Books in Quartet: Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, Realms of the Gods
Tortall Series: The Immortals quartet is the second quartet in a larger series of books called the Tortall Series. Each quartet is related in that they take place in the same land and the charcters often know each other or are inter-related, however, each quartet is about a different person. The first Quartet is Song of the Lioness, which I have reviewed also on this blog, then the Immortals. After that is Protector of the Small, about a girl named Kel, and then you have Trickster's Queen, and Trickster's Choice.The Beka Cooper trilogy technically is set years and years before Song of the Lioness, but from what I've heard, it stands on its own without much need of reading the others, so you can go for those at whatever point. Just a bit of information in case you wanted to make sure you're reading them all in the right order.
Pages: Book 1 - 362
Book 2 -368
Book 3 -358
Book 4 - 338
Rating: .PG (There's some violence and war, but nothing terribly graphic. The love part only comes in the very last book, and all they do is kiss, so it's clean in that sense too.)
Summary: Book One -Thirteen-year-old Daine has always had a knack with animals, but it's not until she's forced to leave home that she realizes it's more than a knack -- it's magic. With this wild magic, not only can Daine speak to animals, but also she can make them obey her. Daine takes a job handling horses for the Queen's Riders, where she meets the master mage Numair and becomes his student.
Under Numair's guidance, Daine explores the scope of her magic. But she begins to sense other beings too: immortals. These bloodthirsty monsters have been imprisoned in the Divine Realms for the past four hundred years, but now someone has broken the barrier. It's up to Daine and her friends to defend their world from an immortal attack.
Book Two - When Daine is summoned by the wolf pack that saved her life a year earlier, she knows she has to go. She and Numair travel to Dunlath Valley to answer the call. But when they arrive, Daine realizes with a shock that it's not just the animals whose lives are threatened; people are in danger too. Dunlath's rulers have discovered black opals in their valley and are dead set on mining the magic these stones embody. Daine learns that Dunlath's lord and lady plan to use this power to overthrow King Jonathan -- even if it means irreversibly damaging the land and killing their workers.
On a mission to save both her animal friends and her human ones, Daine has to master her wild magic in order to fight for the kingdom and triumph over the would-be usurpers.
Book Three - Sent to Carthak as part of the Tortallan peace delegation, Daine finds herself in the middle of a sticky political situation. She doesn't like the Carthaki practice of keeping slaves, but it's not her place to say anything -- she's just there to heal the emperor's birds. It's extremely frustrating! What's more, her power has grown in a mysterious way.
As the peace talks stall, Daine puzzles over Carthak's two-faced Emperor Ozorne. How can he be so caring with his birds and so cruel to his people? Daine is sure he's planning something. Daine must fight the powerful Emperor Mage, knowing that the safety and peace of the realm depend on stopping Ozorne's power-hungry schemes.
Book Four - During a dire battle against the fearsome Skinners, Daine and her mage teacher Numair are swept into the Divine Realms. Though happy to be alive, they are not where they want to be. They are desperately needed back home, where their old enemy, Ozorne, and his army of strange creatures are waging war against Tortall.
Trapped in the mystical realms Daine discovers her
mysterious parentage. And as these secrets of her past are revealed so
is the treacherous way back to Tortall. So they embark on an
extraordinary journey home, where the fate of all Tortall rests with
Daine and her wild magic.
My Thoughts: I like the Alanna books and the Protector of the Small books better than the Immortals, but that didn't stop me from being engrossed in these. It was again hard to stop reading them, because they move at a very fast pace. Daine's magic is different from most people's. Some people in the fictional land have magic called the Gift, but it is easier to control, and most people with the gift can do simple things like light fires with it. Daine's magic is specific to animals. She can heal, but only animals, not people, and she can speak to animals and control them basically. Outside of the animal realm, Daine's powers do basically nothing. Her wild magic is so strong, that at one point, she got so absorbed in connecting with a pack of wolves that she forgot she was human for a time.
By the end of the first book, Daine has figured out how to talk to the animals around her and call to them with just her mind, from great distances. She is no longer in danger of forgetting she is human. In the second book, Daine learns how to basically inhabit other animals for brief amounts of time. She goes into meditation and for a set time, she can see, taste, and feel everything that animal does. By the end of the book, she is learning how to shapeshift and actually become other animals for a while, although this is quite difficult. Each book has a different disaster that Daine helps divert because of her ability to talk and work through her animal friends. She also can talk to Immortals, and there are some good ones. Griffins, dragons, basilisks, and others are all friendly and kind Immortals. But there are plenty of bad ones too. Every disaster that almost befalls Tortall is part of a giant scheme by Ozorne, and that doesn't reach a climax until the last book.
The last book is by far the most violent and magical and crazy. New creatures are surfacing all the time, and things are really developing. I started to get overwhelmed with all the magical stuff and the crazy stories with their gods and whatnot. The gods have a huge role to play in the last book, and it gets a little far-fetched. Overall, the Immortals series is not my favorite of the Tortall books, but they are still good.
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