TRICKSTER’S CHOICE
by Tamora Pierce
The new Tortall page-turner will delight existing fans and create many more. Alanna’s daughter, Aly, is a rogue like her father, the former thief who’s made legions of Pierce’s girl fans swoon. At 16, Aly’s an accomplished flirt—and brilliant at the intelligence work learned from her spymaster father. Her parents demand she pick any career but her beloved spying. After a fight with her mother—“try being the daughter of a legend”—Aly sails off in a snit, is captured by pirates, and sold as a slave in the Copper Isles. A bet with a local trickster god plunges her into a simmering race war, court intrigue surrounding a mad king, and a centuries-old conflict between gods. Winning will take all her diplomatic and spying talents. Unlike Pierce’s earlier protagonists, Aly arrives fully formed, a snarky, talented uber-heroine. Cameos of old favorites complement a rich cast of new characters. Aly’s difficulty with the complexity of colonialism adds surprising, welcome depth. A ripping good yarn that introduces a new series. (Fiction. 10-15)