Trickster's Choice is the first in a four-part series about Alianne, the daughter of Alanna the Lioness, Champion of the King of Tortall and protagonist of Tamora Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" quartet. Like the protagonists of Pierce's many other novels, Alianne—Aly for short—is a strong young woman in a book full of capable, empowered female characters. Trickster's Choice takes Aly from her home in Tortall to Lombyn, where she is offered an opportunity to help restore a raka queen to her rightful throne, and prove her abilities to her skeptical parents.

Set against the backdrop of racial turmoil between the copper-skinned raka and the pale-skinned luarin, Aly's struggle to find her place in the world is a difficult one. As the daughter of a legendary warrior (her mother Alanna) and a master of spies (her father George), she is intelligent, inquisitive, clever, and charming. But she is also of aristocratic blood, and her parents believe the life of a spy, one that she has chosen, is beneath her.

Pierce has said that she writes for teenagers because she likes to help those who feel, as she did at that age, misunderstood or alienated. For Aly, the experience of being kidnapped and sold into slavery actually becomes the opportunity Aly has hoped for. In her young protagonist, Pierce offers a heroine who is both textured and genuine.

Trickster's Choice, however, is more than an adventure novel. Aly's success depends on her ability to negotiate a harrowing landscape of political and racial animus, and she must overcome obstacles created by both humans and immortals. In the end, her choice is a familiar one to readers of Pierce's other works: should she embrace a risky opportunity for greatness, or revert to a more comfortable life of wealth and privilege?