100 Books that Influenced Me, #48: Wild Magic

[osprey_archer]

I struggled over which Tamora Pierce book to write about for “100 Books that Influenced Me,” and in the future I may yet break down and write about some of the others (Page is a strong contender, or Sandry’s Book) - but Wild Mage is the first Tamora Pierce book that I read and the series that inducted me into the strange, beautiful world of online fandom, because I finished the series and I desperately wanted more Daine.

One of the first fics I found was a story where Daine worked in a brothel a la Moulin Rouge. It’s probably a good thing that I realized so soon just how, hmm, fandom fandom can be.

It also led me to the online community of Sheroes, which I read avidly even though I never posted, but instead watched yearningly from the sidelines as other people built online friendships. How did they do it? It seemed like magic to me. It still seems like magic to me, even now that I’ve emerged from the shadows to make online friends myself, that we can turn words on the screen and a little avatar into a real emotional connection with the person on the other end.

What was it about Wild Mage that so captured me? Daine is a great heroine: brave, occasionally impulsive, with a tragic backstory designed to delight an eleven-year-old, and most of all - the ability to talk to animals!

I’m so glad I discovered Daine before I found internet fandom, because if I'd been steeped in anti-Mary-Sue culture beforehand it might have spoiled my enjoyment about the ever-more-overpowered Daine. But as it was I loved her ever-escalating powers, and I’ve come back around to loving it again. You wouldn’t want every character in the world to be like that, and sometimes there’s something to be said for subtlety, but sometimes you want your girl-power wish-fulfillment avatar characters to come riding in on the reanimated skeleton of a dinosaur in one of the most epic revenge scenes of all time. Edmond Dantes wishes his revenge where this epic.

The explicit girl-power messages where a huge part of the appeal. I know I’ve posted about this before, but there have been an influx of new people within the last few months so I might as well say it again - although people often speak slightingly of didacticism in children’s books, I think there are specific books that become beloved not despite but because of their didactic content, because they say loud and clear a message that certain readers want and need to hear.

I do think this tends to age less well than the more subtle approach, but sometimes the important thing is not aging well - it’s what a reader needs right now. I try to remind myself of this if I get annoyed by what strikes my adult self as irritatingly plain didacticism in children’s books these days: maybe someone needs to read this now; maybe this author will be someone else’s Tamora Pierce.

Comments

[ladyherenya]

I can't point to one Tamora Pierce book which influenced me because I read them in one big gulp in my late teens, but I definitely have a soft spot for Daine. Talking to animals appealed to me a lot more than becoming a knight did! I read Alanna first but made my brother start with Wild Magic.

I also appreciated that Pierce's books were not (at that time) giant bricks. Sometimes it's nice to read a book that you can carry around in your coat pocket and finish within a day.

but sometimes the important thing is not aging well - it’s what a reader needs right now.

That's a good point.

[osprey_archer]

Yes! I feel like most of her books don't really need all that extra page space, too; Tempests and Slaughter, for instance, could easily fit its story into a book the same length as Daine's; a lot of the extra page count seems to go to filler, not to more story.

[thisbluespirit]

One of the first fics I found was a story where Daine worked in a brothel a la Moulin Rouge. It’s probably a good thing that I realized so soon just how, hmm, fandom fandom can be.

LOL! Oh, fandom... /o\

[osprey_archer]

It's probably not Peak Fandom but it's probably about as Peak Fandom as I was ready for at the tender of age twelve, and it's probably good that I learned so quickly what to expect from fandom.

[brigdh]

although people often speak slightingly of didacticism in children’s books, I think there are specific books that become beloved not despite but because of their didactic content, because they say loud and clear a message that certain readers want and need to hear.

This is so true. The Tamora Pierce books of my heart are the Alanna series rather than Daine's, but oh, I read and reread them so many times, and even made my own Alanna costume for Halloween. I totally would have sought out a fandom for them like you, but I didn't get internet in my household until years later.

[osprey_archer]

Tamora Pierce really struck the zeitgeist, at least for certain readers - I think there were a lot of us who needed a really clear girl power! message, and Tamora Pierce was far from the only person writing that sort of thing in the 80s and 90s, but most of the others weren't quite as upfront and in your face about it and that's what I wanted at the time.