Wolf-Speaker (2) (The Immortals)

Book 2 of the Immortals series, Wolf Speaker, follows Daine and Numair as they visit Dunlath, an estate in the mountains. The local wolves, who Daine used to know, have asked her for help. Daine and Numair arrive just in time to discover a treacherous plot. As Numair leaves to get help, Daine stays

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behind to help her wolf friends and see what else she can discover. Meanwhile, Daine's powers are growing and she must cope with the changes...all sorts of changes. New friends are made, and new enemies, but humans, animals, and immortals all have to work together to survive.

Another great book by Pierce!

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Daine, Numair, magic, wolves, ogres and of course, the Badger. This is one book the family enjoyed reading inded.

Daine's wolf pack from her former home asks her to talk to the humans in their new territory about the destruction of the land, the water, and the hunting grounds in the new valley they have moved to, but it turns out that the situation is much different - and much worse - than anyone could have

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guessed.

Wolf-Speaker is one of my favorite Tortall book. Although the main characters are (as usual in Pierce's books) just a touch too good to be true, Daine grows and learnes and makes mistakes throughout the story and people besides her play roles vital to the plot. I particularly like Maura, a young noblewoman who is terrified but brave, and Tkaa, one of the immortals that Daine meets and befriends.

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Daine has been called to Dunlath Valley by her old wolf pack, the Long Lake Wolves. The humans are tearing apart the trees and poisoning the water. Wildlife all around the valley is dying and Brokefang, the alpha of the pack, wants help reclaiming his home. When Daine and Numair arrive, though,

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they find out the people of Dunlath are mining something. Though they can't figure out what, they know it must be important. And when they find the charred remains of a squadron of Queen's Riders as well as Stormwings, they know there's something more than meets the eye.

After following such a fantastic book like Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker had a lot to live up to and unfortunately, it didn't quite make it. Of all the Tamora Pierce books I've read to date, this was the weakest. There wasn't much character involvement because really, Daine was the only human character through the most part. Numair rarely showed up and Alanna only appeared briefly after the final battle. I loved all the animals that showed up but for some reason, I just didn't love them as much as Dain's human friends. A good majority of the book also seemed to be Daine discovering and growing into her powers. While I understand the importance of this, it felt like chapter after chapter was devoted to Daine entering the mind of yet another animal and transforming her own body more and more. It got old.

Lastly, the final battle was quite a letdown. There was so much build-up through the book as to what horrible things Tristan and his mages were doing, and there was such a struggle to get to the room where his weapon was being kept, and it only took a couple of hits from the hilt of her knife to destroy it. Boring.

I hope I haven't dissuaded anyone from reading Tamora Pierce. Her books are thoroughly enjoyable and while I don't remember exactly what happens in the rest of the books, I remember loving them and I'm almost certain this is just a dry spell. It happens to every good author so please, read on!

3 stars!

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The second volume of The Immortals sees Daine returning to her association with the wolfpack that took her in after her mother was murdered, a time during which she bonded with the animals and ran completely wild and feral. There's some tension in the opening of the book about the possibility of

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this recurring, but the plot thread is quickly dropped in favor of some uninteresting political machinations of a local lord in the ongoing cold war between Tortall and its neighbor Carthak. Daine discovers some new powers, which is nice, but its poorly done: the badger god puts in an obnoxious appearance to tell her she has the powers. Why not have her find them herself? Then she struggles the powers-- they're too much for her. These were some of the best parts of the book. But then the god comes back and tells her how to stop that. Way to solve your own problems, Daine. It's a good enough adventure, but it doesn't deliver on the potential of its own setup.

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WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

This second installation of the Immortals is written by Tamora Pierce. I like this book because Tamora Pierce lets us find out a little bit more about Daine and her history with wolves. When Daine travels to the fief Dunlath, they come out (more like escape

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out), finding that the fief Dunlath ruler's Yolane and Beldan, with the help of the Carthaki mage Tristan, is plotting to overthrow the Crown (aka: the Crown is Jonathan of Conte' and Queen Thayet). As they escape, Daine stays behind to watch over the wolves and find that they found Maura, that's trying to warn the Crown. They keep on traveling, and find out that Daine can share the minds of other animals.

Daine uses this ability to do a sort of recon of the area, but they're trapped within the valley with a barrier. The group then finds that an immortal basilisk snuck in through the border via the mage's summoning spell. They befriend each other and eventually becomes a messenger, when a friendly squirrel said that Numair was outside the barrier. Daine talks to him via basilisk messenger and then Numair also gave her a message, saying that in order to break the barrier, Daine has to find a model of the valley and destroy it. Daine sneaks into a forbidden tower as one of the kitchen cats, Scrap, accompanied by Blueness.

Then Daine goes into the tower and finds the model, but not before a Coldfang tries and kill them. Daine defeats it, but Scrap was almost killed in the process. Daine calls upon the Gods of animals to heal Scrap, and it works. Daine then finds the model and promptly destroy it. Numair then comes and makes sure that Daine is okay and says a spell/prank to get rid of Tristan's, the mage in charge of the conspirisy.

Tristan shows up on a hurrok (an eagle pegasus monster) and battles Numair. Both are fighting furiously, calling upon huge elemental powers, and then Stormwings came, wanting to kill Numair, but Daine stopped them, wanting peace with Lord Rikash. The brunette Stormwing tried to kill Daine, but with her swift archery skills saved her. Tristan, in a last desperate attempt to hurt Numair, Tristan lunged at Daine, attempting to kill her. Numair then turned Tristan into a tree to protect Daine.

The King's Own then went to check up on Beldan, but found that he did suicide, drinking poison, saying that his wife will not tarnish his reputation. Yolane tried to get out on horseback, but was captured by Daine and the wolves and arrested. Maura, the girl who warned King Jonathan of fief Dunlath's plans was put in charge of the fief. Since Dunlath is the only fief that asks for the wolves, squirrels, basilisk, ogres, and bats that advise the fief. Then Numair and Daine go back to the castle.

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Interesting insights into Daine and her magic, Numair and his past, immortals of various sorts, and (a little bit) Tortallian law and politics. But for all that, not as good as Wild Magic. I like Brokefang and most of the pack, and Daine's various new friends; we also get to see Tkaa for the first

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time. I'd forgotten this was his intro.

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This moves on from its predecessor (Wild Magic) by exploring Daine's ability not only to communicate with animals but to shift into their minds, and finally (after some disconcerting manifestations of bristles, odd-shaped feet, etc.) to shapeshift herself. Her travel with animals is well imagined

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and described, though it was not entirely clear to me what her body was doing while her mind was roving (and when she finally takes animal form, the convenient closeness of her pack when she returns to human form after a cross-country chase and finds herself nude is simply too handy).

The tale centres on trying to discover and counter the evil plans of the mage who is wreaking havoc in Fief Dunlaf, where the wife of the overlord aspires to the Queen's throne. Daine's recruiting of animals spies and assistants plays a major part, with the mage Numair carefully ushered off-stage and kept there by a magic barrier. However, the accretion of supporting characters began to strain my suspension of disbelief. Daine creeps through the woods trying to avoid being spotted, accompanied by at least one pony, a squirrel, a small dragon, a younger girl, several wolves, an ogre, a hunter, and a basilisk. This last seems much too aristocratic and mature a character to have trailing around in this ramshackle following, waiting to be useful to the plot. The hunter, too, seems to come to terms far too readily with the prospect of alliance with the wolves he was cursing and hunting to the death only days ago, and with the uncanny spirit-travel and shapeshifting engaged in by the young teenaged girl who is telling everyone else what to do.

Pierce also commits two authorial crimes which I cannot let go. One concerns grammar. Daine "corrects" Maura's use of "me and Kitten" to "Kitten and me" (and is corrected in her turn three pages later). This may have been a pet superstition of the author's English teacher, but it is quite illegitimate: the grammatical context indeed requires "me" (not "I") but only over-genteel stylists suppose that the other person must come first. The other is stylistic: most of Pierce's writing is fluent, but I actually came to a halt at one point and had to reread the sentence (p. 302): She had learned the trick to add to her power when she was tired by getting cold or cold and soaked from him. No points for the editor there.

I did like the confrontation between a Stormclaw (unpleasant harpy-like monster) and Daine hitching a ride with an animal friend:

"Get that squirrel!" shrieked Rikash as Flicker bolted past.
The cooks gaped at him. "Get the what?"

There's a thoughtful thread concerning the status of Stormclaws, whom Daine learns not to treat merely as crossbow targets. I shall be happy to continue reading the series, but I wouldn't count it among the classics of YA fantasy.

MB 11-ii-2011

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In this book things get a little more challenging for Daine. She's left without the aid of her powerful friends for a bit and has to figure things out on her own. She also continues to grow her abilities.

Wolf-Speaker is the second book in the immortals series. Daine recives a call from an old wolf friend, Brokefang. Her and Arram , numair, set out to vist the Long Lake pack. On the way Daine learns that she can join minds with an animal. The pack tells her that humans have been cutting down trees,

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blasting holes, and scareing away the game. They ask her to try to make them stop or they will take action. They soon learn that Dunlaf is actually rebealing against the king and working with the emperor of Carthaki. She, the anmials, Kitten (skysong) and tkaa the balisk take down the feif and save the animals.
The second book in the immortals series is my favorite. I especialy like Tkaa and the pack. I also like how Daine isn't with Numair since while he was informing the king a magic barriar is put up so no one can get in, it makes her more resourcful and independent. Also the fact that she can shape shift is particuarly awesome. I also love Blueness and Scrap, " a creature of noble bulk."

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The second of the Immortals quartet. Daine and Numair help the wolves of Dunlath combat a plot against Tortall. Daine learns more about the powers of her wild magic as she deals with more of the immortal creatures that have been pulled in from the Divine Realms.

Daine's wolf pack from her former home asks her to talk to humans about the destruction of the land, the water, and the hunting grounds in the new valley they have moved to, but it turns out that the situation is much different - and much worse - than anyone could have guessed.

Wolf-Speaker is one

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of my favorite Tortall books. Although the main characters are (as usual in Pierce's books) just a touch too good to be true, Daine grows and learns and makes mistakes throughout the story, and people besides her play roles vital to the plot. I particularly like Maura, a young noblewoman who is terrified but brave, and Tkaa, one of the immortals that Daine meets and befriends.

Margaret Strom is an inconsistent reader. Often she's fine, even pleasant to listen to, but she also mispronounces words and pauses at odd times, especially during dialogue, which sounds awkward or even changes meaning. I recommend the Full Cast Audio version instead.

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This is the second of The Immortals series featuring Daine, who was introduced in Wild Magic. For me this is the weakest book of the series, even the book by Pierce I like the least. I found the environmentalist/animal rights theme heavy handed and at times eye-roll worthy. Those kinds of themes

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are certainly present in all of Pierce's books, but this is the one where I found it nearly unbearable. That said, I first read these books as an adult on the recommendation of a friend who fell in love with them as a child. I'm sure if I had read these when I was in the targeted age of 12 to 16, I would have eaten up this tale of a girl who not only can talk to animals, she can shapeshift into one. And even I loved the next two books in the series, which have scenes I'd call cinematic and memorable quotes suitable for bumper stickers. And there were enjoyable bits here too, such as the dimension give to the Stormwings and "Kitten" the dragon.

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Daine has been called North to Dunlath Valley by the pack of wolves that used to live near her hometown. The wolves are concerned because the humans of Dunlath Valley are exploiting its natural resources (although they certainly don't express their concerns in those words). Numair undertakes the

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journey with Daine and they soon discover that the lord and lady of Dunlath are plotting for their own advancement - perhaps to royal levels. Daine for the first time discovers her ability to see through other animals' eyes and that she can shift her own body. She also discovers that prolonged contact with animals, particularly if they ingest some of her blood, leads to them thinking more like humans. We also see more dimensions to the Immortals who have returned to Tortall. As usual I greatly enjoyed Pierce's storytelling although this is clearly a middle volume in Daine's adventures. I look forward to listening to the next two!

Listened to the Playaway narrated by the Full Cast crew. Previously read several times.

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Weaker than the first in the quartet, yet Tamora's worlds still are interesting enough to be worth the time to read.

This is the sequel in Tamora Pierce's Immortals series.

The novel opens while Numair and Daine are on a discovery mission in Dunlath to find out what happened to seven of the Queen's riders, when Daine is approached by the wolf pack that cared for her and helped her avenge her mother's death in the

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beginning of the series. Something terrible is happening in Dunlath, and only Daine can help the wolf pack. What begins as a favor to her pack, ends up becoming about something far more important; protecting the lives and freedoms of all in the valley, mortal and immortal alike.

I loved this book. Granted, Pierce stole my soul with Wild Magic, but sometimes sequels disappoint and Wolf-Speaker did not. Pierce uses Wolf- Speaker to explore themes of good and evil, bigotry and prejudice to teach a valuable lesson about not judging everything based on what we've been taught or have heard previously. Considering this is a YA novel, I think that's a valuable lesson to teach growing children.

Numair and Daine have wonderful chemistry as usual, but in Pierce fashion Daine fought all of her battles alone, and is the heroine of the story.
Highly recommend and can't wait to get my hands on the next novel in the series.

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I think I've run out of steam for this series right now, as much as I was enjoying it. Lots of other things to read. Will come back to this someday.

I enjoyed Wolf-Speaker even more than its predecessor. I felt like, in Wild Magic, Daine had come into her own without realizing it by the end of the story, and that Wolf-Speaker is the story of her testing, so to speak.

I enjoyed meeting the new (fully-fleshed-out) characters, but I enjoyed

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watching Daine fend for herself and protect others even more. She is, in the course of the story, separated from the adults that gave her guidance and support in Wild Magic, and the stakes become so dire that it is essentially a sink-or-swim moment. I liked watching her go from a confused newcomer to Tortall (in the first book) to a protector of both people and animals. It was an intensely satisfying read.

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I'm loving Daine and her story!

I read this book surrounded by animals, because how else should I have read it? I love Daine ao much. I l8ve her compassion, and I love that she learns to be open-minded towards all creatures. Numair is so loyal to his friends, and Alanna is bad ass as ever. This book also deals with conplicated

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issues, such as her unwilling changes to the animals that she engages with.

I love animals, Daine loves animals, therefore, I love this book!

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This was a very easy read, even with five courses I finished it in a couple of days. Daine learns to shape-shift in this one.

Excellent, just like the others.

A few months after her first adventure Daine finds herself being called again by the wolf pack that helped her revenge her mother's death. She goes through even more adventures, makes friends with Immortal beings, has to care for a baby dragon, has to help a forest not die, and at the same time

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finds out she has even more magic powers than she though in the beginning.

again, a good book, its alright.

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