16th May, 2008
In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
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This is Book 2 in the Song of the Lioness series. Check out my review of Book 1, Alanna: The First Adventure.
Alanna is still pretending to be a boy at the King’s court and is now Prince Jonathan’s squire. So far, only a few people know about her secret. One night, Alanna meets a stranger in the middle of the night while she’s travelling back to the palace. The stranger happens to be a Goddess and she kind of advises Alanna to face her fears.
Then, Alanna is also cautious of Jonathan’s cousin, Duke Roger of Conte. She suspects of the duke’s intentions to wipe out the whole of the royal family and other important knights so that HE can be the King of Tortall. When there was war between Tortall and Tusaine, Alanna was captured by the Tusaines. The Duke knows that Alanna is against him and plans to get rid of ‘him’. He thinks Alanna is a boy.
Besides being worried about the Duke of Conte, Alanna also has to deal with George Cooper and Jonathan who are trying to win her heart. This makes Alanna pretty confused and she always says that love is not important to her at all. All she wants to do is be a knight and have many great adventures. Anyway, she’s also trying to act like a girl at times, for example wearing girls’ dresses and receiving lessons from George’s mother on how to act like a proper lady.
After Alanna’s eighteenth birthday, she has to go through the Ordeal of Knighthood. A few years ago, Jonathan and her other friends went through it and after the ordeal, they came out looking like they went through the worst in their lives. Therefore, she’s quite worried about passing the Ordeal and finally getting her shield.
There was one part where Alanna was not very bright. In the war with Tusaine, Duke Gareth, the queen’s brother, was ‘accidentally’ injured. Duke Gareth was supposed to lead the army against the Tusaine fighters. But then, Duke Roger was chosen instead to take over Duke Gareth’s place as leader of the army. It’s quite clear that Duke Roger had something to do with Duke Gareth’s accident and since Alanna was always suspecting that Duke Roger was up to no good, it’s quite surprising that she doesn’t know why he’s the army’s leader now. George had to explain it all to her.
Anyway, two more Song of the Lioness books to go!
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- Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
- Doing It by Melvin Burgess
- Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- 1984 by George Orwell
Posted in Adventure, Authors P, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Titles I, Young Adult Fiction at 2:12 pm | Comments (2)
5th May, 2008
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
It’s something like Mulan where the girl pretends to be a boy so that she gets to do what she really wants. In Alanna’s case though, she aspires to be a knight while her twin brother, Thom, prefers to be a sorcerer. However, their father was going to send Thom to the court of the King to train to be a knight while Alanna was to go to the convent to learn to be a lady.
Then, Alanna has a brainstorm. Why don’t they switch places? She’ll go to Corus to learn to fight and Thom will go to the City of Gods and learn to be a sorcerer. Now this is like the story from The Parent Trap! They will also need to tell Coram and Maude, who will be travelling with them to their destinations. Their father would be too busy with his books to even realize that the twins had switched places.
Alanna is lucky when she reaches the palace as she made a very good impression on Prince Jonathan and his friends. She calls herself Alan of Trebond. On the other hand, she also manages to make an enemy. Ralon of Malven is a bully and he decided to pick on ‘Alan’ when he spotted him.
Life isn’t peaceful if you’re constantly being bullied discreetly by somebody. Alanna is smaller in size but she’s adamant to not let anyone else think that Ralon’s been hitting and punching her. She is determined to fight her own battles. Therefore, she is determined to fight off Ralon herself for once and for all. But first, she needs to learn to fight properly. That’s where Coram and George help her learn the tactics of fighting. George is also Alanna’s new friend. He’s the King of Thieves, by the way. Robin Hood comes to mind now, eh?
The Sweating Fever happened next and one of Alanna’s friends succumbed to the sickness. That made Alanna feel guilty for not using her Gift of healing to heal him. When Prince Jonathan fell ill and was on the verge of dying, Alanna uses her healing gift to help him fight off death.
It’s believed that the Sweating Fever was deliberately caused to make the royal family fall ill. Is somebody after the throne? The culprit would be a really powerful sorcerer then. George and Alanna discussed this among themselves. They are also suspicious of Jonathan’s cousin, Duke Roger who has returned to the palace to teach Jonathan and Alanna how to use their Gifts properly.
I first read this book many years ago and immensely enjoyed reading about Alanna’s journey. It’s definitely a page turner and I just couldn’t put the book down. This book is one of a kind, a totally different fantasy story and also one that encourages girls to strive to achieve their goals. Well, we don’t really need to dress up as boys to do that, do we?
All the same, this is the first book in the Song of the Lioness series. There are 3 more books to go.
Buy Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness)
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- In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
- Doing It by Melvin Burgess
- Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
- Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Posted in Authors P, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Titles A, Young Adult Fiction at 3:09 pm | Comments (3)
22nd March, 2007
Reviving Ophelia - Saving The Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher
Mary Pipher wrote this book based on her own experience helping troubled teenage girls. Some of the girls had just entered puberty while some are already far from it. Nevertheless, they all face the same trouble.
The problems faced by teen girls now compared to 50 years ago are utterly different. Now, girls are driven into starving themselves so that they will look thin and attract boys and be popular. They have to smoke or take drugs to be cool. Girls will also be laughed at if they are still virgins.
Their parents are there for them but adolescent girls think their parents don’t understand them and are only controlling their lives. Girls now are influenced by the media to be thin and beautiful. They are influenced into consuming alcohol. They are pressured to have premarital sex.
In order for them to survive the stormy adolescent years, they need to understand themselves, to understand what they really want, who they really are, then only can they make it safely to shore.
I borrowed this book from my school’s library and read it in 2004.
Buy Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
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- The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron
- Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella
- How To Walk in High Heels - The Girl’s Guide to Everything by Camilla Morton
- In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
- The Rat-A-Tat Mystery by Enid Blyton
Posted in Authors P, Girls/Women, Titles R at 3:03 am | Comment (0)
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