Princess Academy

If you enjoyed the book Ella Enchanted, you'd enjoy Princess Academy. This is a book I've been told to read since I was in junior high but never really got around to. It was supposedly one of the books that every one is supposed to have read.  It just took me a long time go get to it.

It is about this village of girls high up in the mountains who are suddenly told they need to join this Princess Academy so they they can learn to be a lady who would be suitable for the Prince to marry. These girls are quarry girls who know nothing but the stone they help produce. Well, all except Miri, our main character, who has been told by her father not to be in the quarry and he never tells her why. So being forced to go to this Princess Academy gives her a change of pace and a chance to be with the girls that seem to have ostracized her. The headmistress of this academy is a cruel one where if a girl speaks without having been spoken to first she gets her hands whipped and sent into a dark, rat infested closet for hours on end.

Miri slowly gains friends and enemies throughout her time there while she studies. She learns a lot, not only to be able to read or curtsy, but about economics and histories that can help her little village that is isolated from everywhere else. Over the course of the book she finds purpose and a power she didn't know she had.

This book is an award winning book for a reason. It was very well written with good scenery and setting. The characters, side characters and all, had depth to them and improved as the story went on. My only problem is the slowness of the book toward the beginning and early middle. Simply studying and figuring out this new power of her's took a long time where it felt like nothing was actually going on. It very much picked up toward the end as bandits suddenly lay siege on the academy, so far away from their own village and families. That part was most fun. It even had a good bad guy, with good foreshadowing so then it wasn't something completely out of the blue that happened.

I enjoyed the book and agree that young girls (and boys) would enjoy this as they would Ella Enchanted. It would be a book I would offer as an introduction to most fantasy books for young people if they were hesitant toward dragons and sword fights.

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. 

Traitor to the Throne

Traitor to the Throne is the sequel to Rebel of the Sands. I would recommend when you read this, make sure you read the first book right before you read this one. There are lots of little things that correlate between the two books that I had a hard time remembering, because I read the first one last year. 

This is about Amani and the Rebellion that wants to dethrone the Sultan. They are in full blown rebellion mode when their camp gets ambushed and they are forced to flee. A few of the rebels follow her out. While there, and after a fight with Jin, she gets knocked out and finds herself waking up in the Sultan's Palace as his prisoner. But he doesn't want to simply lock up this Demji (forgive my spelling if it's wrong) whose power he can use, but he wants to show her off. Placing her in his harem, not to be touched by anyone. 

Surrounding her are "ghosts of her past," almost literally, and betrayal is around every corner. She doesn't know who she can trust and ends up being somewhat sympathetic to the Sultan, the man whom the Rebellion is trying to over throw. I know I was sympathetic to him at points in the story. 

If you can stand the info dump in a few places, especially toward the beginning, you will enjoy the book. 

The main characters are very strong individuals. They have strong presences and make them believable people. Not everyone is solely bad or completely good. I do wish the side characters were more fleshed out. They blended together and sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. This hindered parts of the story especially when certain ones die. One of Amani's "ghosts" dies and I cried for this character. I felt her/him. But when other of the rebellion die, named and named, I have much harder time feeling for them. I hope in the next book, we get more background for these characters, especially if they are going to die on us. 

The world building is amazing. Hamilton spent a lot of time developing the stories and backgrounds of different people and mythologies. But she tends to info dump to get a point across. That can be jarring and send you out of the book. 

Some of the betrayals I didn't see coming, others I did. The plot was very well thought out, even for a second book in a trilogy. It felt like a sequel, but it held its own for the most part. 

I was really put off by the abrupt ending of this book though. It is in set up for the third book, but I was initially thinking that it was only a two book series. I was mistaken and disappointed in a way. I was prepared for it to end, but it left me hanging. 

The next one is Hero at the Fall.

Mistborn: Secret History

Second review: I've decided this is my favorite Brandon Sanderson story. Even beyond The Emperor's Soul. I don't often cry in books, but even though I knew it was coming, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed reading it so much, and it makes me want to reread the Mistborn series again with all the others Cosmetic books.  Brandon Sanderson writes so well that, for this one in particular, it strums my heart strings.

*****

Mistborn: Secret History made me cry. If you're read the other Mistborn books by Brandon Sanderson, it explains so much where there seemed to be holes. If you haven't read them DON'T READ THIS ONE YET!!!! This has so many spoilers. I'd suggest reading it after Bands of Mourning or at least Hero of Ages. There are too many awesome things that will just be spoiled if you get to far ahead of yourself.

So if you haven't read Mistborn yet, don't read this one. Stop your reading of this post right now, otherwise I'll call you a cheaterpants.

******

This is Kelsier's story after he dies in the first book. The Lord Ruler kills him and he finds himself talking to Preservation, the God of their world, as we find out throughout Hero of Ages. Kelsier is able to stop himself from going to the Beyond and ends up imprisoning himself at the Well of Ascension. There he comes to figure out who Ruin and Preservation are as well as the fact that he knows nothing of the world or the cosmere. He meets up with a certain "witty" man whom we've come to love and adore throughout all of Sanderson's books. And he actually kicks Kelsier's trash.

Kelsier, being a spirit-like person, gets to move through the world differently after he is released from the Well, alongside Ruin. He meets Khriss from White Sands and is able to find other people from Elantris (which I haven't read yet, my bad) in hopes that he can save Preservation from being killed by Ruin. But when Preservation dies he hopes to take His power to defeat Ruin. It doesn't work out so well. Ruin has been at this for too long and is able to speak to the people he is controlling. Kelsier can only speak to madmen or to people in their sleep, which makes things very difficult.

He ends up helping Vin and gives up his power to her so she can defeat Ruin, as Preservation had planned when his mind wasn't broken.

OOOOOH it made me cry. Revisiting Dox, Clubs, Vin and Elend! I just about died. Again. So sad, but so happy at different times. I continuely love Sazed and Spook. I feel for them all!

Read it. Enjoy it. Love it!

It is a fantastic novella that answers so many of the Cosmere questions as well as gives insight to Wax and Wayne in Mistborn Era 2. So many answers yet so many secrets.