I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Tamora Pierce was my first favorite author and the first author whose work's I devoured as soon as I could get my hands on the next one. Tempests and Slaughter was no different. I purchased it the day it came out. It took me far too long to find the time to read it.

I was pleased to see this book had such length. Compared to Alanna or Wild Magic, this book is a tome double to triple in size. It was worth the length, though. There were parts of the book where the build-up was slow, and the action at the end wasn't what I would consider end-worthy, but I think I could read 500 pages more of Arram's day to day life without anything too exciting happening and still be thrilled with the book. Arram's (Numair's) character shines brilliantly here. It was a delight to watch him begin to grow into himself. Verice and Ozorne are equally fantastic.

As for the end, I believe this book is meant to flow seamlessly into the next, so there wasn't much of a climactic point, in my opinion. I suppose that's alright, but it was my reason for rating this a 4 star read instead of a 5 star. I believe the next book will focus on Arram's discovery in the river and hopefully much more on the institution of slavery.

It was a delight to see more diverse characters in this book than in some of the other series. I'm so pleased to see Tamora Pierce grow as an author in this way.

I anxiously await the next installment and hope to see many more books in this universe in the future.

Emotional, character driven, and something you simultaneously won't want to put down but won't want to be over.

I couldn’t put this one down!

Although it's probably been probably twelve years or more since I first found this book and devoured it in the junior high library, it's still one of my favorite fantasies. The world isn't terribly immersive and the plot is a bit lacking in a couple of aspects. Description is lacking in some of the more important moments. Still, it's the characters that make this story. They easily cover all the book's flaws and this particular novel paves the way for an amazing fantasy series that does become immersive over time and does develop into a fantastic plot with amazing detail. Perhaps the series grew with its target audience or perhaps my nostalgia keeps me blind to any shortcomings; but isn't that the mark of a great book anyway?

This is the best, most widely applicable book about race that I have yet to read. I will certainly read it again when I have a small child to ask some of the questions covered in this book.

Oh, this was so fun! It was great to get a glimpse of beloved characters, like Daine and Numair, Jon, Alanna, and Raoul.

Kel is certainly her own person. She is not a rehashing of Alanna. She's much more concerned with what is right and wrong and faces a different set of problems. I love that we have a heroine who is not magically gifted in any way. This feels like a hero I would longed to be if I had read this book at ten. I look forward to Kel's future journeys.