Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce is pretty much at the top tier of authors that I admire. It's just in the way that she constructs her world, and keeps her different series in it. She must have spent a very long time creating the world, the cultures, the people, the land, maps... It makes perfect sense for her to write within that one place, making all the series companions. Even the characters interact from separate series once in a while- Alanna from the Song of the Lioness series and Kel from the Protector of the Small series know each other. And *spoiler alert* Alanna's daughter has her own two books- the Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. I love it.

The way she writes is simple. Nothing fancy, no huge words, and easy going characters that practically everyone can relate to in one way or another. But with her stories (which are classic fantasy ones), no fancy writing is required. Tales of knights, kick-ass girl characters, meddling Gods and Goddesses, wars, spies, and fantastic creatures are more than enough to occupy the mind and creativity of a reader. Tamora Pierce also had a knack for writing down accents phonetically, something that I know from experience needs either a heck of a lot of work or a natural talent for it to work properly.

So props to you, Tamora Pierce- I am enjoying re-reading all your series and plan to do so many more times over the course of my life.