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Tom Phillips _om_hillips — I'm a fan of Tamora Pierce's young adult fantasies, which I discovered as an adult after a friend who loved her books from childhood was horrified when I asked her Tamora who? She can fall into a preachy political correctness, which can be seen from time to time in these shorts, but she also writes among the strongest female protagonists in fantasy, yet alone Young Adult. She's the perfect counter to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga with her active, kick-ass heroines and creates imaginative magical realms. My favorites among her books are The Protector of the Small series with Keladry and the two Trickster novels with Aly. Those books are set in Tortall (as are most of her novels) as are six of the stories in this anthology. In addition there are three other tales of high fantasy, one urban fantasy and one short work of mainstream fiction. The relatively low rating I'm giving this book reflects that I just didn't find her shorts as compelling as her novels. It's not that like some I'm no fan of the short story--there are authors who I think shine in the short form, even surpassing their long fiction--Stephen King and Isaac Asimov spring to mind. But I don't think Pierce's talents of world-building and character development are displayed to most advantage in the short form, and if you're new to her, I wouldn't start with this book. I don't think these stories have the "punch" of really strong short stories, instead many of them made me wish they could be longer and more fleshed out--although in that regard I guess that proves Pierce certainly writes characters you want to linger with! (I'd love to see more of Adria of "Lost" or Arima of "Time of Proving" or Ri of "Mimic" again someday.) That said, if you are already a Tamora Pierce fan, there is a lot to enjoy here. If you love her Immortals series, then you'll probably grin at "Elder Brother" which tells of the tale of Qiom, the apple tree Numair inadvertently turned into a man, and "The Dragon's Tale" from the point of view of "Kitten" the young dragon Daine adopted. "Nawat" about the half-crow/half-human triplets born to crow-man Nawat and his mate Aly of the Trickster books is the longest tale in the book--novella-length at 70 pages. At times I found it a bit TMI squicky rather than humorous as obviously intended and all too weird in its mix of human and beast, but ultimately oddly touching. My favorite Tortall-based story, based on characters from the Lioness Quartet, doesn't really have a fantasy element at all. The pleasure of that story opening the book, "Student of Ostriches" is precisely how the Kylaia teaches herself martial arts from the close observation of real animals. A wicked kick from the ostrich and a punch from giraffes and she "learned more kicks from zebras, a double hand strike from lions, and a back-of-the-fist blow from elephants." I also found Pierce's one urban fantasy tale, "Huntress" genuinely scary--maybe because the Central Park setting hits all too close to home for a native New Yorker like me. And at the end there's a teaser from the next Beka Cooper novel Mastiff that has me salivating at the thought of the release of the entire novel.