A review by sarahlreadseverything
Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

4.0

Reading Tempests and Slaughter was like falling into a warm nostalgia bath. To be back in Tortall (or her neighbours at least), after all this time. . . . it's genuinely like coming home in book form.

Exploring Numair's childhood years was both wonderful and heartbreaking. Wonderful because he is such a beloved character and is apparently just as delightful as a child as he is as an adult. Wonderful because Tamora Pierce's skill at drawing the dots within her wider world apparently knows no bounds
Spoiler (Lindhall! The Graveyard Hag!)/spoiler>, and her ability to insert cute animal characters into a narrative is unparalleled.
Spoiler Preet is the best. Also, Crocodile God!
Heartbreaking because when reading, any Pierce fan will be able to see into Arram Draper's future and how the people around him will change the course of his life, and it kinda makes you want to just pick him up and hug him constantly.

This isn't my favourite of Pierce's novels. The "school days" books inevitably end up the least beloved in each Tortallan series for me (I much prefer the challenges that tend to arise late series), and for much of Tempests and Slaughter it felt like very little actually happened. BUT everything I love about Pierce was totally there, I'm very much looking forward to seeing how The Numair Chronicles play out and I'm totally up for a full re-read of The Immortals starting right this second.