The Plaid Pladd

This book may have been Middle School Patricia’s favorite of the Daine-centered “Immortals” series. I think I know why: 1) Numair is gone for most of it, 2) Daine mostly just hangs out in the woods with animals, and animals are awesome, and 3) Daine’s complete inability to deal with other people is less in evidence.

This book takes place entirely in Dunlath valley, a small fief in the north of Tortall where Daine’s old wolf-pack decides they need her help. When she gets there, she discovers not just rampant deforestation for secret mines, but also a strange amount of Carthak mages who are clearly UP TO SOMETHING. Numair goes for help before the mages conveniently seal off the valley, leaving Daine and her band of furry friends to save the day.

Since Numair is hardly present for most of this book, I’m going to bring the creepy factor down to 0 out of 5.

Tamora Pierce Checklist

Animal Companion(s): Cloud (horse), Kitten (dragon baby), Brokefang + his whole pack (wolves), Tkaa (basilisk), Flicker (Squirrel)
Magical Bling: Silver badger claw/animal god pager
Love Interest(s): None, but Brokefang’s mate is still totes jeal
Song of the Lioness Character Sightings: Alanna and Raoul come to the rescue!

Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce

Book 2 of The Immortals

Play-By-Play
Chapter one: Encounters
Daine and Numair meet Daine’s old wolf pack in their valley that “humans are ruining”. Stormwings are patrolling the valley and Daine finds the charred remains of a patrol of Queen’s Riders. Suspicious? Numair thinks maybe. But he has to wait a few chapters before actually doing anything about it.

Chapter two: The Valley of Long Lake
Daine practices a new Animal Super Power the Badger God gave her: “riding along” in animal minds! Numair discovers that enslaved ogres are working in the mines, possibly looking for super-magic opals. Numair and Daine ride into town and get invited to dinner at the castle, since the nobles are desperate for conversation. Numair’s old frenemy, Tristan, is staying there!

Chapter three: Fugitives
Tristan claims he is so totally not working for Emperor Ozorne anymore, when we all know he def is. Daine gets banished to the kids table, where 10-year-old Maura gives her the low-down on her older sister Yolane, who is a bitch. Daine tries to relay the wolves’ message of “stop wrecking the valley or we’ll wreck your face” to the nobles, but they all laugh at her. In the dead of night, Numair tells her they have to get the hell out of there and tell King J that something is up. She says she has to stay because Brokefang and the pack need her. Numair says she’s being dumb, then leaves.

Chapter four: Brokefang Acts
lol the pack stole a bunch of axes from the logging camp! Good job, guys, I’m sure that will stop them. Daine, Kitten, and the wolf pups get attacked by a creepy lizard monster, but then another creepy lizard monster saves them by turning it to stone. The first one was a “coldfang”, who hunt down thieves. The second is Tkaa, a basilisk with all kinds of deus ex machina powers.

Chapter five: The Trap
Maura has decided to run away from home because she found out her sister is plotting against King J! Treason is way worse than bitchiness in Maura’s book and she is not going to stand for it! But the mages have sealed the valley with magical walls, so Maura is trapped in the forest with Daine. Daine is no fun at the ensuing slumber party.

Chapter six: Rebellion
Numair is on the other side of the barrier, super pissed, but unable to get through. Luckily, Tkaa can walk through it, so he goes and tells Numair what is up. A stormwing named Rikash who is apparently Maura’s BFF comes and tells her to go home, but she says no.

Chapter seven: Counting Soldiers
Daine has to go to the extra forts in the valley and count the soldiers for some reason. She finds orders from Emperor Ozorne to capture Numair and Kitten, but kill Daine. If Daine spends too long in an animal mind, she starts turning into one!

Chapter eight: Friends
Iakoju, a runaway ogre, tells them the ogres are going to rebel because they were promised farmland instead of being whipped. Daine spies through a cat in the castle and finds that the mages are making some kind of super-poison to throw in the river and kill the reinforcements Numair sent for plus everything else for miles. Daine asks Numair for a smart way to stop them, “If you don’t, I will think of a stupid way to do it”

Chapter nine: War Is Declared
Numair tells Daine that the only way to break the barrier around the valley is to sneak into the castle and break the voodoo image of the barrier. First she should create a distraction at the forts to get the mages out of the castle. To do this, she calls on her animal friends! Plus, the ogres rebel and Maura lights things on fire.

Chapter ten: The Fall of Tristan and Yolane
There’s a coldfang in the tower room with the poison and voodoo magic! Daine manages to kill it, but not before it kills one of her cat friends. She uses her badger claw/animal god cellphone to call the gods and demand they bring her back to life because “you owe me”. Shockingly, this works. She destroys the barrier and Numair turns Tristan into a tree. Daine turns into a wolf to hunt the fleeing Yolane with the pack. When you turn back after shape shifting, you’re naked!

Epilogue
Maura is now in charge of Dunlath! Because a 10-year-old is at least better than an evil, slutty woman.

Previously: Wild Magic
Next: Emperor Mage