Alanna

The First Adventure

No cover

Tamora Pierce: Alanna (2009, Simon Pulse)

240 pages

English language

Published Dec. 17, 2009 by Simon Pulse.

ISBN:
978-1-4391-2029-3
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4 stars (45 reviews)

"From now on, I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight.

And so yound Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magin. So one day they decide to switch places. Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin training as a page.

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and discern her enemies from her allies.

Filled with swords and scorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins--one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams …

23 editions

Review of 'Alanna' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

This is a good introduction to Alanna and Tortall, setting up things that will play out fully in later books. The setting is a swords and sorcery fantasy (occasionally both in the same fight) in a vaguely medieval kingdom which various neighbors and internal factions. It also establishes the Bazhir and their complicated relationship with Tortall (partially absorbed through treaties and alliances with individual tribes, but not conquered), with the book's finale set in the desert.

Given that the Bazhir are loosely based on real desert-dwelling peoples (something which becomes abundantly clear in later books), it seems like a not-great thing for their prophecy to involve being saved by two people who come in from outside and fight a great evil which they either couldn't defeat or never tried to stop. Alanna (and probably Jon as well) is learning about the Bazhir for the very first time on the same …

reviewed Alanna by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Review of 'Alanna' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I did enjoy this book, but I just feel that The Protector of the Small series is so much better written than this one. This is only the first book of course so I’ll withhold my judgement, but more than anything this book just made ma want to reread the other series.

That aside, it’s fun to see the story unfolding and the plot and characters are interesting/well developed.

reviewed Alanna by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Review of 'Alanna' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book is a large chunk of my childhood. I have probably read it dozens of times at this point, and I love it every time.

Most of that is the characters. Alanna is fun to read about. She is stubborn and has a temper like nobody's business, but she knows what she wants and she goes for it. Women aren't allowed to be knights, so she finds a way around that. She is not good at some of the things necessary for her knighthood and so she works her ass off at them. She gets her ass kicked regularly by a bully and she doesn't give up and go home, she doesn't go and tattle, she doesn't even ask her friends, who would be more than willing to step in and who are all significantly larger than she is, for help in actually fighting him. She learns what she …

reviewed Alanna by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Review of 'Alanna' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Thoroughly enjoyable. The best "girl wants to be a knight" story I've read. The main character is eminently relatable, the supporting cast is believable and the situations are well grounded. I also enjoyed that the author didn't dumb-down the writing. Young or old, boy or girl, this is a great story. I'm looking forward to the next book.

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Subjects

  • Fiction, fantasy, general