Reviews

The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce

tearbear20's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

soupertrouper's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

4.5

shema's review

3.0

I'll be honest, I wasn't as big of a fan of Daine's story as I was with Alanna's. Probably because her story could've been 2 books instead of 4 because books 2 and 3 were pretty boring. There were still things I enjoyed about the series. Even though Daine didn't have as much dynamic character development as Alanna, she was still enjoyable to read. I also loved her relationship with her animal companions, especially Kit which, I almost cried what happened to them at the end of this book. Though I kind of wish we could've dived in more on Daine's fear of loising her humanity. It was touched in book 2, but I would've liked to see more inner conflict. Also, while I think the relationship with Daine and Numair was sweet, I guess. It's still...kind of creepy. Like she's 16 and he's in his 30s. They touch on for a brief moment about the age gap, how he'll be pretty old when she's still young. But they don't even mention that she's still underage? Idk. Maybe 16 is an ok age in Tortall, but sorry, no. It was creepy enough with Alanna and George. Well, I'm still a fan of the Tortall books even with its problematic elements.

colaptesauratus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

chelsealouise07's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

vr_silvers's review

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

ceena's review against another edition

5.0

Couldn't help it, had to finish re-reading the series.
One of my biggest complaints here was how fast the romance between Daine and Numair seemed to be, or at least was barely mentioned. Also, her age. She is 16 here, which is getting old in this world, and of marriageable age, but she is acting like an adult! --she still has her teen moments, but I think I would have preferred she being 18 at least.

Other than that, her character development is awesome, and I loved seeing more of the old gang (I always squeal when Raoul shows up).

marmoo's review

4.0

This novel was a satisfying and fitting conclusion to the Immortals tetralogy. If it feels frustrating for the end of the series to center on a lengthy road trip through a new realm populated by new characters, at least the journey offers resolution and growth for Daine.

Much of the changes I would like to see in the series overall—a deeper sense of the characters' social positions in Tortall outside of wartime, more detail of how wild magic functions and what it costs, more breathing room for promising secondary characters who are never seen from again—add up to asking the books to be something fundamentally different than what they are: middle-grade adventure novels. If there are parts of them that don't hold as well to adult eyes (and there are), well, that's OK. Adult eyes aren't really the target demographic.

I'm still not cool with the huge age gap in the central romantic pairing though. I thought it was icky at 12, and I think it's icky now (albeit for different reasons).

sarahsmelser's review

adventurous

4.0

drymice's review

1.0

A teenager and man in his thirties is just not okay