In the fifth chapter of Trickster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Choice<\/i>, Aly does what she can to settle in at Tunair while keeping an eye on Dove and Sarai. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Trickster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Choice<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chapter Five: Settling In<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just realizing that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mystery\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at the heart of this is barely<\/i> hidden as a mystery in the narrative itself. Oh my god, the prologue alone<\/i> told me the answer to this. So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neat to me that Tamora Pierce essentially gives us the reason why Kyprioth and the raka are so obsessed with Dove and Sarai. Instead of deflating the story, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now more excited than ever because THIS IS ESSENTIALLY AN OPPRESSION REVENGE STORY. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? This is about the raka finding one of their own who is a direct descendent of Sarugani and bringing her to power. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 there are two daughters? WHICH ONE WILL BE QUEEN? Both? Can it be both?<\/i> Okay, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m jumping way ahead of the narrative, but this idea that the savior ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T THE MAIN CHARACTER<\/i> is also so fucking great, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, because I would have had exactly no interest in Aly becoming the new ruler of the Isles. Instead, her task is to protect<\/i> other people, and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, wait, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot more complicated than that. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get into this.<\/p>\n
Aly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Demotion<\/b><\/p>\n
Seriously, when you stop and think about it, Aly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153demotion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is certainly a surreal event. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offered freedom from being a slave, she refuses it, and then she gets more work<\/i>. But this is what she needs to do in order to satisfy Kyprioth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wager. If she is to keep these girls safe, she has to be unassuming. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll become an exception, the center of attention, if the rest of the slaves find out that one of the only luarin slaves was just freed. Given that she has to try and glean as much information from her raka companions as possible, being freed would have been a disaster. Mequen and Winnamine react fairly appropriately to Aly: They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shocked and bewildered. I think a lot of that came from how open<\/i> Aly was. Despite that she is deceiving them for her own reasons, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very direct with them, and you can tell they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both unused to slaves or<\/i> women speaking to them as Aly does. But she has<\/i> to gain their trust by demonstrating that she knows what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing, and through her outward displays of confidence, I think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to do that. Still, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore how weird<\/i> this is, only because I never expected the duke and duchess to offer freedom to Aly. I believe that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clever to reject the offer, and the role she comes up with in response will allow her a better chance to get to know Tunair Castle and the people who inhabit than if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just been a servant.<\/p>\n
The Crows<\/b><\/p>\n
Does this technically count as wild magic? Regardless, Tamora Pierce makes Trickster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Choice<\/i> even weirder<\/i> with Kyprioth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s introduction of the crows. I admit that I have no idea where this aspect of the novel is going because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 talking crows! Who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t people? Maybe they are? Maybe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just seem anthropomorphized? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand<\/i>. But Kyprioth finally steps in to provide Aly with some help, which is actually refreshing to me because a god listened to the person who they were working with<\/i>. I mean, given how often Kel begged the god of the Chamber to help her and they were silent, this is just great<\/i>, Kyprioth appears multiple times throughout the chapter, and while he is frustratingly ambiguous as gods tend to be, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually helpful!<\/p>\n
So he gives Aly a giant flock of crows to act as her spies. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little bit Kel, a lot of Daine, and a billion times weird<\/i>. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an insult! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m into weird! Actually, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s make this more weird because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a flock<\/i> of crows; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a murder<\/i> of crows. So Aly has a network of spies that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a murder. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see how Pierce is going to keep this different from the sparrows that Kel had; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already teaching Aly how to count\/communicate, and that feels a little too similar to me.<\/p>\n
Crows, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Oh shit, I JUST REALIZED THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ONE IN THE BANNER<\/i>. I swear I run this site.<\/p>\n
Nighttime Wandering<\/b><\/p>\n
After a particularly strange day, Aly does what she wanted to for the first time in Tanair: She spies. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s super exciting and tense to read, and I love that everything her father and grandfather has taught comes to light through this. It shows us that one can become<\/i> special. As much as Kyprioth insisted that Aly was born to this sort of destiny because of her family, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that her attentiveness over the years is what pays off the most. How else would she have been able to successfully spy on Sergeant Veron as she does here? It may be part natural talent, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at least an equal part of studiousness<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Oh, right. SERGEANT VERON IS A SPY. OH. OH SHIT<\/i>. OH MY GOD, I ALREADY HATED EVERY ATOM IN HIS BODY, AND NOW I HAVE ANOTHER REASON. How is Aly going to stop Veron from passing information back to King Oron? How does she prevent anyone else from revealing too much information to Veron without telling them Veron is a spy? Why did everything get so complicated so fast???<\/i><\/p>\n
But this book is not done with me. Not even close<\/i>. Because then Aly notices that someone is still awake in the hostler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quarters, so she boldly enters them, putting on her best innocent Tortallan slave face in the process. I still think Fesgao suspects that Aly is not who she says she is, but for the time being, Aly is able to surmise that these four people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Lokeij, Chenaol, Fesgao, and Ulasim \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are connected in some meaningful way, and that Duchess Sarugani wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> a lower class noble. No, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far<\/i> more important to the raka than these people are willing to let on, and this sheds a whole lot of light on the bizarre interest in Dove and Sarai. Immediately following this, Aly has a revealing conversation about Kyprioth with those two girls, who tell her of Kyprioth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prophesized return to the Isles. So now Aly knows what we know: that he is interested in getting revenge for what happened to him at the hands of the other gods. The pieces are falling to place, and this book is just barely<\/i> starting. SO EXCITING.<\/p>\n
The Lioness<\/b><\/p>\n
And then Pierce gives an emotional wallop that I was not ready for<\/i>. Kyprioth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promise of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153letters from home\u00e2\u20ac\u009d arrives in the form of a vision that Aly dreams. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a vision of her mother, deep in Frasrlund, being paid a visit from King Jonathan, who is the unfortunate bearer of bad news: Alianne is missing. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreaking to see Alanna so deeply upset, but then we get this:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know Aly has the tools to survive. She can defend herself, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cleverer than I ever was, and she has all those things George taught her. I have to believe she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alive, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing her best to stay that way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It hurts because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that Aly has never heard her mother express confidence in her like this. And this sort of validation is what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been looking for for years<\/i>, so the irony of how she finally hears this is probably not lost on her. Alanna knows how special her daughter is, and it takes her being kidnapped and enslaved to say it out loud.<\/p>\n HELP ME, TOO MANY FEELINGS.<\/p>\n Please note that the original text and the videos contain the words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stupid,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153maddened.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Part 1<\/p>\n