Alanna of Trebond wants to be a knight of the realm of Tortall, in a time when girls are forbidden to be warriors. Rather than give up her dream, she and her brother--who wants to be a mage, not a knight--switch places. She becomes Alan; Thom becomes a student wizard in the school where she would have learned to be a lady.
The quartet is about her struggle to achieve her goals and to master weapons, combat, polite behavior, her magic, her temper, and even her own heart. It is about friendships--with the heir to the throne, the King of Thieves, a wise and kindly knight--and her long struggle against a powerful enemy mage.
She sees battle as a squire and as a knight, lives among desert people and tries to rescue an independent princess. Singled out by a goddess, accompanied by a semi-divine cat with firm opinions, somehow she survives her many adventures to become a most unlikely legend. Tamora Pierce website
I was into the third story before I realized that my book is actually a compilation of four smaller books. Aaah, that explains what I thought was unnecessary explanations about things I had just read about in the previous "chapter." So that was just a minor annoyance in a really good fantasy. Alanna is a tremendous character as she struggles to learn to become a knight while disguised as a boy. There are lots of really great characters and evil villains in these four books and the magic and adventure are riveting. My only gripe is the depiction of Alanna sleeping with her three love interests (not at the same time, but this is a young adult book). While there is nothing graphic, I thought it was unnecessary and even a bit disturbing in its casualness. Other than that, I thought the story was great. Rating: 4
I read this series several years ago and really liked it. Alanna is a great character and there are some really interesting twists and turns here. I agree about her sexual activity. It seems a little jarring in a YA book that definitely could be read by very young kids.
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