Song of the Lioness

Song of the Lioness Quartet: 

Alanna: The First Adventure

In the Hand of the Goddess

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

Lioness Rampant

It's been a while since we last posted an update to our reading challenge - and that's because we've been reading a series of four books. The Alanna books are a series that I read as a child, that I absolutely adored. Alanna was my hero, and I wanted to be her. We only had the first book on our list, but Mikie enjoyed them (and I will NEVER say no to reading these books), so we ended up reading all of them. 

At the start of this quartet, Alanna is a young girl who is being sent to a convent to learn to be a lady. She - surprise, surprise - doesn't want to go. Instead, she wants to learn how to be a knight. The books follow Alanna's adventures as she trains (disguised as a boy, of course), and works to get her shield and become a knight. On this read through, I found that I still enjoy it just as much as I always have, and I'm super glad to have been back in Tortall (Alanna's city), and reliving all the adventures once again. 

Well, we certainly got sidetracked...but in a good way. Cat introduced me to The Song of the Lioness Quartet, and I'm sad I never read this series when I was a little girl (spoiler alert: I was never a little girl). Anyway, these were fantastic books!

Tamora Pierce created an interesting world that feels very real, even though magic is a thing in her books. I grew up reading various fantasy novels (mostly Dungeons & Dragons novels), and it's always interesting to me to see how each world works. Magic in this world is a Gift, and while training isn't necessary to use it, you need to be gifted in the first place. Alanna is a noble, so we get to experience her life at the palace--BUT she's a knight-in-training, so we see the world of the nobles through that lens.

I enjoyed the four-novel story thoroughly. I have a few quibbles with decisions Pierce made in the telling, but overall, I would recommend The Song of the Lioness Quartet. I'm already planning to give the set as a gift.

--Mikie


PS. Next up: Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan! I'm SUPER excited for this one - fingers crossed it's as good as I hope it is!