My first book for 2026 was Trickster’s Choice (Fantasy, 403 pages) by Tamora Pierce.

“Aly: a slave with the talents of a master spy, a fabled lineage she must conceal, and the dubious blessing of a trickster god.
Sarai: a passionate, charming teenage noblewoman who, according to prophecy, will bring an end to a cruel dynasty.
Dove: the younger sister of Sarai; she has a calculating mind and hidden depths that have yet to be plumbed.
Nawat: a magical young man with a strangely innocent outlook and an even stranger past; Aly’s one true friend in a world where trust can cost you your life.”

Trickster’s Choice does a wonderful job with having absolutely non-standard characters, the first of which is Alianne, the daughter of the Lionness and the King of Thieves turned second-in-command of Tortall’s spies, being the one to develop the skills of an international spymaster. I don’t know that I’ve read any story where the spymaster was a well-balanced woman without Childhood Trauma, whose parents are very much both alive and who love her. She’s also smart with a cunning eye and I very much enjoy her sense of humor.

Nawat is obviously a lot of fun, as are the crows in general. The relationship between the crows and the raka is so much fun! How both sides just accepts the other without blinking. I especially enjoyed when Nawat is introduced to the raka as being a former crow and everyone is just like, “Yep. That tracks. No wonder he eats bugs, runs really fast without effort, and behaves oddly.” And they just … go with it. No questions or other background. Though, his constant pressure on Aly to mate and have nestlings is a little uncomfortable to me, it makes sense from the perspective of a crow.

Sarai and Dove are both very good noble ladies, though Sarai’s love of riding and Dove’s cleverness are both noteworthy, as is Dove and Aly’s reactions to Sarai’s involvement with Prince Bronau. Dove is fantastic when she’s basically like, “He’s old, gross, and desperate. You shouldn’t have anything to do with him” while Aly’s thoughts are more along the lines of, “This is the just the kind of messing around I used to do back home but holy buckets is it cheesy and easy to see through when you aren’t one of the participants.”

I have a lot of respect for Duke Mequen and Duchess Winnamine, especially as the story progresses. I read the prologue for Trickster’s Queen, the next book in this series, and I wonder if the Balitangs themselves actually know that Aly is their spymaster. Duchess Winnamine is very astute and catches on to things very quickly and there are hints throughout Trickster’s Choice to indicate she has at least a small inkling of Aly’s true purpose. After seeing Aly’s da at the end of this book, and him having even provided his true name of Cooper, I suspect Duchess Winnamine knows more than she lets on. I also suspect she won’t survive through the end of the next book, which is rather unfortunate.

I’m a little bit torn about how to rate this book. The story is very interesting and the characters are completely relatable. And I know I’m not supposed to judge past books based on current experiences and knowledge, but it’s really difficult for me to be comfortable with the obvious romantic set up between Aly and Nawat. I’m getting so used to reading stories where the happy ending means the main character doesn’t have to wind up in a relationship or if there are relationships, those relationships are mostly along the lines of equal partnerships, but I remember how so many books from previous decades were required to have the only happy ending available to women – to find a husband and have children. I definitely enjoyed this book and I liked the little references to other important figures in Tortall’s history, even though all the main women leads are now married with children, which goes towards my point about what is allowed or encouraged for stories with women as the main character.

And that just rubs me the wrong way.

So overall, I definitely enjoyed this book immensely. It’s a good, fast read and the characters are a lot of fun. And there really aren’t any forced het relationships (yet) because Aly is still not involved with Nawat, though it’s clear she is enticed with him and he clearly wants to mate with her. But for the most part, there’s not much in the way of newly-established relationships in this book. I think I will rate it as a three on my rating scale. I’ll probably read it again at some point but that’s very much going to depend on how much I enjoy the next book 🙂

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster’s Choice. Random House, Inc., 2004.