Lioness Rampant

By Tamora Pierce
Read: First time in 6th grade? Multiple re-readings thereafter. January 2009.
Rating: Immortal.

I love Alanna. I love, love, love, love, LOVE her. I think I was about 12… possibly 10 or 11… when I found In The Hand of the Goddess at the public library. It was exactly what I had been craving. A strong heroine. Magic. Knights and kings. Romance. I was in love. This lead to a long-standing adoration of Tamora Pierce and her work, but nothing else has ever come as close to my heart as Alanna.

In the last week or two–during which I’ve been sick and miserable–I got a craving to go back to Tortall. But mostly I just wanted this, the last book. I wasn’t sure if I could pick up at the end, but I felt slogging through the other three to reach #4 might be tedious, so I skipped ahead. I know them like the back of my hand, so it really wasn’t a problem. I have read these books so many times that my friend Lily and I used to flip to random parts and test each other with direct quotes. And we were always right. In fact, my friendship with Lily stemmed from realizing that we were reading the exact same books–and that we consequently were keeping each other from borrowing the volumes we wanted.

The Lioness means tons to me. My mom adores them too. And even uses ‘lioness’ as a screenname and a password.

THAT is staying power.

There’s always a worry, when revisiting something from your childhood, that it won’t stand the test of time. Alanna does. She always will.

Do note: This is book #4 in a Quartet (The Song of the Lioness) so there are spoilers down here.*

Alanna is a hero like you have never known. As a child, she knew she wanted to be a lady knight–the first in over a hundred years–and roam the land doing great deeds. She switched places with her twin brother so he could be a sorceror, and she a knight. For years she disguised her sex, as first a page and then a squire. She became lifelong friends with the boys who would become the realm’s leaders–Raoul, Gary, and Prince Jonathan. She battled enemies and her own fears. She survived the Ordeal of Knighthood, and then defeated her greatest foe–the Duke of Conte out to steal his brother’s crown. He exposed her to all the world, and the Lioness retreated to the desert to give them all time to think, and herself the space to grow.

In Lioness Rampant, Alanna is finding that being a wandering knight-errant involves a lot of boredom between noble deeds. So she decides to go after the biggest prize of them all: The Dominion Jewel. The Jewel is legendary, and is said to grant immense power to any ruler who holds it. Tortall’s security is beginning to show cracks. With the Jewel in Jon’s hands, they’ll be safe and she’ll have proved to everyone that she earned her shield.

So yes, most of this book takes place on the road. …and I don’t hate it? I usually LOATHE “travelling books.” But this one is fine. They don’t spend forever talking about what it’s like to BE on the road, and there are many, many, interesting events on the way. Alanna and Coram cross paths with Liam, the Shang Dragon–most skilled warrior in the world. Also pretty damn sexy. They cross into a nation that is also crumbling, and help its undervalued princess to escape.

At the Roof of the World, Alanna faces all her worst fears (COLD) in her battle for the Jewel.

Then she has to go home. To Jon, George… and Roger.

Roger is… worse than Roger was.

Thayet and Buri don’t get enough credit. Thayet is awesome. She’s practical, intelligent, and brave. The best example of this is still in a later book, where she goes riding off after a monster in a dress that cost thousands, because it was too much bother to change. Buri, meanwhile, is prickly and feisty as hell.

I also want to pay tribute to Faithful. Every time I read about Josianne’s shoe, I feel the impact in my gut. Faithful was an amazing cat. An amazing guardian. And I a little piece of me will never forgive Tamora Pierce for his death. Sigh.

Alright, this post is coming down to me rhapsodizing about my favorites. Which means it’s time to stop.

Read Alanna. Love Alanna. Live Alanna.

* If one more person tells me to read a book earlier in a series that I have already read–and indicated that I have read it–I will scream.