Comments on: Old-School Review: The Protector of the Small Quartet (First Test, Page, Squire, Lady Knight)

By: allyndra

allyndra — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:42:06 +0000

By now you may have already read them, but I definitely recommend the Alanna books. I randomly picked up Lioness Rampant in the library when I was in junior high and had to track down the rest of the series. 15 years later, I still buy every book Tamora Pierce writes. I love the way Alanna grows from seeing her gender as a problem to overcome to accepting herself as a woman, and I love that she has sex without being punished or vilified for it, the way female characters so often are.

One of the criticisms of the way female characters are written (in general) is that so often in an ensemble, there is the smart guy, the strong guy, the clumsy guy, the funny guy … and then there’s the girl. As though being female is a defining characteristic all on its own. I really enjoy the way Pierce writes women as CHARACTERS, never just ‘the girl.’ Despite their professions and training, Alanna and Kel are such different people. It’s wonderful.

I enjoyed reading your review!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:49:11 +0000

I can lend you the Daine books and the Aly books! And whatever Circle of Magic books I have. I apologize for being a crazy person about the Alanna ones, but.

I’m really glad you liked them! There is basically no reason for the war. I want to say Thayet is from Scanra and we saw as early as the fourth Alanna book that it’s a pretty wartorn country, but…that’s the only real previous reference to it. Each quartet has a war against an aggressive neighbor while Tortall is virtuous and pure, basically.

Man, this Shmessica person must talk a lot.

By: Esha

Esha — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:20:26 +0000

YES you should read the Alanna books. You will enjoy them EVEN MORE. (I did the same thing you did and started with the Protector of the Small last summer, and each series just got better than the last)

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:30:47 +0000

I loved Tamora Pierce’s books when I was in middle school and high school. If I wasn’t so attached to my copies of almost everything she’s written I would totally send them to you to read. I actually don’t think that I have read anything by Bruce Coville.

Although I definitely prefer her earlier series I really liked Protector of the Small (I think my favorite quote came from one of those books “threats are the last resort of a man with no vocabulary”) I’m glad you enjoyed them, and I’ll have to keep an eye on the blog to see what you think of the other ones.

By: Gillian

Gillian — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:10:38 +0000

I have so much love for both Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville. If you listen to audio books you should definitely check out some of the ones that Bruce and his company (FullCast Audio) made of Tammy's books. I would also recommend all of Tammy's books, but Terrier is my favorite. The Circle of Magic books are great too, so don't miss out on those. Plus she has a couple of fun blogs. She has Girl Wonder in her link section.