Tamora Pierce

How can one not give Tamora Pierce her own entry!

Tamora Pierce is a popular writer, especially for young females. She is a fabulous story-teller. Her sentences - and stories - are well crafted, her characters interesting and engaging (including their faults). She almost always has females as the main characters in her books. She has created more than one successful series (The Song of the Lioness, Immortals, Protector of the Small, the Trickster books, and the Provost's Dog books including Terrier and Bloodhound) based or loosely based in her created, magical kingdom of Tortall. She also has an impressive number of books set in the universe of her Circle of Magic books.

A lot of the books feature "girl-power," often in a male-dominated world, so they can be quite inspiring. Her females are very postmodern and are/or aspire to be free to make their own choices. Her books are also not always predictable. Pierce is not afraid to tackle issues such as beauty, death and killing, gangs, homosexuality, race. Occasionally in The Circle Opens quartet, which tends to deal openly with heavier issues, I find that her books lose a bit of their sparkle.

However, I will keep picking up her books to read, because I know I will be entertained, and they are written well. I always appreciate doses of human insight mixed with good crafting and complex characters!
My favorites? The Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small. I think. Least favorite? Cold Fire and Bloodhound (I was especially disappointed in Bloodhound, because I felt Terrier was excellent and I was hoping for more in the sequel).