Akiva Reads

Wild Magic (Immortals, #1)

by Tamora Pierce

I read these all the time when I was a young teen---to the point where apparently I remember where all the italics were, even though my e-book didn't display the formatting properly.

This is one of those books that's forever lost to you if you don't first read it before age 14. The three star review is a compromise between my younger self (who would have given it 4 1/2) and my present self (who wants to give it a 1 1/2) in acknowledgement that I'm no longer the target audience.

First, Pierce's books are fully and thoroughly badass for their genre-defining strong female characters. I would read a whole adult fiction series about Onua, whose story is only sketched in the vaguest terms. That acknowledged, Pierce's books are also... not that well written. Typical plot holes, overly powerful characters, and wish-fulfillment. The kind of stuff that 13-year-olds eat up with a spoon.

BUT, the thing that really bugged me during this reread was age. I'd either forgotten or never realized that Daine is only 13. My impression of her as one of the older heroines, at 15 or 16, makes more sense considering her responsibilities, but the primary reason for pretending that "13" was a typo is because it makes her relationship much less creepy. Numair's exact age is never given, but he's described as a full-grown adult---at least 19, and probably more like 21 or 22. Maybe older. I'm willing to waive the half-your-age-plus-seven rule because this is a universe where kids get sent off to train as knights starting at ten and you're old enough to join the Riders (irregular military) at 15. And they deal with the awkwardness of the age gap in later books IIRC. But 13? SERIOUS lapse in judgment on the author's part. shudder