Below is my contribution to try and breathe some life into this forum.

So, I've noticed that there's a general preference for Tortall over Emelan on this forum. I have to ask, why? What is it that makes Tortall more popular? The setting? The characters? The general epic good v. evil thing?

I mean, yeah, epic stories are cool and all, but I always thought the more realistic tendencies (no gods, problems are either natural disasters, or, if they're man-made, they're not really in the "powerful-evil-force-doing-bad-things" kind of way) of Emelan made it (as a universe) more compelling.

I also liked how Tammy used ambient magic. For me, almost as much as reading the stories, it was enjoyable to see how she combined ordinary, commonplace items with magic to come up with some pretty (in my opinion) creative ways for people to use their powers (ex. making plants grow fast enough to cut through things, making mobile, metal limbs, reweaving a person's clothes to trap them etc.).

So, what is it about the Tortall universe that attracts you? Or, why was Emelan just not that appealing? (of course, if you want to say why you liked Emelan better, I have no objections to that either )

Well for me, the first books I read were A:TFA and ItHotG, so I read all of the preceding books in the Tortall series before I even touched the Emelan ones. I like the characters better in the Tortall books because they seem more interesting to me and they all can't get out of everything with magic. I think there was too much magic and silly teenager stuff in the Emelan books for me to like them that much. I've only read each of the Emelan books once, but I've read the Tortallan ones (with the exception of the Immortals books) several times.

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Hmmmm.

I think one reason I tend to like the Tortall books better is that they're better-plotted. (After about forty pages of Tris's Book, I accurately predicted what was going to happen at the end. That sort of takes the fun out of it.)

Another reason I'm not as fond of the Emelan books is that they seem to have this over-arching "all people are warm and fuzzy and like fluffy bunnies and rainbows and only do bad things by accident!" mentality going on...coupled with a lot of sickeningly perfect people. And that gets on my nerves.

I like Emelan better. I'm not exactly sure why, I think it's because there seems to be more creativity in that universe: it's not so clearly a medievalish Western society, the types of characters are more varied, the settings are more interesting etc. Sometimes the Tortall series can come across as a bit formulaic: it's a good formula, but it's still there.

I agree! I like Emelan better. Out of all of Tammy's characters, Tortall and Emelan, my favourite character is Tris. As much as I love Tortall, Emelan seems to have a more creative setting. I can't really pinpoint what I like about it, but Tortall is definitely a bit generic sometimes, while Emelan has so many interesting and unique aspects that I'm interested in.

>Hmmmm.
>
>I think one reason I tend to like the Tortall books better is that
>they're better-plotted. (After about forty pages of Tris's Book, I
>accurately predicted what was going to happen at the end. That sort
>of takes the fun out of it.)

I don't think the Tortall books are better plotted. There were many things in the Tortall series that were very predictable (Kel's mysterious benefactor, Daine/Numair, Trickster's Choice). I think Tortall and Emelan both have a fair share of predictability.



>Another reason I'm not as fond of the Emelan books is that they seem
>to have this over-arching "all people are warm and fuzzy and like
>fluffy bunnies and rainbows and only do bad things by accident!"
>mentality going on...coupled with a lot of sickeningly perfect
>people. And that gets on my nerves.
>
>

Again, I disagree. The baddies in Magic Steps didn't do what they did 'by accident'. Neither did Ben, in Cold Fire, or the Empress in WotE. Sure, some of the villains were relcutant or accidental, but that creates variety in the stories. Plus, it could be argued that Tortall has PLENTY of sickeningly perfect people

Can't help you. I like Emelan better!

One of the reasons I like it better is that it spends exactly no time whining about the plight! of women; it is just basically an equal-opportunity society, at least where gender (and, to a large degree, race BUT NOT social status or class) is concerned. Also, it's fun to have a group of friends rather than a single heroine. Also, I love Briar.

There are two sides to every story, and twelve versions of a song. ~ Irish Proverb

Out if curiosity, what do you consider to fall under the category of "silly teenager stuff"? I thought the Emelan series was pretty free of the usual teen drama (crushes, romance, fits of rebellion), which makes sense, since the main characters were all around 10 years old when the series started.

I read through this thread and pretty much agreed with everything most people said.

I read Emelan first, and then read Tortall. I have to say I kind of like Emelan as a world better because its so different, and there's more ways for magic, and that's always one of my favourite parts of stories. ( and also why I completely snored my way through the Kel quartet.) And, yes, I like the whole ambient magic thing, love all the characters, and I didn't find it predictable at all. There were more mystery elements in the Emelan books, and I found that interesting. I also really liked how they had to study their powers and that their powers could go wrong, and that there are many people with more magic than them, etc.

I like the Tortall books less, probably because they're really cliche, but I still liked them, and they were more adventurous, I suppose. I liked the Alanna books, except the wwrlam, which I found somewhat boring, and it was cool how she grew up over the series and made her way in the world. Also, I <3 Jonathan. . I really liked the daine books because of the new type of magic, and I had a soft spot for Numair, Daine,etc. /the characters, mainly. I liked the Aly books because they were in depth and mysterious and had a gripping plot.

AND....

....

The Kel Books. They suck. Predictable, no magic, boring characters... score 2/10. It only gets credits for having other col characters in it from the last books. Oh, and I kinda like Neal and Owen. I really didn't like the whole plot about Kel standing up against bullies. I mean... boring. And also, Lord Wyldon's discrimination against Kel as a somewhat bad guy wasn't very good at all for me, because, really, it's not like life threataning to get kicked out of the knight training.

*sigh*

ETA: So, I like Emelan kind of better. The PotS quartet kind of ruined Tortall for me

-Chichi000
Reading:Theodore Boone: Young Lawyer, by John Grisham.

  

I'm sorry it's been a really really long time since I read the books, so I can't give you anything specific, I just remember thinking that when I read the books.

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See, I don't think the Kel books suck at all, they're actually some of my favorites that Tammy has written. And just because the main female character doesn't have the git doesn't mean there's no magic in the books. You're forgetting that Neal, Jonathan, Numair, and Daine all use magic at several points throughout the series. And I think that Kel not being a mage makes her more relatable to as a character because the people reading the books obvious don't have magic. And the thing about Wyldon and the probation, to Kel, if he had kicked her out of training or not allowed her to go in the first place, he would be crushing the ONE dream she'd ever had, I think that's kind of a big thing don't you? If I hadn't gotten into architecture school where I am now, I would be pretty devastated. It's been my dream for almost 10 years.

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