Lioness Rampant

The final book in the "Song of the Lioness Series" by Tamora Pierce is the Lioness Rampant. It starts with a quest. No wondering in this book. There are dedicated journeyings here. Alanna and Coram, her man-at-arms, are on a quest given by a witch at the end of book three and given a map. They take the map to a friend of Myles who tells them that at the end is the Dominion Jewel, a stone of the Gods with awesome magics that can build or tear down kingdoms depending on the intentions of the one who is commanding it. Awesome right?

On their journeying, they meet Liam Ironarm, a Shang (ninja/kung fu master equivalent), who tags along on her quest. She is really good with the sword, but because of her size she fails miserably at hand-to-hand. He starts teaching her martial arts to keep her better on her feet and have the upper hand. They also start romancing, even though he hates magic--which she has, and she knows that it won't go very far. More into their journey to the Roof of the World they meet the exiled Princess Thayet, and her guard Buri, who is feeling her waring country after her father dies. They also follow Alanna, who thinks Thayet will be a good match for Jon who is in need of a wife, and retrieve the Jewel. However when they finally get home to Tortall, everything has been thrown off kilter and Roger is back from the dead. Who is he back and how powerful is he now that he is here?

This one was great. It is my favorite of the series because an adventure happens. There is no massive time skips where you have to fit four years in two hundred pages. There is adventure and purpose to their actions. The characters truly have grown and are actually learning things as they progress through the story. Liam has faults which makes him seem more human. And I've realized why I liked George so much: he is there for Alanna through everything. His loyalty is boundless when it comes to her because he truly loves her above everything.

There is a lot more killing in this book, though not graphic. Many named characters die and some will even make you cry when they are gone. I know I teared up. This is a good book. Some that makes the reader cry, or is frustrated (good frustrated not bad writing frustrated), or so happen when good things happen to them. That is good writing. Tamora reached a much better writing height here than in her other ones. It is her first series she'd written and did so back in the 1980's. But you can tell how she progressed from her first line in Alanna: The First Adventure to now in the Lioness Rampant. She progressed greatly. I do enjoy her other books as well. The next for Tamora Pierce's books I'll be reading is Wild Magic, though it will be at a later date. I'm giving Tortall a rest for now. But the nastagia has struck, and Daine and Numair will be up shorty.

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce is the third book in the "Song of the Lioness" series. This one is probably the most "sequal" like book in the series where it feels like not a lot is going on plot wise. Or that the things going on aren't necessarily around Alanna. Things happen, but it would have been nice to see them happen instead of simply Alanna vague "what is happening" moments.

Alanna starts going on adventures at the beginning of the story, but the only one that Pierce presents is Alanna's assimilation into the Bazhir (in my head it always ended up coming out brazier instead, oops), a desert people. Very stereotypical Middle Eastern, much like how many other peoples in these stories. She becomes part of them and starts changing some of the ideas that the older folk believe, namely that women can be warriors, they should have their faces veiled at all times, and the shaman of the Bloody Hawk tribe thinks she's a demon and acts accordingly.

Her love life is what expands in this story. Jonathan, because of their adventures in the first book of the series, is offered a prominent part of the Bazhir culture and spends a lot of time with Alanna, even going so far as to propose. Things become complicated, she finds George who has Rogue complications of his own and things become stagnant.

I would not suggest reading this book during the high of summer because it takes place mostly in the desert. I constantly just felt hot and pretty miserable what with it being June.

This book lacked greatly in my opinion. But you need to read it, if not skim it, for context of the fourth book which is much better. I felt as though Tamora Pierce didn't quite know where to go when it came to book three though she knew where she needed to be for four.

The characters do grow up in this book, though it is only a little. While Alanna obviously has her faults, many of the boys do not. Jon gets kind of snobbery, "because he's a prince" so he's spoiled. George doesn't really have any faults except he likes to collect ears for those who have betrayed him or done him wrong and is a thief--though we don't get much on the side of his thieving. Many of the other side characters feel flat to me still.

Pierce's writing did get better. Her dialogue isn't as childish as it was in the first book. She's been able to get different characters do act differently instead of having the filler characters of Gary and Raoul (at one point when I was first reading I couldn't tell them apart). I do wish she would do better on settings. Yes, it is the desert, but i felt the same as I did for Under A Painted Sky and the lack of setting and description thereof. People have made so many poems of nature over the centuries, why can' they think of something pretty amongst the sand dunes and dried rock? I don't know if they were covered in sand all the time or if they were near a mountain or what. It was almost like <insert "dessert" here> at times. It's okay to let the make up some of the setting in their mind, but descriptions are good too. This is the writer's world we are stepping into, don't let us do all the work (some, yes, but not all). I like to know where I stand.

In the Hand of the Goddess

In the Hand of the Goddess is the second book in the "Song of the Lioness" books by Tamora Pierce. It continues Alanna's story as she pretends to be a boy to become a knight. But now that she is Jonathan's squire, things become more complicated. Love ensues between Alanna and two of our heroes--sappy love triangle without being overly awful. But now that she has saved her prince from demons, more things are coming after her. She doesn't know where from though Roger is constantly on her thoughts. War also ensues and she is finally set out to battle with her prince. Someone doesn't like her and betrayals are inevitable. She goes through the Ordeal of Knighthood and not long after she is found out, as she was planning on doing anyway after she was knighted.

It's a fun adventure that has something constantly happening to Alanna. From duels gone wrong to hunting parties where sorcery  is involved. If you aren't a fan of the love triangle, which is here in the book, this one is still okay to read. It's not heavy in the love and cheesy scenes, I always thought they were cute anyway so long as George was in the picture.

It jumped around a lot. It's a small book with less than 300 easy to read pages. But those pages held four years. I felt like most of the time we were skipping months at a time. I'm used to having books take their time and having things maybe take a few months. This felt kind of bumpy to me and I wanted more.

As I said in my previous post, it is a younger YA novel. A series that got me into reading that would be appropriate for a younger audience.

I feel rather redundant in this post as my last one. The characters are the same in basics.... I guess they haven't changed much, as one would assume they would have in four/eight years and going to war. The boys became more girl crazy at ball dances, but there wasn't much progression for them. Supposedly Alanna was learning how to love and be loved, but that wasn't as prominent as the beginning was leading it to be.

The next book is "The Woman Who Rides Like A Man."

Alanna: The First Adventure

It has been so long since I have read anything about Alanna, Jon, Gary, and George. When I first read it years ago, I disliked reading. I was on the verge of hating it. Whenever I was called on in class to read aloud, my stomach would fall through the floor. I had very little practice and found nothing of interest in the fiction books we were forced to read in school. But these simple books, for they are simple, helped me find a joy I didn't know. 

Reading through it a second time, I realized just how blunt these books were. It is, in the end, a short book. It moves very quickly to keep the attention of the youth. The point of view was third person omniscient, and jumped from a person's head to another. I didn't remember this when I read it on 2005. This can be a difficult way to write without it appearing odd or obvious. But, the fact that it's quick makes it very appropriate. There is very little subtlety so then the junior high kids don't miss the important things--which was super helpful to me when I was in junior high. 

The setting is cliched, your typical fantasy world with magic and knights. But when you got youth how don't know it's a cliche, it works. 

But really its the the characters that I loved and they still have a special place in my heart . George is the one who introduced me to thieves and romanticized them for me. I wouldn't have loved Six of Crows if it hadn't been for George. Some of my favorite characters where probably basses on him. George. *sigh* The other characters are good, too, they are rounded and individuals without over doing it. Their attributes are simple and Tamora Pierce is good at reminding us who is who and that they are individuals. 

This is a good story for young girls who want to be unpowered, I think. But it also shows that boys are good too. It is about embracing who you are while not criminalizing others. 

The second book in the series is In the Hands of the Goddess.


P.S. I feel as though I have to add the 2002, Atheneum Books hardcover edition because it was the one that I originally read and enjoyed so much. I had to because my heart demanded it.