The Harry Potter Alliance

Story’s the Thing: Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen

Anyone who knows me knows that I love fantasy worlds. Magic, dealings with various Gods and Goddesses, sword fighting…but what I love even more, and what I have not been able to find since these two books, is spy novels set in fantasy worlds. (If you know of any others, leave their names in the comments below and I will happily devour them! Ha.) This combination of fantasy-spy novel is what Tamora Pierce has so beautifully shaped in her two books, Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen.

The main character is Alianne (Aly) of Pirate’s Swoop, daughter to Alanna the Lioness (you may remember her from my first Story’s the Thing blog). She is sixteen years old, and following in her Da’s footsteps in the world of spies and trickery. As the royal spymaster of the country of Tortall, however, he only ever allows her to help him decode secret messages passed along through the spy network, when what she would love most is to go out in the field as an undercover agent. That, however is her parents’ greatest fear for her, and when they forbid it, she takes her little boat and heads to her uncle’s castle further along the coast. On the way there, however, she is captured by pirates, sold into slavery far away, and thrown in the middle of a tumultuous political situation in the Copper Isles.

The royal family are pure luarin, or white – the conquerors of many centuries ago. Their patron gods are the rulers of the gods, Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess, who usurped Kyprioth, Trickster God and the patron of the native raka people. The raka have been stirring for a rebellion for over 400 years, and with the prophecy of Kyprioth that a twice-royal queen will lead the raka to victory, they are itching to rise up.

Kyprioth, it turns out, is the reason why Aly was taken by the pirates. Through his workings, he has brought her into the Balitang household. The two eldest daughters – Saraiyu and Dovasary – are half-raka, from a hidden line of the ancient raka queens and from the ruling family’s lineage. Twice-royal. Kyprioth and Aly make a bargain that if she can keep the girls alive through the summer, he will send her back to her family in Tortall and force her Da to put her to work in the field.

What unfolds throughout the rest of the two books is a fascinating plot riddled with intrigue, battles, and spywork. Aly must conceal her true identity, as the daughter of Tortall’s Spymaster and King’s Champion, for fear of death or imprisonment from the very people she is trying to bring back to power in the Copper Isles. She must become the ultimate spy in a dangerous country, and her story is captivating and powerful.

If you have read Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen, what is your favorite moment in the books? If you haven’t, or you know any other spy-fantasy novels, let me know in the comments!