Alanna, The First Adventure: Song of the Lioness, Book 1

Actual Rating: 3.5 / 5Confession: This isn't the first book I've read from the Song Of The Lioness Quartet. After learning about this beloved YA fantasy series about a female knight, I nabbed the first installment I could get a hold of - which turned out to be Lioness Rampant, the finale. (Oops...) But even though I spoiled the ending for myself, I enjoyed the last installment so much that I resolved to read the earlier books. It's taken me a while, but I finally bought Alanna: The First Adventure earlier this year and squeezed it in during a recent weekend trip. And I'm very glad I did!First published in 1983, Alanna: The First Adventure chronicles the first two years of Alanna of Trebond's quest to become a knight. When her father sends her and her twin brother Thom away for separate educations, she switches places with Thom so he can pursue sorcery (the last thing his sister wants to study). Alanna then begins her charade as a boy named Alan and trains as a royal page in Tortall's capital city of Corus. Achieving her heart's desire, however, is more challenging than she had dared to imagine. Her time as a page tests her patience and her fear of her own magical powers - and makes it increasingly difficult to maintain her guise. Can Alanna manage it all without sacrificing her dreams or compromising her secret?Accidentally starting this series with Lioness Rampant gave me a unique perspective on The First Adventure in a way that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book. Not only does Alanna's journey begin here, but a number of characters I liked in Lioness Rampant also make their formal entrance here. We learn how Alanna threatens former knight Coram Smythesson into being her chaperone (one of the book's funniest scenes!), befriends the royal heir Prince Jonathan, and finds reason to trust George Cooper, the realm's infamous King of Thieves. And, we witness Alanna's first interactions with her later arch-nemesis, Duke Roger of Conté. Also, given what I know about Lioness Rampant, The First Adventure sparked my curiosity about how certain characters will change and relationships will evolve from here.I can't talk about characters without covering Alanna. Because as much as I love fantasy that teems magic and action (and you'll find plenty of that here), a well-rounded, believable protagonist needs to reel me in. Pierce aces this with Alanna. This courageous young girl is fiercely determined to reach her goals, good at listening to her instincts, and loyal to her friends. Not to mention a cheeky little thing! Alanna isn't afraid of speaking her mind, which is often adorable because she views what others deem rude as from-the-heart honesty. This is exactly the kind of heroine that young female readers would want to emulate.To match her spitfire of a leading lady, Pierce uses a straightforward, sanguine narrative voice that works well with The First Adventure. Her simple (if not scant) descriptions and plain dialogue reflects Alanna's personality and age (11 to 13 years old). It also offers an atmosphere of innocence, as if Alanna is trying hard to hold onto her childhood despite the destiny she's embracing. This allows Pierce to handle mature subjects like puberty with delicacy. She portrays Alanna's repulsion over the changes in her body so accurately, yet without an overload of details. So, not only did I sense Alanna's mounting terror about being "discovered," but I also felt like Pierce was describing my own experience - or any other girl's - with "growing up," and I appreciate the sensitivity she showed.The First Adventure doesn't follow a typical plot or build momentum the way most novels do. It's more or less a series of adventures, discoveries, and lessons. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Readers witness every phase of Alanna's training, from her academic studies and fighting techniques, to the friendships she forges with Prince Jonathan, her fellow pages, mentors, and thieves; and experience Alanna's joys, fears, and frustrations with her. At the same time, this doesn't give The First Adventure a clear sense of direction. There's not a lot of tension between characters or external conflict, and no real momentum until the final chapter. So, when the novel ended, I felt like I'd wandered around flat land for a while before reaching a sudden, steep hill. A little anti-climactic, even though the exploration was fun.Other comments err on the nitpicky side. Pierce's simplistic approach in The First Adventure doesn't allow for much world-building, and makes many of the supporting characters seem one-dimensional. She also has a habit of pulling the reader out of Alanna's perspective and offering insight into another character's thoughts. In other words, The First Adventure is told from third-person POV with moments of omniscience, and those moments threw me off-balance. In Pierce's defense, though, The First Adventure was her first published novel. Her writing skills improve dramatically between here and Lioness Rampant, so these hiccups will disappear eventually.Apart the critiques, Alanna: The First Adventure really was a delightful read. This took me only a couple days to finish, between the short length, smart pacing, and youthful voice. Plus, I feel even more endeared to Alanna now that I've "met" her younger self. She might be my go-to example for a devoted, dreamchasing character from now on. I'm even more excited about continuing the Song Of The Lioness Quartet now - and if you haven't read this classic series yet and love action-packed YA fantasies with female protagonists, you ought to try it, too. Except don't do what I did. Make sure you start properly at the beginning, with this book. ;)

I discovered the world of Tortal by Tamora Pierce when I was in middle school. Alanna's story has always been my favorite one to get lost in. She is a true hero and someone to admire and make you push yourself to overcome obstacles in your own life. Over a decade after discovering these books, I had a daughter and the only name I could think of for her was Alanna, after my favorite character

I grew up admiring strong female leads in a time when their wasn't enough of them. SiberianWonder Woman, Princess Leia, Ripley. I wanted to be the hero. Save myself and even rescue the Prince from a dragon, not set around and wait to be rescued, let alone read about it. This book came it after I was grown, but in so glad I found it. Even was an adult Alanna's fire, whit and courage struck a for depth more and became one of my favorite heroines to date. This has become a favorite comfort book for me that I re-read often and give out to every young woman in my life.Dakota Pierce is great at making unique characters you can't help but like. George, The mischievous but Goodreads thief. Sir Miles, the smart compassionate if a bit tipsy lord who steps up as a father figure in place of Alanna's own neglectful one. Jonathan, A kind and loyal friend on the way to kinghood. The world and myths and cultures are vividly painted and weak thought out. A real adventure you on to be a part of at any age. This may be YA but it is great for anyone who like fantasy, adventure a touch of mischief, magic and gods all wrapped up in a feisty female lead.

The book is short for sure, only about 250 pages, but it does a great job of introducing the characters and initial plot.

Read it in 2 days flat, best book I’ve read in 5 years, heroine is great, strong, smart. Mild trigger warning for abuse/neglect in one chapter, but I’m actually pretty sensitive and was ok with it. But I feel like I can read fiction again! I actually yelled out when it was done scaring my husband to death because it was over! Buying all I have the money to buy tonight!

I just want to preface this by saying Alanna: The First Adventure was published in 1983. I usually don't like older books because of the writing and some of the ideas don't age well but y'all... this aged really well.I never really decided to start reading this. I picked it up curious of whether the book would hold my attention or not and the next thing I knew I was a third of the way through. Part of that is because of how short it is but I think it's mostly because Pierce's writing is great and Alanna is a compelling protagonist. There are a lot of tropes I like in here: gender bending, watching protagonists grow up, school settings. And combined with the length of the book it's like being bombarded with enjoyment. Amidst all of that Pierce touches on topics that I personally have never encountered in YA/MG like the protagonist getting her period for the first time and how it complicates her situation.Despite the short bundle of enjoyment that this is I really think it was too short. The pacing felt off to me, especially with the passing of time and Alanna growing older (at the start of the novel she's almost eleven and the novel takes place over a three year timespan). Three years is a lot of time to cover in 250 pages! I also think the magic system could've been explained better. This could just be the story's age and the way magic systems have evolved in the past few decades but magic seemed to be the answer to most of the problems Alanna encountered. Lastly, and this isn't even a critique but, I found most of the characters' names hilariously plain: Jonathan, Roger, Alex, Francis, etc.In the end I really enjoyed this first instalment in Pierce's world of Tortall and I'm looking forward to seeing it grow in the future books and series. Consider me strapped in for the long haul.

This is a classic - the first of Tamora’s prolific Tortall world books. It’s an absolutely fantastic book for anyone that enjoys fantasy, or Young Adult material. Re reading this as an adult makes my heart smile - there are so many deep and interesting themes and moral quandaries that the characters don’t even pretend to know the answers to.Step into the world of Alanna, and discover the magic of Tortall - and be glad you did.

ファンタジー大好きな親子です。先に母親である私が1-4巻を読破して、なにげなく本棚に置いておいたら・・・息子が読み始めてました！今までファンタジー好きな彼でしたが、主人公が女の子というだけで、すぐに恋愛ものに発展するからおもしろくない・・・と読まなかったのですが、このシリーズだけは別でした。恋愛についてもちょっとはありますが、全然気にならないようです。お勧めします。

Fun and inspiring book for people of all ages. Very poorly transcribed though, riddled with spelling and punctuation errors making it difficult to read.

双子のThom と Alanna は、瓜二つ違いといえば髪の長さだけ。11歳になるになった二人に父親は男の子のThomは騎士の修行に女の子のAlannaは魔術師の修行に行くように父親に言いつけられます。ところが、Thomは魔術師にAlannaは騎士になりたいと思っていたのでした。２人は父親に内緒でこっそり入れ替わって修行に行くことにしました。Alannaは厳しい修行に耐えて一人前の騎士になれるのでしょうか？全４巻のシリーズの１巻でAlannaの騎士の修行が中心です。２巻以降の伏線と思われる部分があり、また謎が解決せずに終了するので、この巻だけだと物足りない感じがします。

I loved it in high school and this series gets better with every reading. Protector of the Small is another great series by my favourite author.