Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3714419 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: School & Library Binding

From the Author
Thank you, Sir David Attenborough!
By the early 1990s I had spent much of my adult life (since 1976) living with Alanna in one form or another. I was ready for a change. I knew I had written Alanna for the girl I was, one who wanted to see a girl swordfighter with Attitude in the books she read as a teenager. Now it was time to write something for the grown-up girl I had become, a shy and somewhat reclusive writer who loved animals. I was still trying to develop ideas for the current me when I discovered a series of programs on television, starting with "The Living Planet," narrated and shaped by naturalist David Attenborough (he wasn't a Sir then). I watched him with fascination, then awe, as he went places you couldn't pay me to go to interact with creatures I had never heard of. My husband and I came to the reverent conclusion that this man would pick up *anything.* He introduced us to gorillas, kiwi birds, and Komodo dragons, climbed volcanoes and forest canopies and soared in balloons to give his audience a better understanding of the natural world. He was clearly happiest with animals and cross when surrounded by humans, exactly the qualities I wanted for my new girl hero, Daine. I watched program after program done by Sir David, absorbing his enthusiasm for and acceptance of wild creatures. I even found his footprints in places I never expected to: researching mythical creatures for the Daine books, I found his name again, as the man who discovered a gigantic prehistoric bird egg on Madagascar!

We writers find our influences in all kinds of places, many of them quite unexpected. Sir David Attenborough's work was and is a bounty to this particular writer. I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude, both on my own behalf and on that of the many readers who have taken Daine and her animal friends to their hearts.

Customer Reviews

Charming and well-written fantasy epic :)
"Wild Magic" is the first book in Tamora Pierce's "The immortals" quartet. "The Immortals" is set in the country of Tortall, and if you have read Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" series you will have the possibility of meeting old friends again. Notwithstanding that, this new series can also be read on its own, as it has more than a few different characters.

The most important one is Daine, an orphan girl who is 13 years old and can communicate with animals, because she has "Wild magic". In this book, readers will accompany her in a dangerous journey from her old home to the palace of her king. Things won't be easy, though, and Daine will have to come to terms with her powers, if she wants to survive the many dangers she will have to face. Will Daine become a mage and face her destiny?. Or will her fear of the secret she is hiding make that something impossible?.

The answers, of course, are in this book. I recommend it to readers older than 9, and even teens or adults that enjoy a charming and well-written fantasy epic. If you like this book check out the sequels, "Wolf-Speaker", Emperor Mage" and "The Realms of the Gods".

Belen Alcat

A wonderful children's book!
I first read this book when I was about 14, and I couldn't put it down. The rest of the books in the series (Wolfspeaker, The Emperor Mage and Realms of the Gods) were out of print at the time, and I had to wait for years to finish the whole series!

Forget Harry Potter... this series as far as I am concerned remains the undiscovered gem of magical fantasy.

The whole series is set around Daine, a teenager who runs away to the Kingdom of Tortall and discovers she has magical powers that link her with all animals. She and her new friends are forced into battle against the evil emperor Ozorne of the distant land of Carthak, who wants Tortall for himself.

But the whole series of books are filled with magic and fantastic mythical creatures such as dragons, basilisks, griffins, spidrens and stormwings. Add to that suspense, romance and drama, and interactions with real animals like wolves, horses and bats. The books are so well written and so imaginative, you can almost believe that you are there experiencing it first hand.

I am 23 now, and I still read all the books from cover to cover, and I still enjoy them as much as I did when I was a child. I will always be glad they were part of my childhood.

Absolutely Fabulous!
Wow! What can I say? I read this book when I was twelve and still read it continually now I am fifteen. Wild Magic has everything I look for in a book and because of this every time I reread it I enjoy it as much as the first time. Through the quartet you can not help but fall in love with the characters. When I put the final book down I was so upset to know I would never see them again. I especially missed Numair who I consider to be in the the same ranks as Mr Darcy when it comes to lovable characters. Whatever it is that makes you love a book I'm sure you'll find it here, so if you can only read one book in your lifetime it should be this.