It’s the first Wednesday in June, so let’s rock the neurotic writing world together in our group! The Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG, if you’re social media inclined. To sign up for the group’s blog hop, go here.

As always we have lovely co-hosts this month to thank. They are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis for the month of June.

And there’s an optional question to answer: What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

And I’m so glad you asked, IWSG! I have done many, many posts about Terry Pratchett so by now I think you returning readers can take it as established fact that he was a very influential author in my childhood and teen years.

Today I’d like to highlight another author who greatly impacted my young adult self. Let me walk you through the joy and the pain which is reading Tamora Pierce.

Always and forever a Circle of Friendship fangirl

The Circle of Magic quartets and standalone:

There is much mayhem and four misfits finding their niche and real, honest-to-god supportive adults (IN A YA, I KNOW!) and deadly conflicts and beautiful insults. Honestly so much of my world-view was informed by this series, which I started reading at about the same age as the characters. My deep, deep love for underdogs, my need to be an ally, and the urge to champion justice were ignited by Ms. Pierce and this series. (For the record Tris is my favorite and I related to her the most. I still ship her and Briar, so judge me.)

Alanna The Lioness Series:

Alanna is just what I needed as a tween. She gets to be kickass and take down bullies. Fighting for her abilities to exist outside of her gender constraints is the whole damn plot. She explicitly examines her sexuality, her identity, she even DEALS WITH HER PERIOD OKAY YOU DON’T JUST STOP AUNT FLO FOREVER BECAUSE YOU’RE IN A FANTASY NOVEL is this real life or just some beautiful dream? Holy Jumping Gerbils YA people it really is okay for girls in a magical world to experience developmentally appropriate growth. Also diversity is a thing. Just, every young adult author read some Tamora Pierce and take notes.

The Terrier Trilogy:

Beka Cooper is a young, fairly idealistic recruit with a huge chip on her shoulder about protecting the helpless. Possibly this is because she can speak to the spirits of the dead, and they’re constantly begging for her help. Goodwin is a veteran cop who has survived decades on the night shift in the roughest part of Corus. This fictional world is a kinda medieval and a whole bunch murdery, so believe me when I say Goodwin is someone you do not want to mess with. I adore how gruff she is with Beka, slowly opening up and trusting in this super keen recruit. They keep each other alive through multiple crazy mysteries (GIRL POWER!). She’s caustic and practical, never misses the opportunity for a sarcastic one-liner, and loves cats. Really, she’s just perfection. I read this trilogy mostly for Goodwin.

The Trickster Duology

In addition to an interesting magic system, inhuman gods meddling in human affairs (tragedy results), and some vivid worldbuilding, this duology has some really awesome characters. Alianne Cooper happens to be the daughter of The Lioness herself, and yes, this theme is explored well. But Ali is most definitely her own person and she happens to be tricky, convoluted, and complex, full of spy master tricks and counter-espionage plots. Plus she has the ability to kill someone in many fun, inventive ways although due to her family shenanigans she mostly does pranks that probably won’t kill you. Not immediately, anyway.