Those of you who grew up in the late ’80s/early ’90s may remember Tamora Pierce’s two YA fantasy quartets, The Song of the Lioness and The Immortals; both were what a theorist might call formative texts for me. The latter, featuring a girl called Daine who can communicate telepathically with animals and even inhabit their bodies, also features her mentor and (spoilers!) eventual lover, the mage Numair Salmalin. Tempests and Slaughter (which, by the way, is something like six years overdue) promises to be the first in a series that follows the boy who became Numair: born Arram Draper, his gift for magic prompts his merchant family to place him at the Imperial University in Carthak at the age of ten. So it is very much the sort of thing that will appeal to hard-core Tamora Pierce nostalgia fandom (a group in which I place myself), but does it hold up as an actual book? Mostly, yes. Arram’s two best friends at university, Varice and Ozorne, are familiar: they appear in Emperor Mage, the third Immortals book, and there’s some inherent tension here in knowing their eventual fates, and wondering how those characters go from being fresh-faced, clever young students to the jaded and fated adults we’ve already met. But Pierce is fairly successful at making us care for them in their own rights: Varice’s magic is very feminine-coded, which causes others to underestimate her (she’s good at food and herbs and hospitality), but she’s brilliant and kind; Ozorne, though he has readily apparent faults, is loyal and brave. The strongest part of the book is the university, which is more of a school, since it takes trainee mages as young as ten. There’s an element of Hogwarts-appeal there, and the diverse, eccentric cast of instructors are great fun. The political element of the book involves slavery, which the Carthakis practice without compunction, and which the young Arram grows to realise he cannot support, particularly as Carthaki high society places a great emphasis on gladiatorial games, which are fought entirely by slaves. As a whole, Tempests and Slaughter is too long. One of Pierce’s great gifts in her earlier books was her ability to compress years of plot into 200 pages, but the industry no longer requires brevity of YA literature—not since Harry Potter—and as a result, Pierce here has the freedom to make her point too many times. Still, the earlier books aren’t perfect either, and that’s not going to stop the legions of fans who’ve been waiting for this one.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

i am hooked...this book kept me up very late at night and i then when i awoke i had to finish it

well worth a read if you are into mages, magic, dark arts and everything to do with magic and witchcraft

but this book is so much more and the author bought all the characters to life even preet

who wouldnt want to learn how to walk under water and see the marvels that await there

cant wait for the next book in this series and the author is on my watch list now

I have not read anything by this author before so I was brand new to the game when I went in.

Although a charming collection of characters appear, it does feel as though we are seeing a lot of the usual magical cliches and events happening here.

It was fun and a good story to get on board with, but I probably wouldn't read it again.

I would however read more from this author as her writing style is great and easy to get on with.

Arran Draper is a 10-year-old in wizarding school who has been moved ahead two years and has no friends among the older boys. He finds his lessons too easy and struggles to stay out of trouble. An incident of power out of control gets him some attention and he is transferred to a class schedule more suited to his precocious abilities.

This is undoubtedly targeted at the same audience as Harry Potter, but it's not as dark. I also found it moved a little slowly and started speed reading. There's a lot of imagination in the details of the story and I would not call it a Harry Potter clone. The only similarities are a wizarding school, a group of two boys and a girl (who is of course the level headed one) and magic to move around invisibly. That's it, no dark wizard from history threatening the protagonist with special powers in this one.

Actually the one thing lacking in the story was a defined nemesis. One sequence of events follows another and we follow along Arran's experiences and education, but there is no single driving force to tie the story together, though he does make a few enemies along the way. There is much about gladiators, slavery, and healing magic. The world building is good and has a lot of detail, plus the magic is handled well with natural limitations.

I also thought the characters were written well and the story finished in a way that could work for either a stand alone novel or allow for the characters to continue with new adventures. I do like that in a book. Unfortunately it didn't absorb me in the way I had hoped from a well-known popular author. I did enjoy it, but I don't feel compelled to read further in a series if it becomes one.

Ok, I know there are a lot of die hard fans out there, but I’ve never read a Tamora Pierce novel before, so when I was sent an advance copy in exchange for an honest review by Netgalley, I was thrilled.

Unfortunately, I found Tempests and Slaughter a disappointment- perhaps I built it up too much in my head, or maybe you need to read other books first - whatever the reason, it didn’t do it for me. It felt re-hashed and boring. Then because it was boring I never became invested in the characters (except maybe Musenda and Sebo). I know there are loads of 4 and 5 star reviews so I don’t understand what I’m missing, but for the most part though this just wasn’t for me.

I came to this book not knowing anything about the author or the characters, so I had no idea that Tempests and Slaughter is a prequel. While my initial reaction did lean towards Harry Potter comparisons, the similarities are only surface ones. For all their faults, the Potter books were full of unique situations and colourful characters with engaging relationships. I had very little interest in any of the characters including Arram, who in his stereotypical 'chosen one' role spends most of his time nursing erections, healing people and sleeping. I did suspect that the slavery subplot being seeded might turn into something interesting in future novels. I also really appreciated that this world wasn't at all whitewashed, with the author taking care over describing skin tones of every hue plus grand and elaborate tribal costuming. Gods walking and interfering in the human world I found to be a fun touch. It may just be that I should seek out these characters once they have grown up a bit.

I am not sure this book was for me. I don't think it helps that I haven't read her other books - so please don't rely on my review!
I didn't feel an awful lot happened in this book, and struggled to keep interest

As the rating might suggest to you I did not really enjoy this book. I think my keyword for this book is boring. On absolutely every level. Where was the plot? There was seriously barely any. I don’t mind slow stories as long as I feel like I am moving towards something. I didn’t get that feeling here at all. There is summarizations of the schooling, of their school years, about the things they do.The writing style is also dry and felt very distant. Though we only follow one character I wasn’t quite sure I was really getting to know him. Like what are his faults besides accidentally getting drawn into trouble?

World building wise we only saw the university (with bits and pieces from the outside world) and besides knowing they have a plague, slaves and a royal family I really know nothing about the city or the country this takes place in. Even the university is a bit of a question as Arram follows his own personal schedule. It was hard to get a grasp on where he was in his schooling. There was often talk about examinations but only once about results. There would be big, abrupt jumps, sometimes in a chapter. It didn’t make for a very nice continued story line. The magic also is barely explained and seems a mess.

It is an introduction to a character that means nothing to me. While you are suppose to be able to read this without having read the previous books, I feel like I was missing something from the very start. I think this book is better suited to old fans of the series for appreciation of the characters they already know, and certainly not a book to invite new readers to this world.

Initially I thought the introduction to Arram was interesting but as mentioned above, I don’t feel like I was able to really get to know his character. There was a lot of interesting things about his friends too but we rarely scratched the surface. Everyone stayed in their own lane and specific role (the prince, the slave, the professor etc) and never really left those things behind to become a character of their own.

Some things around Arram’s sexual awareness was also cringeworthy awkward. I mean I appreciate talking about boys waking up with a stiff member and all, but I don’t think the conversations in this book will get the desired effect for boys the same age to not feel weird and unnormal about it. There was also the way he would appreciate the sway of a girl’s hips, ‘finally being back around pretty girls’ as he put it or how about an old female professor commenting on a 13/14 year old boys fuzz (chest hairs).

Tamora Pierce was my teenaged self's J. K. Rowling (and L. J. Smith my Stephenie Meyer, still awaiting the final Night World book though!!) This was such a great nostalgic fun read, I loved seeing the early incarnations of some of the characters. I couldn't resist digging out my old copies of the Immortals series straight after and indulged in another re-read. Looking forward to the next one.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

I've loved Tamora Pierce for so much of my life I'm afraid I can't review a brand new book by her like a rational human being - it's all just wild scenes of fangirling and flailing here right now! It's fascinating to read about the early life of Arram - although he doesn't feel like the Numair we know and love yet, he's definitely on the way. The other returning characters are a mixed bag, some we know will go to the bad in later life so it's bittersweet to see them before the rot sets in, but others (mainly Sarge!) are a pure delight. And Preet! Oh Preet. If you don't fall in love with Preet immediately then we're probably incompatible as friends. There are obvious echoes of Kitten there, but I don't care, she's completely adorable!


The story is classic TP, although with a higher page count than the stories I remember from my childhood it feels like there's less action, it's no less absorbing for it. We begin with our gifted hero as a child, struggling to control his powerful magical talents but eager to learn, and follow him through several (eventful!) years of mage school. (If I read any comparisons to Harry Potter I will throw things - Carthak University was around long before Hogwarts was even a speck of an idea!)


This book is clearly laying foundations for the sequels to come but I refuse to deduct a star for that. The rich detail and interesting characters were enough to draw me into the story, and this is a world I can never get enough of. I am positively giddy with excitement for the next book though, I predict there will be plenty of action in that one!

<I>*ARC from Netgalley for an honest opinion*</I> (It has been so hard to contain my excitement for this book until reviews were allowed to be posted!)

YA fantasy novel that starts a series and sets the scene – interesting stuff

This first volume of a series really is about setting the scene. With inevitable Harry Potter comparisons (two boys and a girl, all great friends, at magic school), this introduces a whole lot of interesting characters, masters and students. Arram is the main character and particularly gifted and it's his experiences that are at the heart of this novel. There's not a lot of action and moral themes are brought in, no doubt to be enlarged on in a further volume. Plot development is good as is the characterisation.

I came away thinking that, interesting as it was, there could be a lot more to it and it was a bit light. However it's definitely worth a look to those young adults and children who love fantasy books.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Since I tend to read books in large chunks, it takes a lot for me to call a book ‘unputdownable’. The last time I felt that was about a book it was Now I Rise from The Conqueror’s Saga. Now, in this case, things were a little more complicated since I read this book on my breaks on my work PC. Let me tell you, every moment that I wasn’t reading that book, including the time between going home at the end of one day and coming in the next, I was thinking about getting back into reading this book. Having been through a reading slump for almost the whole of July that was a powerful change. If that’s not enough to convince you that this book was amazing, I suppose I can go into a bit more detail.

This story has some of my favourite elements from stories, there are magical animals (Preet the bird is my favourite character), finding friends after feeling like an outsider, ethics, magic school and more, this book checks almost every box I could possibly have on a ‘make Judith read a book’ list. But none of them feel like anything else, so often ‘magic school’ books feel like they are trying to be Harry Potter but this is all it’s own. Again, I’m sure that’s because there have been all the previous books to build up that distinct detail, but for me, that was totally refreshing.

The characters in this story are just phenomenal. I loved Arram, who could easily have been the kind of young, gifted male protagonist that just irks me, instead he has a lot of different aspects to his character, he doesn’t have one character flaw that’s put in there to appease the reader, he’s multifaceted. While Arram is quite young at the beginning of the book, Pierce manages to capture a young voice without it feeling forced or annoying (a problem I often have with younger characters). But it is the side characters that really make this story, not just Arram’s friends (though they are wondrous) but the host of other students, teachers, and people out and about in the world, all have the same level of detail applied to them, the overall effect is that you are totally immersed in this story from page one right through to the end.

I think some people will critique this book for the lack of plot? It’s certainly true that the story doesn’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end that some other stories do. Instead, this actually reminded me a lot of The Name of the Wind, in that the story is much more of a slow progression, unfolding in a much more natural manner. You grow up with these characters, they make things happen and things happen to them as time goes by. It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for me it makes such a nice change from the ‘Sidney was just living his perfectly normal life when SUDDENLY he ends up overthrowing the government, falling in love and summoning a demon made out of saucepans all in the space of a week’ formula.

Overall I was left feeling like I wanted more (in the best way) and thankfully I have a whole host of books to read now - I can think of no higher commendation!

My rating: 5/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tempests and Slaughter follows Arram Draper and his friends Varrice and Ozorne as they begin life at the mage school of the Imperial University of Cathak.

When I was younger I loved Harry Potter but I remember wishing that we found out more about the day to day life at Hogwarts and the classes our young heroes went to, rather than focussing solely on the overarching storyline of defeating You-Know-Who. Tempests and Slaughter fulfils my wish but also shows me why it’s a bad idea for a novel – quite frankly it’s dull. The entire book feels like 465 pages of padded filler – from copy pasted versions of Arram’s timetable I found myself subconsciously skipping over to over detailed exchanges that did nothing to further the plot. I was completely ready to forgive Tempests and Slaughter if, in the last 10% of the book or so a massive event had happened to tie everything together and set up the series as a whole. This doesn’t happen however, and the book completely fizzles out at the end. There is a wider political plot in there somewhere but it gets completely overshadowed and there’s a few interesting moments, but not enough to justify an entire book.

I am new to Tamora Pierce’s books but I was expecting great things from her reputation. I understand that Arram is an important character in another series and this is an origin story but it still needs to be interesting in its own right. Perhaps the smaller exchanges mean more if you know more about how Arram is later in life but it’s not enough for a new reader.

Again this may be because it’s a side series to another one but as a first time reader I also didn’t really fully understand the magic system. I couldn’t picture the signs they were using and I didn’t understand the rules which for a magic-based fantasy series is pretty unforgiveable. I also understand this book is classed as young adult but myself, and my younger self was fully cringing at the accounts of Arram coming into puberty and the frequent mentions of his ‘member’ – it just jarred with the rest of the book.

Overall perhaps if you’ve read the other series that Tempests and Slaughter is an origin to, it might be more interesting reading about the day to day exchanges of Arram and his friends. As a new reader though there is not enough plot to justify a 465 page book and what little there is certainly didn’t inspire me to pick up the next one. Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK – HarperVoyager for a copy of the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.

Tamora Pierce's books were a major part of my childhood, with Alanna being one of my main heroines, so I was excited to rediscover her work in later years. I realise now that despite this being a new series, having forgotten everything I once knew about Tortall and who Numair was proved a bit of a handicap. Accordingly, I enjoyed the book: I always love Pierce's magic system of people's Gift, and I loved all the lectures on how magic works in this universe. However, not much plot happens. Sure, there are lecturers to suspect of foul deeds and some ominous foreshadowing. If I was more aware of what Numair goes on to be, I imagine there would be more subtle nods to his future that I'm missing. Plenty is set up for more drama in the sequel. But for the most part, this comes across as just a fun magical school drama. I'm reserving full judgement until I read the rest of the series, I think.

I think its important to start by saying that i have never read any other Tamora Pierce books so had no prior knowledge of any of the characters. That being said i found this book to be utterly charming!
This book includes a number of very well developed characters that you can't help but fall a little bit in love with and puts them in one of my favourite book settings - magic school!
The magical classes and their quirky teachers were lots of fun to read about and the similarities to ancient Rome make it a truly a fascinating read.
I did have a few issues with the pacing, on multiple occasions the book spent a large amount of time focused on a particular issue and then next thing you know weeks have flown by. the snippets of the larger story outside of the school were very interesting and i wish we got to explore more of that however the story within the school was interesting enough to warrant a 4 star rating.

I'm now really interested in what Arram gets up to in the future and can't wait to read more works by Tamora Pierce.

This was a relatively quick and enjoyable read with a well written cast of characters and an interesting world. Although I enjoyed the plot overall, it often lacked purpose and left me wondering where things were headed. Due to this, some sections dragged a little for me. There is a lot of set up for the series in this book and that is part of what makes it so slow. I liked the school setting and I thought that the world building was well done. I also enjoyed the character development in this book. Overall this was a good book, but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Something just didn't quite work for me. I would still recommend checking this out though.

3.5

This was my first Tamora Pierce's book. I really liked the setting and all the different kinds of magic the students were able to do. I loved the main characters' friendship, it was truly well done. Little Preet is just so sweet and I can't wait to see if Enzi is going to let her stay with them forever, I really hope so.
I found the plot a little bit slow at times, especially at the beginning. I'm glad to say the book picked itself up in the last part.
Overall it was a nice read and a solid start to a new series.

I have to be completely honest up front: Tamora Pierce is my favourite ever author, so I'm probably going to be a little biased. If you want strong female characters kicking ass and getting ahead in a world that tells them to sit down and shut up then she's the author for you!

Entertainingly, Tempests and Slaughters main character is a man, a previously seen character who's back story we are about to see for the first time that has only been hinted about in the past. If you've never read The Immortals Quartet you might find Numairs story a little strange to read, but trust me this is a fantastic book that brings more life to an already beloved character (and also go read everything else she's written, you won't regret it!)

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a copy of this book.

I have been a fan of Tamora Pierce for a long time but didn't realise this was a prequel to another series of books that I haven't read...........how did I miss them?! Needless to say I'll be getting them asap.

it was amazing

I really enjoyed this book, I'm happy to get new book from Tamora Pierce. I've read a few of her series, including those that include a grown up Arram. I love getting to learn about his early days. You can see the signs of who Ozorne will become in the Immortals series that precedes this series.