Tricksters Choice
Fantasy
By Tamora Pierce
Reviewed by Rebecca E. Miles
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
“In a time of fear, the One Who is Promised will come to the raka, bearing glory in her train and justice in her hand, She will restore the god to his proper temple and his children to her right hand. She will be twice royal, wise and beloved, a living emblem of truth to her people, She will be attended by a wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows. She will give a home to all and the kudarung will fly in her honor.”- The Kyprish Prophecy
When Aly, the sole daughter of Tortalls spy master and the kings champion, lady knight Alana, adopted niece of none other than the king Jonathan and queen Thayett of Tortall, and of Tortalls most powerful mage Numair Salmalin, is kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery, she learns the secrets of this new land in the Copper Isles. The native peoples of the Isles were overthrown by the Luarin settlers and thus sold into slavery. The raka, the name for the natives, however, believe that the time of the Kyprish prophesy has arrived and that they must put the twice-royal Lady Sarai Balitang on the throne. With both the blood of the luarin ruling family the Rittevons and the blood of the raka royal line in her blood, Sarai seems to fit the prophecy perfectly. Aly however finds herself in the hands of the Isles former patron god, Kyprioth. When the luarin overthrew the raka, Kyprioth lost his power over the Isles, but now he seeks it back. With his help, Aly is sold into the Balitang house under the alias of Aly Homewood, daughter of a merchant and a player, a poor maid from Tortall.
Having been trained thoroughly as a spy by her father all her life, and having a magical sight that allows her to see magic in and on objects, the truth in what a person says, and distant objects in detail, Aly roots herself firmly into the raka conspiracy to get Sarai on the Rittevons throne. With the Balitangs convinced that she is the Gods messenger she finds herself in a wager with Kyprioth, if she can keep the Balitang girls alive through the summer, Kyprioth would send her home to her frantically worried parents.
Aly is a very self assured and cocky girl who finds herself recruiting crows to spy for her, learning their language, and even falling in love with one! (Whether she admits it or not) She is very intelligent and definitely knows how to spy and how to uproot a very unstable monarchy. Which of course draws suspicions from her fellow conspirators and a friendship with both Sarai and her sister Dove, but by now they have learned to accept a gift as a gift and not ask too many questions about it.
Tamora Pierce is an excellent author but Tricksters Choice doesn’t really seem to be one of her best novels. It is interesting and engaging, but too much seems to go right for Aly. She seems to randomly appear with these abilities that are just convenient for the time being but had never been hinted that she possessed them before. Tricksters Choice is good, but compared to some of Tamoras previous works and to the books that come after it, it doesn’t really compare.
