Author Tamora Pierce discusses the lack of female heroes in fantasy books when she was growing up, and the effect it had on her writing. Read more about her books: bit.ly/2I5wOTF
I am from Germany, and I have red her books again and again. It was my younger brother, who recommended Tamora Pierce to me. We are both great fans of her through all these years. It is a shame, that only a few books were translated, we red them all in english. For my daughter I bought in antquarian bookshops all, what was ever translated in german. She loved them too! I know there are translations in Italian, Spanish and French, but mostly only the Alanna books. You need to be good enough in English to enjoy her full work. Usually this is not the case aged 10 or 12. That should definitely be changed!!!
One of my favourite authors. I love her books for the exact reasons she started to write them. Good female heroes on fantasy book was a rare treat and I was absolutely deligthed when I discovered her series.
I found Alanna as an 11 year old at the airport. I spent the most of the holiday trying to find ways to sneak read it. It’s an amazing piece of storytelling and I still re-read it.
Madam Pierce has been a real treasure, she shaped within me inner strength and morality. Her examples of strong females models are rare and much needed in literature. I also love her explanation of magic in her settings and I'm so glad to have her books to pass onto my children.
I really love Alanna. She was my hero when I was 12 and I still love her at the age of 21. I'm re-reading the Alanna books and I still love the books. I under more then when I was 12. I'm sad that I can't by all her books in my language, but I hope, my English is good en for the other books
Thank you Tamora Pierce for giving me strong female characters to look up to growing up. Especially younger girls, girls my age, if they could do it, so could I :)
Absolutely one of my personal favorite authors who basically served as my gateway into fantasy as a genre (I may have read the early Harry Potter first, but I didn't buy-in until I fell head-over-heels into Tortall - and specifically The Immortals quartet), and honestly, I do feel that she's one of those authors I've read who has only IMPROVED as she has expanded and written over time, and that's been a great journey to have traveled on. So thank you, Ms. Pierce. From a former 11-year-old who was desperately searching for the heroes you wrote (even though I didn't know it at the time) among the Borders bookshelves.
I think from an early age our perception of the world and our place in it is set. So the fact that young girls are able to read these books where women like them are the heroes is SO IMPORTANT! Her books really taught me that I could do anything and I’m so thankful they exist. I don’t think I would be the person I am without Tamora Pierce.
I read and reread the tortall books I loved these so much!!! shoutout to my elementary school librarian who read us the first chapter of "Page" it got me started
I LOVE this Author. There aren't words to describe just how much I love her. Best I can say, is I played the Audiobooks for my daughters as they grew up. If that isn't the best compliment, I don't know what is. I wanted her Heroes to be my Daughter's guide to being themselves, especially Alahna as her name is strikingly similar to one of my girl's. Her taking a stand, and earning the life she wanted, is exactly the message, and lesson I wanted my children to learn, and that lesson stuck.
I found Tamora pierce independently as a child/young adult. I never got to discuss the books with anyone. They became this secret world for me. I still remember reading The circle of magic, laying under an oak tree in the summer, in a world of my own. I treasured that world and kept it quietly close in my heart. I didn’t know anything about the author, this is the first time I’ve seen or heard her. How lovely to see a heroine who I only knew through her writing. I’m grateful for that steady upbringing she secretly gave me.
The story of Alanna did raise me and all of the others became a huge part of the reason and the way I write my own stories. The fact that TP has her heroines experience their period, and have multiple lovers, is amazing and rare in the genre. Fun fact: I was Alanna’s age when I started reading her story, and I got my first period on the same day I read about Alanna’s!
I was reading a book not long ago in the expanse series where a woman in power armor was sing "Anything you can do I can do better" and it was just funny because she was completely right, Roberta Draper can do anything we men can do better because she has trained and worked to BE better, not just better than men, but better than anyone.
If a market exists for any type of story, with whatever type of characters then those type of stories & characters will be as numerous as the markets appetite for them. Why do people fool themselves into believing that a lack of demand is because of a lack of supply?
