Trickster's Choice

Yes, Aly's over-talented and kind of annoying. Yes, the book has a serious case of "A white person tried their best while writing this." But just when I thought all of the messiness had killed my nostalgia, it snuck up behind me about 2/3 of the way in and hit me with a brick.
Trickster's Choice shows us a rich new part of the Tortallan Universe that both introduces a unique new setting full of interesting characters and creatures and offers new insight into what we learned about the world in earlier series. Pierce, who has earned a lot of credit for dealing explicitly with women's issues like sexism, rape, and birth control, is certainly less informed on the subject of race, but I appreciate that she writes about racism and colonialism with the same level of honesty and passion that she does with subjects more in her comfort zone. Over the course of the book, Aly gets to know and care about a wide variety of interesting characters in the oppressed ethnic group (the dark-skinned raka) and understand the politics of the ruling class (the white luarin), and the racial dynamics are shown to be as messy and fraught as they are in real life. It's not a simple situation of two ethnic groups at war with one another, because these two groups have been interacting with one another for centuries. So there are mixed characters; there are raka nobles and luarin slaves; there are foreigners and gods and crows, all with their own motivations and perspectives. Attention is drawn to the intersections between race, gender, and class. The main character says a lot of things about racial dynamics that I don't really agree with (for instance, that the luarin enriched the isles through their rule), but the fact that there's so much room to argue about various interpretations of the setting's politics and history, and that there are so many parallels to real world discussion of racism and colonialism, is a testament to how fully realized the setting is.
But is it a good book? I didn't enjoy the first half very much at all, primarily because Aly is so much of a white saviour. However, that made me enjoy the second half a whole lot more, because the book is such an interesting deconstruction of the white saviour trope. I also enjoyed the second half a lot more because I got invested in the setting's characters and politics... much like Aly, actually! I'm looking forward to rereading the second book.
While Trickster's Choice is perfectly passable if you treat it as a fun YA adventure and no more than that, I believe that the most interesting way to read it is as a response to and investigation of the white saviour trope, particular as it appears in novels like Trickster's Choice--those occupied with the adventures of young, noble, European-coded heroines in foreign lands. Comparable texts include Pierce's own Song of the Lioness (particularly the third book) and Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword. You might not want to read this book to learn about colonialism--it's probably better to seek out texts by victims and scholars of colonialism and racism for that. But once you have some knowledge of the subject, it's absolutely a worthwhile read.

Love the audio book version of it – well read, great story, excellent punky characters! Alianne has such mischievous competence. She takes her capture in stride and turns the situation into one that interests her. I think I’ve listened to this twice now, and I’m still totally enthralled.

I really liked Pierce's Circle of Magic books (I've read the whole series twice), but this series (with Trickster's Queen) was awful. The main character is a Mary Sue, smarter and more capable than everyone else, even the adults. It is so over the top that it completely broke the spell for me. It is just unrealistic for a young teenager to be in charge of the [spoiler deleted] displacing someone with decades of experience. Whenever the plot gets stuck, the trickster god shows up to change it. Or should I say, the lazy author fixes it. The whole book has a slapdash feel to it. Why do we get a page of description of the port city as we leave it, and when we won't see it again until the next book? What a mess.

Everyone I talked to told me this was a good book. However, I was never motivated to keep reading this book. I just put it up.

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I read this series - since I hadn't reviewed it here, at least since 2007. Much too long. I do love Aly - her frustration over not being allowed to do what she's able and interested in doing, the matter-of-fact way she uses her skills when she ends up needing them - she gets caught in a pirate raid and is taken as a slave, and coolly damages herself in fights so that she won't be chosen as a bed-warmer. For instance. She's exceedingly lucky in who ends up getting her...and then she finds out it's a god meddling (as so often happens in Tortall). She never really feels out of her depth - the job she has to do, and the tools and allies she has to do it with, are exactly what she needs and what she's been training for all her life (hmm - more meddling?). I find it very amusing (I can't now remember if it's in this book or the next) when she realizes what Kyprioth's wager with her actually was... This is half a story - well, it's a good story and has more or less an ending, but the second book is really necessary to complete the arc. One story in two books (and according to the author's afterword, the only reason it's not another four-book series is Harry Potter and the realization by publishers that people really will read big fat books).

Ali is one of my favorite characters, I really like how she draws from both of her parents. The plot was different from the other stories and I really look forward to her next book.

Good book.

As expected from Pierce, a solid read worth revisiting. Aly is, in her own way, a fitting heir to both the Lioness and the King of Thieves.

Protagonist is a bit of a sue. Very nice world-building. Alone, this would be merit "4 stars," but in the Tortallverse, this is just more of the same. Far too much fangirl-service, in my opinion.

This is the book that started this journey for me. I reread it last year and after that, this is all I wanted my fantasy to be. Alianne is the daughter of a spymaster and has learned spycraft growing up helping her dad. Though a series of events she ends up a slave to two young noble women in an island kingdom. She gets involved in the country’s politics very quickly and operates as an underground spymaster for the young women. The story is funny, thought provoking, intriguing and well plotted with great relationships.

All Alianne (Aly) wants to do is be a spy like her father, however her parents don’t agree. So, frustrated at them she sails down the coast only to be captured by pirates. She's sold as a slave to the Balitang family as a general worker, and makes a deal with the Trickster God, Kyprioth, if she keeps the Balitang children alive until autumn, he will convince her father to allow her be a spy, however this deal may be harder than it seems. I'd have to say that I have read most of Tamora Pierce’s books and have loved them all and Trickster's choice is defiantly a hit. Aly is an interesting strong female lead who is both feisty yet likeable. This is a really fascinating story with action, humor and romance. I would recommend Trickster’s Choice to anyone who likes good YA fantasy.
Certainly Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite writers in this genre.
Jack Murphy

Good characters with a nicely established and interesting universe make this series fun to read.

Exciting adventures by Alanna and George's only daughter. A little bit contrived in using Kyprioth (The Trickster god) as a mechanism to involve Aly in a plot to overthrow the rulers of the Copper Isles. However, characterizations are excellent, especially the crows and 'crow-people'.

Trickster's Choice
Trickster's Queen - Tamora Pierce

One story, two books.
These are also actually a follow-up to "The Song of the Lioness" quartet, which I haven't read. They are about the daughter of the heroine of those novels, so these do stand alone - but on the other hand, I felt that I was probably missing some of the world-background that had been drawn in the previous books.
These tell the story of the 16-year-old Aly, who has grown up in her famous mother's shadow, but has also been trained in spycraft by her father. Although she's eager to 'grow up,' her parents don't seem to want her to actually work as a spy (this is really a flaw in the book, from my perspective, because why else would they have trained her to BE a spy from early childhood?) Rebelliously, she runs away, is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave - but, luckily, she is Chosen by a Trickster god to become involved in an incipient rebellion on the colonial islands she is sold into. Therefore, he makes sure she is sold to the Nicest Slaveowners EVER, and she is charged with guarding their children, including two half-breed daughters who just happen to be royalty on both sides of the family. Lots of intrigue and action ensues...
Fun story, with some not-too-overbearing commentary on racism, colonialism, etc, as well as some somewhat-too-obvious Advice For Young Women regarding appropriate relationships and self-respect.
However, Aly is just RIDICULOUSLY competent. There's nothing she can't do, seemingly - and if there was a possibility she couldn't do it, her god-patron helps her out. Her romance (and it is a rather sweet one) proceeds without a hint of a problem... (but maybe I objected to that just because I have been feeling rather bitter about romance this month!) Quite a lot of the events are very much idealized and not very believable - but this is pretty much a fairytale, after all...

In the first Daughter of the Lioness book Aly is recruited by the Trickster God Kyprioth to try and bring the Raka back to power and by default himself. Her job is to keep the children of prophecy safe, when danger comes at them from the Retevon King due to his mental instability that leads him to believe everyone is plotting against him.

Okay, I am a long time fan of Tamora Pierce. Encountered her when I was a young teenager and eagerly read most of her Tortall collection. I noticed the release for Trickster's choice and I bought the hardcover. Trickster's choice was interesting. I liked reading about Aly and her difficulties and it was good that she was a spy and not a warrior. It lost a star however for the fact that she was 'too' good. She never seemed in any real danger of failure. It also lost points for the main love interest. Granted this doesn't really kick in until book two, but Nawat annoyed me. He's a crow and only interested in making nestlings. Outside of Disney, I detest anthropomorphic cuddly things. But these things aside, it is an enjoyable read.

I have loved every book of Tamora Pierce's that I have read up until this point. Which is why my dislike of this story is so disappointing. The tale is very slow moving and mostly about political intrigue, which I can't imagine holding the interest of adolescent girls when it didn't even hold mine. The protagonist is a teenage girl who runs away from home to prove herself. When her parents find out they don't even mind until they find out she isn't where she said she was.

Where is she? Captured and sold into slavery. Yet she is in no way upset about this, nor under any duress. Her owners are, of course, "nice" slave-owners who treat their slaves very well. Hunh?? She is tasked with protecting the lives of the teenage daughters (did I mention she is just a teenager herself?) It's all very absurd and the weird slave dynamic (being a slave is just a lark to her and the other slaves are all very loyal even though there are both slaves and servants with the resultant hierarchy) just makes for a weird situation.

I listened to this book on cd and the reader's accents were inconsistent and the voices all sounded the same, which certainly didn't help make the book interesting. I finally gave up halfway through.

Don't judge Pierce's books by this one: get her Tales of the Lioness or Terrier or any of her other books but give this one a miss.

Pierce's novels continue to become more complex. Here we focus on Aly, daughter of Alanna, the Lioness, and George Cooper. Much more like her father, than her mother, Ali wants to become a spy despite her parents' objections. Little does she know that the god Kyprioth has planned on her path to becoming the spy she knows she can be. Pierce uses Aly's story to explore another of Tortall's neighboring kingdoms, the Copper Isles. As usual, Pierce has created a fascinating society while putting together a story full of adventure, danger, and fun. Trini Alvarado, who narrated the original Lioness quartet, returns here and does a solid, not flashy, job of capturing the different accents and personalities. Listened to CD edition. Previously read.

I love Pierce's books, high fantasy young adult works featuring strong heroines. Aly is the daughter of the heroine who started it all, Alanna, from The Lioness Quartet. I liked her a lot more than her progenitor though, and prefer the two Trickster books to that early quartet or the Immortals with Daine. I was surprised to find out that among her characters Aly is the one Pierce likes the least. I think she's my favorite, even though Keladry gives her a run for her money. But then I think the very qualities that put Pierce off are exactly what I find attractive. I love Aly's cunning. She's well-named as a trickster who triumphs using her brain and not a sword. Reading the reviews, some seem to think her too clever by half, but I enjoyed Aly nimble mind and wit and ability to get out of scrapes and triumph. And she gets into a big one at the start of the book, where she gets kidnapped into slavery and winds up in a land reminiscent of Indonesia. Another great ride, and I like the sequel, Trickster's Queen even more.

With Alianne, or Aly, of Pirate's Swoop, Pierce adds another strong, capable heroine to her already quite full canon. Daughter of Alanna and George Cooper, Aly's story is about finding one's way in the shadow of parents who are known for greatness. One might expect the daughter of the Lioness to follow those footsteps into knighthood, but Aly's talents lie elsewhere.
I find the strength of this series to be in the over-arching plot, which is extremely high stakes and laced with intrigue. Whereas Alanna's books were all tied together by her preventing a usurpation of the throne by an ambitious Duke, Aly's are about the effects of colonialism and the attempt of an oppressed people to retake their ancestral homeland. This plot does not meander; it matters. This has been a consistent strength of Pierce's Tortallan books. Within this strong narrative frame, Pierce takes ample opportunity to develop her heroine into a snarky, capable, and likable character.

Alianne (Aly), 16-year-old daughter of the famed Alanna the Lionness, longs to work as a spy for her father but her parents refuse to consider her request. In frustration she sails off in her boat but is taken captive and sold as a slave in a neighbouring island country, the Copper Isles. The trickster god Kyprioth chooses her to serve as his secret agent as a slave in the household of the Balitangs. Kyprioth makes her a deal, if she can keep the Balitang children alive through the summer, he will help her become a spy. Aly comes to realise that the trickster Kyprioth wants to get a raka (brown skinned) queen on the throne to replace the luarin (white skinned) king. The raka, have been conquered by the laurin, and deeply resent them. They have a prophecy of a twice royal queen who will free them, aided by the "wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows."

This is another great read from Tamora Pierce of a strong, resourceful female finding her place in the world. The story is a whirlwind of intrigue, magic, fighting, comedy, winged horses, treason and romance.

Book Review on Trickster’s Choice:
Aly is 17 and the daughter of famous parents. Her mother is the Lioness, the first woman knight and king's champion of Tortall and her father is Tortall's spymaster. Both of her parents want her to 'grow up' and find her way in life. But when Aly tells them that she wants to be a spy they both tell her NO! So Aly decides to leave for a while so her parents can cool off. But while sailing away she is captured by pirates and sold as a slave. The patriarch of the family she is sold to is a relative of the throne and has a wife with two children and two girls. The family she is sold into is told they must leave the land because the king no longer trusts them. She meets Kyprioth, the Trickster, and makes a bargain: if Aly keeps the Duke and his family safe for the summer, Kyprioth will return her to her family and persuade her parents to let her be a spy. With magic, spells, winged horses that are part human and part metal, crows that take human form, treason, and attempted kidnapping helps Aly finding her independence.
I think this is a good book but the genre “modern fantasy “doesn’t interest me very much. I would recommend this book for young adults, both genders, for this book to be as enjoyable as possible!

This is one of my favorite series by Tamora Pierce. I love Crow and wish there were more books with these characters. A must for people who love Pierce's books.

Ally is totally my favourite of Tamora Pierce's heroines. I love that she isn't a fighter, but a politician and trickster. I love her manipulative feistiness and that she's trying her best to do what's right, even when she has to do dodgy things to have that happen.

Aly is kidnapped to the Copper Isles, where she rises above her station as slave with her spy education and the help of a trickster god.

Aly's story is a sequel to the popular trilogy by Pierce centered on Aly's mother. The world inhabited by the series characters is wholly imagined, right down to the geography, and completely believable. Along with the high fantasy of mages and shapeshifters, this novel contains themes of feminism, race equality, and misunderstandings between parents and children. Trickster's Choice would be a wonderful read for middle school girls able to handle violence from swordfighting and some light sexual content.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, the Supernatural & Utopias Book Review

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster’s Choice. 2003. Random House: New York.

Genre:
Fantasy, Science Fiction

Themes:
Magic, Heroes, Tricksters, Family Problems

Age / Grade Appropriateness:
15/ Eighth Grade and above

Awards:
South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee
ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Censorship Issues:
War, Slavery

Plot Summary:
This novel takes place in the world of Tortall. The novel is about a fifteen year old girl named Aly. Her mom Alanna the Lioness and her father George is the head spy for the entire country. Aly longs to be a spy that works for her father, but her parents refuse to allow her to become a spy. She runs away from home for a few weeks and is captured by some pirates. She is sold into slavery in the Copper Isles. She then makes a deal with the trickster god Kyprioth. Aly is assigned to keep two sisters safe, which are half-Raka and half-Luarin. If Aly can keep the two sisters safe by autumn (through out the summer), then the trickster god will send her home and talk to her father on her behalf about her becoming a spy. Aly manages to keep the sisters safe.

Critique:
This novel fits the bill of a YA book because it is based on a fifteen year old girl. The girl (Aly) is very much like a normal teenager in a much different setting, which would keep many young adults’ attention. I thought this was a great book, but I think it gave away the ending at the beginning of the book. I could pretty much map out what was going to happen before it happened. I think it would have been better if it would have been more suspenseful.

Curriculum Uses:
This novel could be used for entertainment. This great novel is part of a sequel, so you could continue to enjoy these novels. I also thought that it could be used in a Literature or History class to use for discussions.

This book is the first in the Daughter of the Lioness/Tricksters subseries, and is about Aly, who, like the title says, is the daughter of the Lioness (aka Alanna- the first of the Tortall heroines). Unlike most of the other books in the series, this one doesn't involve Tortall much and mostly takes place on a set of islands west of that country, which I found to be a fresh and interesting spin- not that I'm bored of Tortall; I just think it's cool when we get to learn about the surrounding countries.

I found Aly to be just as interesting as her predecessors and I enjoyed her relationships with the other characters. The only flaw I found in her was that she was almost too clever and lucky. (I'm trying to not go into more details than you can get from the back cover or on Amazon or something, so how can I word this...) Granted, a lot of her luck can be based on the fact that a god is helping her out; although that's dubious in itself since it's a trickster god involved. The other main thing that made her so clever and lucky was her vast knowledge of spywork. I know that she was raised to have those skills, but it just seemed like she always knew what to do in any situation. Somewhere along the lines a teenager is bound to mess up, right? Still, though, that flaw wasn't a problem because it didn't really detract from her character; she's still witty, intelligent, and strong. It just kind of made me go "hmm..." after I finished the book and I realized how lucky and skilled she was the whole time.

The other characters in the book are well-rounded and interesting, too. I'll admit that I now have a crush on Nawat, one of the main characters; he's adorably innocent, although there's a reason for that, but I don't want to give it away. Suffice it to say that he's not really *human* per se. He brings a lot of humor into the story (although all this talk about eating bugs was kind of gross, now that I think about it) and is a good counterpart to Aly, and keeps her from being too serious about things. The other character I really liked was Dove, one of the girls in the family where Aly ends up. I have no idea how she is in the next book, but as of now, I'd love to see a series with Dove as the main character. Even as a 12 year old, she's just so smart and level-headed, and just seems like a good candidate for a series heroine.

As for the plot, I enjoyed the change to a different location we didn't previously know much about, and I loved the bits of humor throughout; without that humor, the book wouldn't have been nearly as good because it's a pretty dire situation that Aly is dropped into. I loved all the spying and sneaking stuff Aly is able to do (even if she is really good at it), and I thought the storyline was deep enough to hold your attention, but not so bogged down in politics and race issues that it became boring. I also enjoyed the cameos of previous characters (Kel! Daine! Numair! Hi, guys!).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure if it's my favorite in the series (I think I prefer Daine or Kel to Aly), but it's definitely a good continuation to the super good Tortall series. I certainly wasn't disappointed by this book; I think it's just about as good as the rest. :) I'll give this 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Tamora Pierce returns to the world of Tortall, in this story about Aly - the teenage daughter of Alanna the Lioness and George Cooper. At the beginning of the novel, Aly is a bored young noblewoman, desperate to take her father's path as a spy but not being allowed to. Her relationship with her mother is fraught, since neither stubborn woman will back down on their ideas about Aly's future. After yet another argument, Aly decides to spend the summer visiting relatives rather than endure her mother's wrath, but ends up being taken by slavers en route. She is shipped to the Copper Isles and purchased by the Balitang family.

While there, Aly is visited by a minor God - Kyprioth, who used to be all-powerful to the raka people of the islands. He offers a wager - if Aly keeps the two eldest daughters of the Balitangs family alive til autumn, Kyprioth will return her to her family and speak to George Cooper on her behalf about becoming a spy.

From there, Aly is plunged into a life fraught with dangers, where the mad royal luarin family have reason to see the Balitangs first driven into exile and then attempt murder. Aly comes to see that Sarai, eldest daughter of the Balitangs, has both luarin and raka royal blood and therefore is destined to bring the people of the Copper Isles together.

Surrounded by interesting characters - such as Nawat Crow - Aly is determined to win her wager...

As is her wont, Pierce has once again given us a sassy and fiercely independent young woman, who is prepared to die out of loyalty to friends and who sees men as no more than a pleasant diversion in the pursuit of duty. Aly manages to overcome her title of slave and becomes integral to the lives of the Balitangs, through straight talking and unquenchable spirit.

My one complaint about Aly - who otherwise is a genuinely likeable young heroine - is that she is almost too clever and resourceful. We are given to understand that she has received training and advice from such illustrious personages as George, Alanna, Daine and Thayet (all characters from Pierce's previous novels about Tortall), but Aly still seems to know the answer to everything.

The book is filled with warm and interesting characters. Pierce is able to give us people and animals that we can take easily to our hearts. By the page-turning climax of the book, we care deeply for the people who have crowded the novel with their lively characters, realistic dialogue and genuine motivations.

Enjoyably, Pierce also writes strongly about divisions between the people of a land because of the colour of skin. She explains sensibly (in the words of Aly) that no one should be prejudiced against because they are the wrong colour. It is excellent that such a widely-regarded author is using her work to encourage racial equality and acceptance of the healthy differences between different people. The raka (black) and luarin (white) have both been responsible for atrocities in the past, and now must learn to live together and become simply the people of the Copper Isles.

I very much enjoyed the little details that Pierce embued this novel with to show a different culture to that of Tortall (which is very much based on feudal Europe). The Copper Isles are shown to be rich with exotic wildlife and landscapes, and the fiery food is very different from that Aly is accustomed to eating.

Happily, it is not essential to have read Pierce's other Tortall novels in order to enjoy this one, so new readers to the world can dive right in - however, it is extremely likely that, after enjoying this book, they will rush out and buy the rest. Readers accustomed to Tortall will both enjoy hearing about characters from previous books and be pleased to see this new plucky heroine take her place amongst them.

Alianne just can't seem to decide what to do with her life, and the one thing she knows she would enjoy, spying for Tortall just like her father the spymaster, she is forbidden by her parents. In an attempt to escape a difficult few weeks with her mother, Aly sets out down the coast alone and is enslaved by pirates to sell in the Copper Isles. But like her famous parents, Aly attracts attention not just from the mortals around her but also from a god, and when the gods become tangled in your affairs, life is rarely boring or easy. Aly is quickly drawn in to the center of a centuries-old battle for control between the native Raka people of the Islands and their Luarin rulers. It will take all of Ally's spy skills to protect her royal blooded charges who could be the prophesied future rulers of the Raka.

I am not as drawn to Aly's character as I am to Kel and Alanna, and I thought I wouldn't enjoy her books, but just because she does not lend me personal inspiration does not mean she is not clever, funny, and charming. The story is a good one, and I've had a hard time putting it down. This book ends before the story does, so I'm now finishing the tale with this book's sequel which seems to be just as entertaining.

I confess, I am an inveterate Tamora Pierce fan. Her fun stories and intelligent, hard-working, likeable heroines make anything she produces a good read, and this is no exception. Moving away from the noble court of Tortall, Aly, who is the daughter of the nation's spymaster, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the nearby Copper Isles. When she makes a deal with a trickster god, she must use all of the skills she learned from her father to protect the family she serves. Pierce addresses race relations and the consequences of imperialism, as well as the realities of necessary war. Contains all the necessary ingredients for a good read.

Summary: Being a fifteen-year-old girl is never easy, but it's a lot harder when your mother is the first female knight in the realm, and the King's Champion to boot, your father is the head of spy network for the entire country, and your godparents, aunts, and uncles include powerful mages, immortals, and the king and queen themselves. Everyone is on Aly's case to *do* something with her life, but she's more interested in having fun, and the one thing she really wants to do - become a field agent spying for her father - is forbidden to her. After a particularly nasty fight with her parents, she runs away for a few weeks... only to get captured by slavers, and taken to the Copper Isles to be sold.

However, things aren't as dire as they may seem. The trickster god Kyprioth has his eye on Aly as well, and makes her a wager. He was deposed from the rule of the Copper Isles at about the same time as the local people, the Raka, were conquered by the invading Luarin. If Aly can keep the children of a local nobleman - including two half-Raka, half-Luarin daughters who may fulfill an ancient prophecy - safe throughout the summer amidst the political tensions of a kingdom in turmoil, Kyprioth will send her home to Tortall.

Review: I started this book because I was looking for something reliably entertaining, and I'd listened to and enjoyed Tamora Pierce's previous Tortall books. And, I got what I was expecting: good. Nothing great, nothing fancy, nothing world-shaking, but solidly, reliably good. Tamora Pierce can write entertaining, interesting stories, and her heroines are always sympathetic if always also a little Mary-Sue-ish (although it's forgivable in Aly's case because of her extensive pedigree - at least she comes by it honestly.) I also have to give Pierce credit for making her heroines distinct; I can easily imagine how, after writing so many books in the same universe, her main characters could start to bleed into each other, but Aly's got her own personality, and since most of the action takes place on the Copper Isles instead of Tortall, this series has its own distinctive feel.

Because of this, and because this series is almost a generation removed from the earlier Tortall books, I think it could be read on its own without knowing what precedes it. Plenty of characters from earlier books make cameo appearances, but since the vast bulk of the action takes place when Aly's on her own, far from home, knowing the backstory isn't particularly critical. There's plenty of interesting new characters to choose from... I was particularly fond of Nawat, the crow-turned-human who's more than a little smitten with Aly.

My main complaint about Trickster's Choice is that it's clearly half of a duology. By the end of the book, the story comes to a resting point, but not really an end, which makes the second book a required follow-up read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Whether or not you've read the previous Tortall books, Trickster's Choice is a light, entertaining piece of YA fantasy adventure. It probably won't blow your socks off, but it will keep you reading, which is sometimes exactly what's needed.