After years of prodding from my best friend and a long time of seeing bloggers (ahem, Gillian) squeal about Tamora Pierce, I decided to give the author and her series a try. Since I'm now allowed to listen to audiobooks at work,
because all the other ladies get to listen to their old lady radio and I don't even answer phones, I'm just sitting in a corner scanning papers ALL day. Not that I dislike my job or anything. I took the risk of listening to something I hadn't read before. The result?
Why, oh why, did I not read listen to this series sooner? I will not even claim that this will be a review. It is more like me trying to convey my emotions in certain parts. GIFs will probably be the best route so be prepared for an overload of them.
There MAY be spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution. Please do not get mad at me.
Alanna of Trebond switches places with her twin brother Thom so that she can go be a knight and he can be a sorcerer. If you want to know more about that plot, go to Goodreads because I don't want to waste time recapping the whole series. So let's just say right now that she was awesome and I was surprised all over again when I was reminded on how young she was. She kicked butt, ya'll. When she had a run in with a bully, she worked even harder. Actually, she did that in every book with every challenge or challenger she faced.
The secondary characters were amazing. All the boys she became friends with, including the lovable Gary, made me want to join their bromance instantly. The unrealistic side to this is that she was accepted a bit too readily since she was younger than they were. The disappointing side was that we didn't see much of them in the later books. However, we did get to see quite a bit of Miles, who was absolutely huggable. One of my favorite quotes, because it's so wise and what I always think when I have to make a decision to something, was provided by him.
"No can always be changed to yes, but it's very hard to change yes to no."
However, there was some romance to keep me happy. In the span of four books, she falls in love with three guys. With all the relationships, Alanna had a hard time admitting her feelings, but the first one was probably the hardest with her because of her femininity.
- Prince Jonathan. She became his squire even after he found out she was a girl. After a bit, there was some ooh-la-la-ing going on between them. They quarreled and had their differences, but they were quite cute together. Okay, he was cute.
- The thief named George. Alanna technically met him first and he was the first one to find out about her true gender, after his mother did. Unfortunately for him, Alanna wanted to keep things semi-platonic between them for most of the time. Oh, he flirted though and they had their heartwarming scenes.
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| I am a Georgian. |
- Liam, the Shang Dragon. Bleh. GET AWAY FROM ALANNA AND FROM ME. Sure, he seemed like the perfect guy at first. They both had the same desires, same goals, same mindset, same toughness. Whatever. He just seemed so old to me. I was thrilled when he was scared of her magic
wuss.
There was only one true villain and that would be Duke Roger, related to Prince Jonathan and the royal CLUELESS family. Everyone except Alanna were blind to Duke Roger's schemes and at first, that seemed very unrealistic. Don't fear though! We obtain a reason in the end.
Action, mystery, quests, magic....I loved it all and was wrapped up in the story without fail. The first book was absolutely amazing for me. I loved the plot, the characters, the narration, everything. I remember liking the second book because of the added romance and other plot points. However, I don't remember much about the last two, but do think that some of the parts were dragged out too long. I just wanted my familiar characters back.
I so wanted to like Thom, considering that he's Alanna's twin...but I couldn't. We weren't supposed to anyways, except for maybe a little bit at the end. He was arrogant, pompous, selfish, and standoffish. Everyone who met him were unanimously hating him because of his...attitude? Air around him? Aroma? Behavior? Whatever you want to call it, he had no friends. And deservedly so.
Although he was intelligent and wise with magic, he was stupid too, at least in the last book. Because in the last book, he wonders how a certain person feels towards "the woman who killed him." Say what now? Let's see. If someone killed me, I would have a range of negative emotions. Anger, resentment, and thoughts of revenge come instantly to mind. What, do you think that this person will just forget and be all, "Well, I deserved it. I don't blame her. La, la, la, la, la..." Idiot.
Thom also said that Alanna was basically the only person he loved, but he sure didn't act like he loved her in the end. But that goes back to the above point on how stupid he was.
What I loved about having Alanna as a main character was that she was always growing. I didn't realize starting the series that it was technically middle grade. She grew up from being about a pre-teen to around my age. She naturally changed mind on things and matured. You can never say that she didn't work hard because she always tried to be her best. Whether it was to defeat a bully or get a diamond or to do something else that demanded her magic or strength, she trained hard.
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| How everyone felt about her from day one. |
She certainly had her difficulties growing up though. Since she spent a large portion of her life as a boy, the transition of becoming a woman was tough too. Her time of the month? More awkward than others. Alanna gradually piqued more interest at dresses and while I wanted her to stay tough, I wanted her to be feminine as well. She deserved to feel beautiful. Unfortunately, because of her mixed emotions about how to conduct herself,
and because there was one stick in the mud who made her feel like crap about wearing a dress for him, I might add she was confused as to who she was. She always dreamed about being a roaming knight, but she longed for home. She refused the thought of marriage, but started to crave love.
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| I would bet on it that Alanna said this at one point. |
Because I feel like I have a million things to say and no words to say them, here is a gif collection of my feelings throughout the books at different points
or throughout the whole thing because this brought on the feels.
Narrator review: I also have to mention the narrator since it was an audiobook series. The pick for the narrator could not have been better! Wow, wow, wow. Trini Alvarado, who played Meg March in Little Women, narrated all four books and was fantastic. You could clearly tell apart all the voices and her variation of all the men wasn't silly either coming from her. Sometimes she even sounded like Megan Fallows, who played Anne in Anne of Green Gables, which I really liked. I looked her up and she narrates another Tamora Pierce series so I will be listening to that asap. I think a narrator has the power to make or break an audiobook and she definitely didn't let Tamora Pierce or me down.
And to sum up how I felt afterwards when I received major book hangover...
Thank you for being patient with me as I babble and squeal. Such a relief to get it all off my mind.
Have you read this series? Have you listened to anything narrated by Trini Alvarado? What Tamora Pierce series should I read/listen to next?
