My word of warning: I'm probably far from Tamora Pierce's intended audience for these books set in the Tortall universe. I read the Alanna quartet a long time ago and rather enjoyed them. Pierce has obviously spend a long time researching medieval combat and society and it shows in her writing. I liked the characters from the Alanna quartet, so when I saw Immortals and Protector of the Small series on the shelves focusing on different characters, it didn't entice me enough to pick them up.

First Test starts off 10 years after the Alanna quartet and right after the Immortals quartet. I skipped over Immortals, and was startled to see how much Pierce had evolved her world. I'm going to wait on finishing this series until I get through the four Immortals books.

First Test stars Kel, the first female to wish to train as a knight since it was available. Where Alanna disguised as a boy to complete the training, avoiding the hazing and prejudices that come with it, Kel deals with it head on. The retelling of this journey from pre-page to knight with this twist evokes more sympathy and respect for Kel as a character. She is a little too one-dimensional in this first installment, but I think there is enough room to grow.

The first in this series is terribly short (I was able to easily cruise through it in a few hours) and I feel it short changes a lot of character development. However, the last three in the series are much longer and I have higher hopes for these.

Bottom line, if you read the Alanna quartet and enjoyed it, it's probably worth settling down with Immortals and Protector of the Small.