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My favorite genre to read is fantasy. Readers explore and experience worlds never before imagined. “Wild Magic” by Tamora Pierce is unique above all other fantasy novels I have read. Each book with magic follows a slightly different set of rules, and this one is unique due to its description, practice, and variety.
“Wild Magic” is an amazing story of love, loss, grief, and finding a family and future for yourself. There is some magic and politics thrown in as well. The book itself is not that long, but due to how much exposition it has for the main character’s progression in her magic, the politics needed to be known as context for several plot points. Add in history exposition and amazing descriptions about scenery, the book can be a slow read for some but was worth it in the end for me.
The book starts with Veralidaine “Daine” Sarrasri and her pony, Cloud, meeting Onua Chamtong. Onua is a royal ostler collecting mountain ponies for her employer, Queen Thayet of the Queen’s Riders. Daine has always had a knack with animals from an early age; they respond to her. She has recently lost her home and family, and ventures to find her way in the world.
Daine learns more of the world outside of her hometown of Snowsdale, the people of this strange new place, and especially about herself. Her knack with animals may be more than she initially thought—it is magic. Her mother had been so sad that Daine did not have “the Gift” as she had, but thanks to her new friends she meets while exploring, she has unlocked her potential.
In this world, those with the Gift can perform a variety of incredible acts ranging from healing and protection to long-distance communication, and much more. The only limits are how much Gift you have and your dedication to learning how to use it. Onua, while having the Gift, still needs an assistant to help her with the ponies while on the road to the capital of Tortall. After seeing Daine’s skill with a bow and with the ponies, as well as liking Daine’s sense of humor, Onua hires her on and they begin their travels together.
Monsters have returned to the Mortal Realms after being locked away in the Divine Realms for the last four centuries, and it seems Daine may be the key to establishing peace between humans and some of the creatures, since she can sense them all. She suddenly goes from a lowly peasant girl in a mountain village to being the assistant royal horse mistress and befriending many nobles, mages, and royals alike, not to mention all her new animal friends, mythical and otherwise.
Along the way they meet the Lady Knight, Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and the King’s Champion (who is the main character of her own books named “The Song of the Lioness”), Numair Salmaline, the most powerful mage on the continent, Queen Thayet, and her husband King Jonathan, Sarge, Bori, and many other colorful and diverse characters each with incredible personalities. These are only the human characters, too! The animals are each unique, and many have amazing senses of humor. Each character cracks a joke at least once, and each joke was good.