126 - Influential Book #4 - Wild Magic 😈✨
Hey there, !
Another instalment of Vince’s Influential Books - if you want to read any of the previous ones, see below:
Influential Book #1: Ender’s Shadow
Influential Book #2: Hogfather
Influential Book #3: The Science of Discworld #2
This time round, we meet Tamora Pierce…
1.
Books, as you may have realised if you’re a long time reader, are my refuge. From a very young age, mum would bring books for us to read while we were out at family gatherings, to divert our attention from playing Gameboy (and ruining our eyes) or letting us run around restaurants like headless chickens (ruining everyone’s night).
A quiet, educational pursuit, yes - perfect for young kids.
I spent a lot of my early years with big comic books (like Tintin or Garfield) and then moved towards fantasy, but as you grow older, you start thinking you’re top shit and you can read more than you think you can.
Luckily for me, I found fantasy.
2.
I don’t know how I stumbled across it for the first time, but Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, was the first fantasy book I ever remember reading. It left an indelible mark on my life, and I wanted to share why it felt so influential to me.
This was the edition of the books I remember reading. They had the weirdest, craziest covers I’d ever seen, and the books created the world of Tortall (a medieval fantasy land with magic and creatures and good ol’ feudalism) that leapt off the page. I remember picking up Wolf-Speaker first, because that basilisk was insanely cool, but realised it was part of a series and read Wild Magic to start.
I won’t really go into the story of these books (she’s a ‘wild mage’ who can speak to animals, share their minds, morph into them and use their powers) - suffice to say that it’s a great young adult book, but more because I want to talk more about everything else.
Tamora Pierce wrote a bunch of different quartets that featured female protagonists:
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This one, the Immortals series, stars Veralidaine Sarrasri who is mentored by an accomplished mage Numair Salmalin (such sick names)
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Her first series Song of the Lioness follows the story of Alanna of Trebond who dresses up as a man and becomes a Knight and Champion of the Realm
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Another award-winning series The Protector of the Small follows Keladry of Mindelan who follows in the footsteps of Alanna, but faces prejudice and trials all along the way
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There was also the Circle of Magic series which follows 4 mages who are able to shae their magic together - Sandry, Daja, Tris and Briar (the only guy protagonist)
These characters were always making their way through a world that didn’t really want them, or had a purpose for them that wasn’t what they wanted to do. Most of the characters wanted adventure, wanted something to do, to be, to prove, to the world. A lot of the time they would, by virtue of being female, be able to see or hear things that the men would not. They’d care about the little things, or they would be underestimated because of their place in society, and I loved reading about the underdog in the story.
Maybe it’s the young adult side of it as well, but it was very empowering to see people who were not like…adults…or in positions of power, being able to succeed where adults could not. Which, I guess is the whole reason you read young adult fiction but still!
3.
I remember reading a lot (and I still do) about literary myths like ‘guys need to watch other guys to relate to books’ and that female protagonists don’t sell; I strongly disagree.
The fact that Keladry of Minelan is bullied by her peers but learns how to use a heavier lance, and a bigger, more pissed off horse so that she actually excels at the craft - it just doesn’t matter that she’s female. A young mage Veralidaine Sarrasri gradually coming to terms with her wild magic powers and shapeshifting into different animals - absolutely fantastic writing of struggle and adapting to life changes. Alanna of Trebond becomes the Champion of Tortall based on her fighting prowess, and sorts out her love life at the same time (less relatable but still fun to read).
I won’t harp on about it any further, but it was just a wonderful introduction to the world of fantasy and further novels. The world and the character were important, not the gender of the character, and I’m so happy that I started my reading journey there.
The only reason I moved on is because of a chance encounter in the library around the P area trying to look for more Tamora Pierce books and I found Terry Pratchett. He, just as much as Tamora Pierce, wrote wonderful, strong female characters. Witches who are sarcastic, powerful humans that essentially just know how to bullshit really well. Werewolves who have to deal with ‘that time of the month’. Mrs Cake, the head of the Seamstress’ Guild, an oracle who’s real annoying and answers your question before you’ve asked it. Hell, one of his third book of the Discworld is called ‘Equal Rites‘ in which the eighth son of the eighth son was actually…a daughter who has immeasurable power and tries to become a wizard but has to fight to get there.
As a final thought, it’s interesting that fantasy in the 1980’s was already tackling these things. Maybe it was in the fantasy genre, the world where dragons and fairies and magic existed, that authors thought ‘well, women can be powerful too right?’
Chat soon :)
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✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Love Me - seen on BINGE, it’s a 6 episode series about modern love, told across 3 generations in one family. It’s an Australian series, based in Melbourne, which I usually would be like ‘ew’ but it was surprisingly good. Hugo Weaving stars as an old, bumbling dad, and is honestly a highlight of the series. It also has Celia Pacquola (a really fun comic!) and introduced me to Bojana Novakovic who stars as one of the protagonists (the daughter of the family). It’s a heartwarming series, which feels really real to the times we live in right now, and tackles a wide variety of different modern relationships and family dynamics. Also, I tried to place exactly where they were in the Melbourne CBD many times, and that was a secondary fun thing to do while watching so yay :D There are some bumpy points here and there in terms of the acting and writing, but on the whole it’s very good, and can recommend!
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Cyclades - a board game made by the same creators of Inis and Kemet - this is the Greek version where you play as nations vying for the favour of gods, monsters, and domination of the seas. It’s a really fun, easy to understand ‘wargame’ which is more just like…area control. It’s punishing, yes; if you lose, you get pushed back quite far. But, there are some fun auction mechanics and simple ways to resolve conflicts that make the game very fun. Highly recommended!
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Why Gandalf Never Married - a great speech from my favourite author; talking in 1985 about the fact that certain tropes related to the fairer sex were adopted and just…kept around. He always had such a way with words…
Of course I hardly need mention the true fairytale witches, as malevolent a bunch of crones as you could imagine. It was probably living in those gingerbread cottages. No wonder witches were always portrayed as toothless – it was living in a 90,000 calorie house that did it. You’d hear a noise in the night and it’d be the local kids, eating the doorknob. According to my eight-year-old daughter’s book on Wizards, a nicely-illustrated little paperback available at any good bookshop, “wizards undid the harm caused by evil witches”. There it is again, the recurrent message: female magic is cheap and nasty.
But why is all this? Is there anything in the real world that is reflected in fantasy?
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Magic, according to this theory, is something that only men can be really good at, and therefore any attempt by women to trespass on the sacred turf must be rigorously stamped out. Women are regarded by men as the second sex, and their magic is therefore automatically inferior. There’s also a lot of stuff about man’s natural fear of a woman with power; witches were poor women seeking one of the few routes to power open to them, and men fought back with torture, fire and ridicule.
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Resurrecting the old Wordle for procrastinators - if you’ve moved over to the NYTimes version of Wordle, and you want the old version back, here’s a quick guide!
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Why is Lady Gaga being accused of murder? | The Outline - literally the weirdest conspiracy theory / internet hole I’ve fallen into - apparently there’s a conspiracy theory that Lady Gaga killed a young, up-and-coming star (Lina Morgana) and adopted her persona to great success ????