The Immortals: Wild Magic

This is the second quartet set in the mythical world of Tortall. This book is based on a average farm girl that has a skill with natural world. I liked this book quite a lot as it was based on a character more or less around my age, and it made me able to relate to it better. This book doesn't have any romance in it, it stills makes you crave it. Wild Magic plays dances around in your mind, and it pulls at the strings of your imagination.

I liked how this book didn't have a hidden fantasy world from which everyone doesn't know about but the main character and the reader. But I didn't like how it wasn't in anyone's perspective, and I didn't feel as much as I would of if it was in first person perspective.

I loved how Daine was just an average person, not a noble or anything fancy, just plain normal. But she had skills that changed her life, and made her better than every noble. I loved how she was the best archer, because I have always loved reading about that, as you can truly prove your worth with a bow and arrow.

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.

This book is set a number of years after the Song of the Lioness quartet. In the books that follow, you get to see what has happened in those years.

I think this book is truly worth reading if you loved the Song of the Lioness quartet, or if you love mystical worlds, with powerful magic and an ancient kingdom, then this book is for you.

Reader reviewed by quirky fate press

This book does NOT have lust, a strong romantic strain, does not employ the first person perspective, and is not about a hidden world about which us average humans remain ignorant.

BUT, the story is able to pull at strings in the reader's imagination, so that both the reader and author weave together a world of adventure and magic.

When I was in junior high, I became hooked on the 'Alanna' series by Tamora Pierce. The entire quartet remained high on my list of favorite books for a long time.

Remembering my love for those books and reading a few reviews that use Pierce as a pedestal for judging newer young adult novels, I decided to revisit this author with a different series than what I had previously read.

This story at base level envelopes the reader in a fantastical world set back in time, in a Kingdom that defies traditions with its young King Jonathan and his wife Queen Thayet, and female Champion Knight Alanna.

Although a bit slow to start, eventually the reader is caught up in the adventurous spirit of the novel, flipping through the pages to soak up what happens next.

At a more in-depth examination, this novel also address the issues of belonging and the importance of a community. Daine has never known her father and has no family left when her mother and grandfather are killed. She is able to appreciate the memory of them having always been there in support of her, but cannot survive on her own without the love and friendship from the other characters that 'adopt' her. The novel is also about the strength of the female, and the promotion of young girls learning to be confident in who they are, and independent in their actions.  

Overall, I enjoyed reading a novel where the focus was the plot and the development of the main characters, and not a dramatic love/lust story. We are given time to get to know the characters, all the while being treated to a rich portrayal of a world where magic, kingdoms, and battles for freedom are the norm.

Reader reviewed by Spartanx1x

This is the introductory book. Daine first discovers her wild magic now and Numair Samalin helps her and teaches her. She saves pirates swoop the home of Alanna the lioness( see books :Alanna: First Adventure,In The Hand Of The Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man and Lioness Rampant)and George Cooper.