The Immortals

The Immortals #1-4

by Tamora Pierce

The Immortals is the story of Verilidaine Sarrasri (known as Daine), a parentless girl with an extraordinary talent.

Daine finds a job that takes her and her pet Cloud from her home country of Galla to the kingdom of Tortall where she finds a new life and a new family, and learns that she has the magical ability known as "Wild Magic," which enables her to speak to animals, heal them, and take their shape as well as bend them to her will.

She makes new friends with creatures, including the black-robe mage Numair Salmalin, a young dragon named Skysong (nicknamed Kitten), the lioness, Alanna of Trebond, King Jonathan, and Queen Thayet of Tortall.


Wild Magic
When Daine comes down from the mountains, she carries with her two things: a dark secret about her own past, and a strangely powerful magic that even she doesn’t understand. Soon Daine has a job workingfor Onua, the queen’s horsemistress, who is astonished at the girl’s way with animals. It’s almost as if she can speak to them…. Daine and Onua travel to Pirate’s Swoop, where Daine finds herself swept into a war that threatens all of Tortall—a war where magic is one of the main weapons. Now Daine must master her own magic—and face her own dark memories—if she is to save her new home from destruction.


Wolf-Speaker
Responding to a call for help from the wolves of Long Lake Pack, Daine and the wizard Numair travel to Dunlath Valley, where they discover a catastrophe in the making. But when they try to intervene on the wolves’ behalf, they encounter only derision from the Dunlath court. Working on their own to discover the reasons for destruction in the valley, Daine and Numair unearth a web of magic as treachery threatens the entire kingdom. Numair must hurry away to warn the king—leaving only Daine, the wolves, and her expanding group of animal allies to hold off disaster until his return. But will Daine’s ever stronger Wild Magic be enough to protect her from the dangers of Dunlath Valley?


Emperor Mage
Daine is a simple mountain girl, and is not comfortable with the pomp and glitter of a great court. But when Emperor Ozorne asks that she accompany Tortall’s diplomatic mission to Carthak so she can tend his ailing birds, it’s a request that cannot be refused. Though Daine has the wizard Numair and the lady knight Alanna to help her, she soon finds herself trapped in a web of magic and intrigue stranger and more bewildering than any she has yet faced. For the emperor has overstepped his bounds, the gods are angry, and the Graveyard Hag herself has chosen Daine as her tool to change the situation. Saddled with a strange new power, Daine is already jittery and angry. Then a final, dreadful event pushes her over the edge, and she erupts in a ferocious display of rage and magic.


The Realms of the Gods
In the midst of a war, Daine and her mentor, Numair, are yanked into the Divine Realms, where the riddles of Daine’s past are finally solved. Despite joyous reunions, the pair is desperate to return to their beloved Tortall, for the kingdom’s survival depends on their great magics. A perilous journey across the Divine Realms leads Daine and Numair through danger to dragons; to a breathtaking confrontation with their great enemy, Ozorne; and to heartbreaking battle. At last Daine faces the Great Gods, who will force her to make the most important decision of her life.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Childrens

657 pages, Hardcover

First published September 23, 2003

About the author

Hey, folks! I just discovered that apparently I have given some very popular books single-star ratings--except I haven't. How do I know I haven't? Because I haven't read those books at all. So before you go getting all hacked off at me for trashing your favorites, know that I've written GoodReads to find out what's going on.

I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!

Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!

I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.

I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.

Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned!

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this four volume omnibus edition from the Science Fiction Book Club, we are treated to the story of young Daine, the wild magic that helps her communicate with all animals, and the adventures she has while learning about herself and the life she is to lead.

This was not quite as compelling as Song of the Lioness, but of course the idea of being able to talk easily with any animal, to really understand them and know what they were feeling is the major appeal here. Daine had just as much to prove to and about herself as Alanna had in the other series, she simply proved it in a different way.

The first book (Wild Magic) was my favorite, since it dealt more with Daine herself and the efforts she made to become who she was supposed to be. In the other three, while Daine is still exploring her new life, she is drawn into the politics and diplomacies of the Tortall kingdom. The fourth book (The Realms Of The Gods) was actually my least favorite. At least the darkings helped bring a few touches of lightness and humor to an otherwise fairly gruesome story.

This was my second time reading this book, but unlike other reviewers I had not read Tamora Pierce when it was age-appropriate for me to do so. Mainly because the author is only about three years older than I am. I discovered her through the SFBC, and I am glad I did because I enjoy her world and her messages very much.

I am about to start the final omnibus I have of her work, Protector of the Small. I've read that once before also, but I have just a few vague memories of the story. Time to back away from the keyboard and return to Tortall to See What Happens Next!

[Allyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

So yes, as you can see I’ve been doing a little rereading. I finished the Lioness quartet and was still feeling a bit nostalgic so I thought what the hell I’ll just keep going! When I was younger this was my favourite of all the Tortall books, I wanted to be Daine and speak to animals and heal them, she was my hero. Again, reading this as an adult is different to preteen me reading it (thank god). For one thing I was so invested in Daine and Numair’s relationship, from the get go I was like they belong together. Now the thought of a sixteen year old and her thirty year old teacher/mentor getting together is downright horrifying. I believe that Tamora Pierce has answered this question previously by saying that it’s the time period (it’s a medieval fantasy) and she’s partial to an older man. For me, as soon as I read the age difference in the first book I just couldn’t put it out of my head, it was constantly in the back throwing popcorn. Now in saying that, the rest of the book I still adored, but it would be harder for me now to recommend this. I LOVE it, but I can imagine parents coming after me if I gave it to a twelve year old today. In saying that there’s nothing inappropriate going on, it’s a clean read, but parents 🙄. Also, adult me still kinda wants to go out and commune with nature and animals are reading this.

[W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I supposed to summarize the story here? I feel like I should but I don't want to so I won't. Sorry.

Anyhoo, this book is good. Would I recommend it? Yeah, sure. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes. Would I reread it? It's likely (but that doesn't say much because I reread a lot.) Tamora Pierce is a great author. I really like her books. After a while, though, I have become used to them, in a good way. I am somewhat in tune with her style and I don't mind. I would have given this three stars but a twist in the end made it worth four. I'm not much of an animal person but this is a good book. It's just not what I'm looking for at the moment. I didn't rush to read it every chance I could. I didn't stay up until it was physically impossible for me to read any longer and I had to go to sleep. I read it and liked it, but that was it. Maybe this book is too young for me to read. The story was a bit complex (is that an oxymoron?) but after rereading the Inheritance cycle and reading The Time Traveler's Wife, it just didn't cut it. I want to yell at the characters, cry with them, become frantic and panicked when there is so much going on that neither the characters nor I can handle it and I have to put the book down and walk away for a bit. I want to get so caught up in reading that I don't hear people talking to me.

Suffice to say, I need to read Inheritance and pray to God that it can live up to my expectations :l

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"THIS IS AS LOVELY AS COLTS FRISKING IN THE SUN"

(Cloud has the right of it when it comes to these books)

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a kid, I loved The Immortals Series. It has a strong female lead, an emotional back story, a gripping plot, and each book is always a fun and interesting journey. Essentially, this was my favorite book series as a child and I read it over and over. Diane, the 13-year-old main character, does what every animal-lover would love to do: talks to animals and transforms into animals... even now I shudder with jealousy at her awesomeness. Should I have children, someone better stop me from throwing this down their throats and yelling "you will enjoy this!"

That being said, I recently re-read this series over again and found that (not-surprisingly) the character's voice and actions can be... childish. So while lovely as it is, it is a children's book, and there it will stay. However, one thing I found disturbing, even as a kid reading this, was Diane and Numair's love in the 4th novel (The Realm of the Gods). Diane was 16 years old and Numair was 27 years old... while I understand this is a different time, being medieval and all, it was disconcerting considering how "modern" the whole series is (for example, the book series condones slavery, celebrates the freedom of choice, and champions women's rights). But truly, that is my only complaint about this whole series. It was a great read, thank you Tamora Pierce!

p.s. Because I was thinking about this, I google searched Tamora Pierce's thoughts on this matter of the age difference between Numair & Diane, and here they are:

"In some ways, Numair is emotionally far younger than his age (he’s 27, actually), and Daine is much older than her years emotionally. It didn’t feel wrong to me. If their relationship had begun this way, it would have been beyond creepy, but it happened when Daine was no longer his student, but his traveling companion and co-worker. He regards her as his magical equal, and in her field, she is. Also, and this is something I end up saying time after time, this is a medieval period, when it was far more common for young women to marry much older men (who had established themselves in life and could afford to support a wife). I mention as often as I can in the books that 16 is the age to marry among the lower classes, and some marry even younger. I really cheat in some ways by having noblewomen marry at 18, when in our world they might marry at 9 or 10! Very rarely was a woman able to marry someone her own age.I’m sorry if this still makes you uncomfortable, but the truth is that none of my editors or my agent, who are very careful people, ever mentioned anything. I have promised my fans I won’t have such a large gap between romantic characters again, though! (Can I help it I like older men and always have?!)"

- Tamora Pierce

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite series of all time. I love Tamora Pierce's writing, but this series tops it all. The characters are exquisite and the basic concept is fantastic. When I first read this series, I was younger and I thought it would be amazing to talk to animals. I still would love to do that even now and I am amazed that no matter how many times I read this series, I still love it. I think anyone who reads these books will enjoy them, but a specific audience would be young adults or teenagers. In my opinion, best series of all time and my favorite in the series is the first because you really connect with the characters and fall in love with them. It sets the bar high for the rest of the series and she definitely delivers. The fourth book, the conclusion left me wanting more but also knowing that this part of the story was finished. Some of the characters make appearances in her other series, but this still remains my favorite! The Immortals is a definite must read!

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread this after a number of years, and got through it in a blink. Still amazing, still everything I wanted it to be. It was fun to go back and reread the introduction of Numair after reading Tempests and Slaughter, and waiting impatiently for the next installment of that series.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

One way I've been using this site that's perhaps a little bad-brained is that I'm posting reviews based on the physical books that are passing through my hands, even when it might make more sense to break them up. (The other way that's perhaps a little bad-brained is that I'm doing all this shouting into the void at all.) I do think from a book-history point of view it's perfectly defensible; I remember the concrete objects of these that I first encountered thirty years ago, the Point Fantasy paperbacks, though, now, having looked at the cover of one of those, it's something quite different to the thing I thought I had this concrete recollection of; I found the modern paperbacks of the first and second books I just posted reviews to to have covers that diminished their effect (one has a picture of the badger god, who just looks like a badger); anyway, this worked out cheaper than getting paperbacks of 3 and 4, and it permitted the very specific experience where I finished the third book and debated getting up from the chair and went on to read all of book four.

It's been an odd little trip down memory lane: I remembered the magic in these, the insistence on visualisation in the first book, the bronze cores of animal selves and the filaments and wires of Daine's powers, as something genuinely weird and strange; now I find the descriptions to be rather flat. (I don't think she uses three nouns as good as cores, filaments, wires.) Similarly a lot of what felt disarmingly off-kilter in the character relationships now just feels problematic. Of course there's also the jadedness of having a hundred other other worlds to compare Pierce's subcreative efforts too, and a general over-familiarity with the readymades of narrative structure. Actually, something that's interesting about these is that Pierce sidesteps the thing one expects (increasing military stakes, slow escalation to world-ending threat) and instead makes book two more local than book one, and then has books three and four go to different narrative modes. In the third book, Emperor Mage, Daine, Numair, Alanna, and a bunch of forgettable others are on a diplomatic trip to end hostilities with the evil empire who've been manipulating things off-stage for the previous two books. Instead of general war being declared it transpires that the gods have grown unhappy with this empire, and one of them wants to use Daine as a vessel for revenge. One of the reasons that the evil empire is evil is that they have slaves, which sits a little awkwardly with them being vaguely Carthage-coded when Tortall, where the good guys are from, is vaguely Arthurian Britain-coded. The emperor gets an ironic comeuppance: returns, changed, in book four, Realm of the Gods, at the head of a new coalition of forces: is only heard as a series of noises off for the majority of that book, as Daine and Numair are instead on a quest to escape the divine realms, which have sort of a dreamlands vibe.

It's interesting that the four books are such different structures within a ten-chapter action/beat framework where the first chapter starts in medias res and Daine, our Teenage Protagonist, gets to act independently and decisively at chapter nine. How she does so in Emperor Mage is the most satisfying ending, sidestepping not only her various parent-substitutes but the death-god that wants to ride her, motivated to a level and chaos and revenge in the mistaken belief that Numair, foremost of her parent-substitutes, is dead. She's shape-shifted to lead a pack of hyenas, sacred to the death god, to the evil emperor who has a superstitious fear that these creatures will end him, and when that's done and Numair emerges from the shadows to reveal he's faked his own death she returns to her human form in shock; he gives her a cloak to cover her nakedness, and yes, this is anticipating how in book four, when he's thirty and she's fifteen, he's going to be promoted from a parental substitute to a romantic interest. In chapter nine of that one she ends up inventing a new kind of bird to be as she flies to pursue the emperor to his eventual death; as she and Numair are making out in celebration the horse to which she is psychically bonded gets to wrap things up with a one-liner. It's that kind of book.

I did wind up on the Tamora Pierce wiki earlier today; one footnote led me to her saying, well, in the medieval period that age gap wouldn't be that weird, and this is essentially a medieval setting. On the other hand, Tortall is a country whose medieval period is egalitarian, with gender equality and universal literacy. (Similarly one might adopt the 'but it's meant to be medieval times' defense to the iffiness of Daine coming to not-Africa from not-England to tell them slavery is bad. This is also complicated by the extend to which race is often ambiguous: unclear whether 'Verilidaine Sarrasri' is a white person, except on, oh, every book cover this series was saddled with. There's a coyness to Pierce's descriptions of people's skin tones, where one gets the vague sense some people are not totally Caucasian; it's unclear if Onua's people, for example, are meant to be giving gypsy or giving South Asian, and Numair Saladin (whose birth name is Arram Draper, and is basically Howl, from the book, not the movie); the one exception, and an odd one, is that very occasionally someone is described as being, like, black as hell.

Anyway, there I was on the wiki, looking to see if Pierce returned to these characters, and, oh:

Daine was instrumental in gathering intelligence during and in the lead-up to the Scanran War. She helped defend the refugee camp Haven, and served as a messenger and scout to the Tortallan forces. However, she couldn't do so any longer once she became pregnant around August of 461 HE, because the baby was giving her a hard time by constantly changing its shape in the womb and forcing Daine to do so likewise.

The footnote led to a dead link but seemed to suggest this was from some message-board communication from the author. It's funny how the project of writing the politically correct fantasy kingdom seems to have led Pierce by a series of small adjustments and nudges and improvisations to some truly wild shit; yes, that bit of body horror above isn't in the books, but Realms does feature Daine ambushed while bathing by a kind of bull demon that explicitly wants to rape her. (She kills it, but feels sorry for it: it's only doing the things its instincts lead it to.) I can't work out if she's writing for prepubescent girls with a surprising frankness about sexual matters or if she's writing more pruriently for older girls (and writing down to them, somewhat, if she didn't expect it to be incredibly obvious that Daine's father is a god about five hundred pages before it is made clear.) There are weird things going on with gender and with the martial throughout, with how Daine is forever crossing between subverting contests of brute strength and then just having to merk people; there's a a repeated beat of Daine's various fuzzy animal friends confirming their willingness to straight up die for the cause. In the last book it's more or less established that the animal gods are Platonic ideal forms of the animals whose pantheons they form, whose existence as thus has rendered them sapient--again, we get there, I think, by adjustments, nudges, improvisations--and that gives us the arc in which the first platypus is despatched to the mortal world to take on one of the Four Horsemen. I don't know, man; I wrote that sentence and I have no idea how to sum up, after that.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little old for young adults. There is sex in the Immortals series also. Not as good as her other books.

[Johanness · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was f****** Brilliant! I read this quartet when I was 11, fell in love! Just genius! The plot was brilliant, story, characters, everything!

[Kiana Pfingsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Immortals by Tamora Pierce is a good quick series to read (4 books). It is only one branch on the Tortall Quartet series tree, but a very good one: not in the least because it has dragons!

Follow the journey of Daine and her fanciful animals friends! Sounds pretty cutesy, right? Well, it's not. Daine is a practical teenager who defies mortal logic, superstitious fears, and gods' wishes. She loves fiercely, intensely, and makes peace that she cannot always protect her loved ones.

This series could have gone into so much depth and direction! Alas, it is a 12+ geared series, gotta keep em hooked! I started reading this series when it was assigned a couple months ago as the book of the month in my book club. I had purchased the whole series, but lost interest. This past Saturday I decided to finish the series, and I am glad I did.

As one may expect from a YA heroine, Daine, too, experiences the trials of adolescents alongside battling evil dictators and fixing world ending problems as the books progress. Ho, hum. All in a day's work.

Daine's loving, unchanging devotion, practical, and not-as-innocent-as-she-seems personality is one that makes her one of the greats!

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I have to review all four books in this series together since they comprise one story arc.
My overall rating of 3 stars doesn’t really reflect the disparity between the books.

Wild Magic (Book 1). 4 stars
Wolf Speaker (Book 2) 4 stars
Emperor Mage (Book 3) 3 stars
Realm of the Gods (Book 4) 2 stars

Wild magic and Wolf Speaker really capture Daine and her magic really well. After book 2 things start to crumble a bit and by book 4 I was highly disappointed in the writing and the plotting. I also thought that someone was pushing the author to include a touch of romance because there was a very clumsy and uncomfortable romantic angle which was poorly executed.

After reading this quartet of books I really understand, or can surmise, why the author is taking so long to produce the second Numair book. I think she has tried to write a duology to fill in the story of Arram Draper, before he became Numair but she has really painted herself into a corner because the events of this set of books don’t easily mesh with that story. Still, I’m a huge fan of Tamora Pierce and if anyone can make it work, she can!

[Inkdeathinbloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite Pierce series as a kid (only narrowly winning out over the Circle of Magic). I loved Daine, I liked the perspective of seeing people from the Song of the Lionness as adults, I enjoyed that Daine had found family, I thought the adventures were cool. I'll even admit that it may have been the first time I really dug the tortured hero trope or the secret orphan trope. This was the first book in which I ever had a book crush. Wild nature magic was also feeling like my jam. It was a good quartet as a kid. As an adult I think there are some troubling aspects - for example, Pierce seems to like pairing a lot of her female characters up with older men, while they're still troublingly young. For more than one, it's their first and only relationship. Kind of like Woman Who Rides Like a Man, I may have to reexamine Emperor Mage with my adult eyes re: cultural representation. To that extent, I'm totally sure of my love for it, but not as sure about recommending it to kids.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #1: Wild Magic
Date Finished: December 20th
Rating: 4 stars

Book #2: Wolf-Speaker
Date Finished: December 21st
Rating: 4 stars

Book #3: Emperor Mage
Date Finished: December 22nd
Rating: 4 stars

Book #4: The Realms of the Gods
Date Finished: December 23rd
Rating: 4 stars

I really, really enjoyed reading the series. I love Daine, and Kitten, and Cloud, and the wolves, and everyone! I've always had a soft spot for animals, so that could be part of it. I think I liked Kel's series slightly better maybe, but I definitely enjoyed this one more than Alanna's, not to say that Alanna wasn't good.
And I also liked how there was hardly any romance, and when there was, it was only in the fourth book, and wasn't much of anything. Alanna's and Kel's romances bored me, but Numair was nice, so that also made Daine's romance better.
I think my favorite overall was Kitten. She was so cute and funny!

[Katie Whitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars This series was so good! I'm still a little bit upset that it took me so long to read Pierce's work, because I know I would have loved this when I was younger, but I'm so glad I finally did! I loved Daine and how she always emphasized kindness and compassion, mostly using those qualities instead of brute force to solve her problems. However, the mental image of her riding an army of dinosaur bones into battle is pretty bad ass. I'm only taking off half a point because I thought the mild romantic elements were clumsy, and I don't love the fact that she ends up with her much older teacher, but it's not a huge part of the story so it didn't ruin it for me. I can't wait to read her other series in this world

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an omnibus, containing all 4 of the Daine books. I highly recommend them. They're a bit different from the Alanna and Keladry books, since Daine has wild magic, rather than the mage Gift; and she is not trying to become a knight. Note: the descriptions below may contain minor spoilers, since it is nearly impossible to describe the story otherwise. But they should not affect your enjoyment of the books! If you hate spoilers of any kind, read no further.

Wild Magic
After her family is murdered by bandits, Daine hooks up with Onua, the horsemistress for the Queen's Riders. Daine has 'a knack with horses', which is really her wild magic for speaking with animals, although she doesn't recognize it and is afraid to admit it for fear she might be mad. Her horse Cloud, helps her and guards her. While traveling with Onua, they find an injured hawk, which Daine helps to heal - the bird eventually proves to be the magician Numair, a shapechanger who is 'stuck' in hawk form. They meet Alanna, the King's Champion, and have a bout with some Stormwings and spidrens, immortal creatures who have somehow been released from the Divine Realms where they had been imprisoned. The beaver god tries to teach her about her gift and gives her a claw which will help him find her if she needs him. She continues to learn more about using her wild magic, with Numair as a teacher. When they reach Corus, she meets King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Among other adventures, she adopts a baby dragon, whose mother was killed helping them fight. Everyone wants her to live with them, but she chooses to stay as Onua's helper with the trainee Riders.

Wolf-Speaker
The Long Lake pack of wolves, Daine's old friends who helped her when her family was killed, have sent for her. She is led to the pack, who tell her that the land in the valley near their lake is being dug up, the trees cut down, and the game frightened away or killed. Daine and Numair and the little dragon Skysong travel with the wolves. They find that the nobles of Dunlath and their mages are mining for something and caring nothing for despoiling their land. They have also imprisoned ogres, who are forced to do the mining, overseen by soldiers. The local animals including Daine's wolves, decide to help by voluntarily stealing and spoiling the soldiers' supplies - it appears the animals have changed since their contact with Daine. Daine meets Tkaa, a basilisk, who can understand the baby dragon's chirping speech. He joins the group, as does Lady Maura, who has run away from Dunlath because she feels her sister and brother-in-law are traitors. The Dunlath mages put up a dome over the area that prevents mortals from passing, although Tkaa can go through it. Despite the efforts of the Dunlath mages, the group eventually triumphs, and leaves Maura and her faithful servants (and the ogres) to try to bring the land back to its former state.

Emperor Mage
Daine, along with her teacher Numair, Alanna, Duke Gareth, and several other Tortallen nobles, travel to Carthak for peace talks. Daine is included because Emperor Ozorne of Carthak dotes on his birds which have become sick, and he wants her to heal them with her gift. Prince Kaddar, the emperor's young nephew and heir, is detailed to escort and amuse Daine while the peace negotiations are going on. She meets Master Lindhall of the University, who was Numair's teacher and friend when Numair (then called Arram) was at the university. Kaddar shows her the emperor's menagerie which includes immortals (including captive Stormwings) as well as other strange animals, and his collection of dinosaur bones, both of which feature later in the story. Ozorne wants everything his way; he wishes to kill Numair, whom he hates, and to keep Daine. He has ignored the gods and let the temples of his city fall into disrepair. One of these gods, the Graveyard Hag, decides to influence Daine, much to Daine's dismay and fury, to cause her to bring Ozorne's rule to an end. Plot piles upon plot, and leads to an explosive and exciting ending.

The Realms of the Gods
The barrier, which previously imprisoned the immortals in the Divine Realm, is in tatters, and all kinds of immortals have descended on the land. Tortall's armies are hard put to defend all sides of the country, and neighboring countries are taking advantage of that and are trying to invade. Numair and Daine are traveling again, when an accident takes Daine to the Divine Realms (with the help of her beaver god patron.) There she meets her dead mother and her previously unknown father, the god Weiryn. While there, she meets other animal gods, and learns that the battle with Chaos has escalated because Uusoae, the queen of Chaos, had joined with mortal mages (including Ozorne) to loose chaos into the world. Daine wants to go back to help Tortall in the battles, but in order to leave the Divine Realms, they must travel to find the dragons, who are the only ones to safely transport them back. Little creatures called Darkings appear - they are Ozorne's spies, but some of them decide to help Daine instead. After many adventures, they finally convince a dragon (Skysong's grandparent many times removed) to take them home and help them. Many battles ensue, but finally Uusoae and her cohorts are defeated, and Daine must decide whether to remain with her parents in the Divine Realms, or return to her mortal friends.

February 2018 - I am now rereading this, having read the new Tempests and Slaughter, which is the beginning of the Numair Chronicles covering his early life. Which is another great book!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was one of my absolute favourites as a child, and to this day it is near and dear to my heart. Featuring a strong female protaganist, fantasy, action, and romance, this series definitely shaped my taste in literature. I also believe that reading this gave my 11-year old self just the tiniest nudge towards becoming who she wanted to be in life, though I didn't realize it at the time. In my opinion that is the greatest thing a young-adult book can achieve.

I am, by the way, still to this day jealous of the protaganist for her ability to speak to animals...

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these books a number of years ago, but I didn’t remember much. Daine is a delightful character, and I love that she gets to be strong without having to be seen as acting like a man, which so many authors think they have to do. I had forgotten that it included so many Alanna characters as supporting characters, which I really loved, as those are some of my favorite books in the world.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read these before, but always worth another perusal. Since I had read the new book about Numair, I wanted to refresh my memory about the events after he came to Tortall. Tamora Pierce is one of my family's favorite authors.

[Akimika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is honestly my favorite series by Tamora Pierce. While I very fervently love her other series, this one strikes a chord with me the most. It's got magic, adventure, romance, gods, geopolitical war, you name it.

[Alycia Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series after my brother bought me the first book. I was about 11 or 12. I loved it, I imagine any young girl who loves animals would love this book! I finished the series a few years after reading the first one when I found them in my school library.

[Rhiannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy “The Immortals” series. This particular volume was hard for me to work with because I think her works are better in the smaller volumes. Simply because they are so quick paced that the larger format makes it seem to both slow down and slog on.

[Kassyreadsalot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series! Tamora pierce never fails!! I loved all of these characters and I'm happy that characters from the lioness quartet were in it as well!!!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite reading this as an adult - and therefore well outside the target audience - it retains its charm. For a young girl who is animal crazy, this is sure to be a winner.

[I. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down my favorite book set in the land of Tortall. (Not that Alanna wasn't far behind.)

[Marianna Salvini · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all it is really nice :)

[Evin Carvill-ziemer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts are excellent. I found the budding romance between student and the teacher who discovered and taught her magic revolting in a book meant for young people.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an excellent quartet, I highly recommend it.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daine is great and I liked her books a lot, except that I can't get behind the Daine/Numair romance at all (I wish Pierce were less into the older man/girl he met as a child trope overall).

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this world, and the creatures, the magic and the relationships between characters.
Definitely worth a read, I flew through this quartet.