Tamora Pierce; Lioness of my Bookshelf

This image haunts my dreams

             If I were to put in my two cents, I would say that being an author is probably one of the most creative things you can be. You make up people, situations, and you can even create new worlds. One of my favorite authors is a Young Adult writer by the name of Tamora Pierce. She has been writing books since 1983, and she typically writes within the YA fantasy genre. While I'm a huge fan of her work, one of the things that fascinates me the most are the worlds that she creates. Not only does she make complex and interesting characters, but she also crafts a world of magic, knights and Gods.

Nothing says badass more then a sword
that shoots lightening

             She creates worlds that are very intricate and plausible. A difficult thing to do when you expect readers to believe in magic! A world filled with legends and things that have never existed outside of her imagination. It is not to say that it is wholly unique, some of these sorts of tropes have lived on in fantasy for years, but she definitely puts a different spin on things. A huge part of the magical, political and economic systems come straight from her own imagination. It never fails to impress me the amount of detail that is hidden in those pages. 

             One of the most interesting things about Tamora Pierce is how she uses her fantasy worlds as a lens to look back into the failures of our own. For instance, all of the her protagonists (except for one, Briar) are women. Since it is set in a medieval type of world, that lends itself to examining the differences between the sexes. However, since it is set in a fantasy world, there is magic, which inherently reduces the gap between men and women. She is able to articulate some of the main problems that come with being a woman in today's world without being heavy handed or preachy. 

             This is one of the things that relates her to all the great creatives we have studied so far. All of the creatives we have studied use their art to look at the world in a different way and they try to use it to shine a light on problems, or aspects of our lives that we don't even know about. I believe that Tamora Pierce does this very effectively with her writings and she manages to go about it in a thouroghly refreshing manner.
            I think one of the reasons that she is so successful is that she has the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. She loves to write, but she is also motivated to point out the foibles of the world around her. These things mimic the force of Graham, the dedication of Ghandi, and the passion of Picasso. While Ghandi was much more focused on fixing these issues, Graham and Picasso wanted their audience to see the world in a totally different way then before.

All Hail Tamora Pierce, Queen of Teen Fantasy and Ruler of All