pierce constructs and didn't have much of an issue with it. In fact, when I finished it, I pined over the fact that I would have to wait for a sequel and almost immediately picked up Wild Magic to reread.

Tamora Pierce fans will love dipping back into the world they've already grown to love, and I recommend Tempests and Slaughter wholeheartedly.

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