The Legend of Beka Cooper gives Tamora Pierce's fans exactly what they want - a smart and savvy heroine making a name for herself on the mean streets of Tortall's Lower City - while offering plenty of appeal for new readers as well. From the Hardcover edition.

Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy by introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

The native people of the Copper Isles, the raka, know that the ancient prophecy handed down by their trickster god is on the brink of coming to pass. But what they don't know is that all their hopes rest on the slender shoulders of Aly Homewood, formerly Alianne of Pirate's Swoop.

Tamora Pierce brings readers another Tortall adventure! Alianne is the teenage daughter of the famed Alanna, the first lady knight in Tortall. Young Aly follows in the quieter footsteps of her father, however, delighting in the art of spying. When she is captured and sold as a slave to an exiled royal family in the faraway Copper Islands, it is this skill that makes a difference in a world filled with political intrigue, murderous conspiracy, and warring gods.

Disguised as a boy, Alanna of Trebond becomes a squire, to none other than the prince of the realm. But Prince Jonathan is much more to Alanna; he is her ally, her best friend, and one of the few who knows that she's really a girl. Now it will take all of Alanna's awesome skill, strength, and growing magical powers to protect him from the mysterious evil sorcerer who is bent on his destruction, and hers!

Daine Sarrasri’s power is growing, and her bond with animals is ever stronger. Along with her mentor, Numair, and a delegation from Tortall, Daine is sent to the Emperor Mage of Carthak in hopes that she can help to smooth international relations between their lands before discord bubbles over into war - by helping the emperor’s ailing birds. But Carthak’s emperor Ozorne is charmingly treacherous and Carthak itself built on the labour and suffering of slaves. 

Daine has wild magic: the ability to talk to and sway the actions of animals. When Daine is summoned to help a pack of wolves - friends from her old village - she and her mentor, the legendary mage Numair, travel to Dunlath Valley to answer the call. But when they arrive, Daine learns that it’s not only animals whose lives are threatened; people are in danger, too.

During a dire battle, Daine and her mentor, Numair, are swept into the Divine Realms - where gods and legends roam. Safe for now, they are desperately needed back in the land of mortals, where their old enemy, the Emperor Ozorne, and his army of strange immortal creatures are waging war against Tortall. Through her journey to the land of the gods, Daine comes upon incredible truths. But as the secrets of her past are revealed, so is the treacherous way back to Tortall. And so Daine and Numair must embark on an extraordinary journey home.

A knight at last, Alanna of Trebond heads out to seek adventure in the desert of Tortall. Captured by desert tribesmen, she is forced to prove herself in a magical duel to the death. But her real challenge doesn't come until after she wins. As the first female shaman, Alanna must fight to change the ancient traditions of the stubborn desert tribes, for their own sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

Daine has always had a special connection with animals, but only when she’s forced to leave home does she realise it’s more than a knack...it’s magic. With this wild magic, not only can Daine speak to animals, but she can also make them obey her. Daine takes a job handling horses for the Queen’s Riders, where she meets the master mage Numair and becomes his apprentice. Under Numair’s guidance, Daine explores the scope of her magic. But she encounters other beings, too, who are not so gentle. 

Briar Moss and his fellow mages-in-training Sandry, Tris, and Daja, have faced earthquakes, pirates, and fire. But their greatest challenge is still ahead. It comes in the unexpected form of a disease, a devastating plague that is ravaging the citizens of Emelan.

On a journey to Gold Ridge, the four young mages-in-training, Daja, Sandry, Tris, and Briar, find their special magics overlapping, sometimes in frightening and destructive ways. One burst of this combined magic leads Daja to create an astonishing vine made of living metal.

The four young mages, Tris, Sandy, Daja, and Briar, are just starting to settle into their new home at Winding Circle Temple. But even as they struggle to cope with the powerful magic that binds them together, Winding Circle comes under attack by pirates armed with fierce new weapons.

When Keladry of Mindelan is chosen by the legendary Lord Raoul to be his squire, the conservatives of the realm hardly think she's up to the job. Kel quickly proves her ability as a jouster, warrior, and guardian of a fiery griffin, ultimately earning respect and admiration among the men, as well as the affection of a fellow squire.

Kel has finally achieved her lifelong dream of being a knight. But it's not turning out as she imagined at all. She is torn between a duty she has sworn to uphold and a quest that she feels could turn the tide of war. Unrelentingly realistic in its depiction of the horrors of war, Pierce provides exquisite details of the weaponry, topography, and culture of her world, and her control of a voluminous cast of characters is masterful.