Book Review - Wild Magic

Ok first off I am *really* sorry that this review is late. It should have gone up yesterday but I've been so totally whacked these past few days that I've had to summon up energy enough to actually read and with writing two massive and kinda intense reviews on the trot it's wiped me out mentally. And that's not even taking into account my uni work which I'm slowly beginning to realise will actually eat my soul this year (if there's anything left after I attempt to do Nano in November - that is starting to look like reckless foolishness now). But anyway before I try and attack the beastly spanish translation I have to do by Friday I'm gonna get this bloody review up and I'll have to figure out what the hell I'll do about the one for Trickster's Choice. *brain melts*

Title: Wild Magic
Series: The Immortals Quartet
Author: Tamora Pierce
Date: 26/9/2010 PM
Source: Bought
Description: "If anyone might be a hero -- could I?" she asked herself and smiled.

All the orphaned Daine wants when she comes to Tortall is a job. What she finds is magic in many forms. Hired by the Queen's Riders because of her knack with animals, Daine soon reveals that her knack is truly magical. Not only do animals obey her, but they understand her words. Under the tutelage of the great mage Numair, Daine struggles to focus her powers and confront the nightmares of her past. And so her wild magic grows even stronger. She now can sense the presence of the immortals, evil creatures who threaten the future of Tortall. But Daine will have to learn to trust humans before she can come to terms with her powers and her past -- and protect the kingdom from immortal invasion. (Description taken from Amazon.com)

Review: 

This is gonna be a tad different to the other reviews in this series because this will be the only one that doesn't has 5 Stars. This isn't my favourite book in this quartet, it's not even in my Top 5 fav Tamora Pierce books. However it is on this list because it was the *first* Tammy book I ever read. Back in 2004 I found myself browsing a bookstore for something new to read and I happened across this unassuming reddish-brown book with gorgeous cover-art. The blurb caught my attention and before I knew it I was out the door with it -and now it's all ancient history and I have to say that in the 6 years since I found Tammy (lol I make her sound like a cult) I've read a prodigious amount of fantasy novels and thought long and hard about writing my own although that didn't turn out so great.

Wild Magic was my first foray into Tammy's brilliant fantasy world that I would literally give my right kidney to be able to live in - heck I don't care if they don't have proper plumping in Tortall I'd be in a world where knights were still rife and there were ruddy magical creatures flying about! Meeting her fabulous characters for the first time was such a rapturous experience that I was desperate to buy all the other books mentioned on the back of my copy of Wild Magic right away so I could read about Alanna, Kel and Aly- oh yea and George (Cooper who is married to Alanna) cos I'm a little bit in love with him the charming rogue that he is *winks*.

So yea, another thing which I love about this quartet (besides the awesome characters and setting) is how a large part of the overall story arc revolves around the return of these weird and wonderful creatures which are essentially immortal (although they can be killed). Some are peaceful and stay away from humans but some are rather mean and will purposefully attack people - my particular favourites out of a selection which includes, Spidrens, Hurrocks, ogres, giants etc. absolutely *have* to be the Stormwings. They're nothing like any other fantasy monster you've ever seen and even though they are foul, evil creatures I can't help but love them for their originality and for how bloody *logical* they are! 

Picture this: a bird that isn't quite a bird - it's feathers and claws are all made out of razor-sharp steel and instead of a beak it has a human face and torso too. It's teeth are also sharp as knives and caked in old blood. Also the smell - Stormwings feed off the fear and mayhem of battles and if dead bodies are left on a battlefield too long then they will come and tear into them, urinate and defecate on the bodies and roll in the resulting filth so you can only imagine how utterly foul the Stormwings smell in person - it's enough to turn even the strongest stomach. Their purpose was to scare people into *not* fighting wars through the fear that if there was a battle then the Stormwings would come and desecrate their dead warriors in the most hideous way imaginable. But after all the Immortals were sent to the Divine Realms 400 years before this story began the humans forgot and so now the lesson must be re-learned. *shudders at how creepily awesome the Stormwings are*

Now, Daine; she's either my third or fourth favourite Tammy heroine (it's a toss-up between her and Beka Cooper) and although her Wild magic is way cool I just find it a leetle bit eerie that she could basically sic a sparrow onto me and have it peck my eyes out with little to no effort. As much as I wouldn't mind having the ability to talk to any animals which I owned and felt affection for, her level of power is kinda scary and in the third book of the quartet she gets *very* badass when she's angry (incidentally the 3rd is my fav of the quartet). But she is a good person and considering the hard times she suffered through before the story starts I admire her for being trusting enough to even be around humans again. I do like Daine although she scares me just a tad so it's not entirely surprising that I like Kel and Aly more. I kind of envy her cos Numair (her uber-powerful mage teacher) is so lovely and ditsy-funny and well yea I'm not saying any more on that subject :P

So basically - I do love this book although story-wise it's not quite as amazing as some of the Tortall books but I can forgive it because it holds such nostalgic and sentimental value for me. Now after writing this review I really want to re-read the other three books but dang it I *can't* cos I have tons of TBR books and they're at home anyway where I can't get them *pouts*. Anyway as an introduction to Tammy's books Wild Magic is fab cos we're seeing this world through Daine's eyes and she's never been outside of her village before the start of the book so everything is as new and fresh for her as it is for us. The series only gets better after the first book so I really hope that if anyone does decide to pick this book up that they'll continue on with the other books and eventually everything Tammy has ever published :P.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Phew there we go! It's finished and now I must go eat some dinner and then whup some spanish (translation) ass! I'll do my bestest to get the Trickster's Choice review up soon but I've also got to do Harry Potter and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader so things could get a little backed up :S

Oh yea and I turn 20 tomorrow!!! *squee* So I will be doing a vlog showing my awesome pressies and maybe waffle a bit about how crazy it feels to be two whole decades old. 

Until Tomorrow

LadyV