Conference noted::sf

1204.0. "Pierce's Song of the Lioness" by VERGA::KLAES (Quo vadimus?) Mon Dec 20 1993 17:12

Article: 465
From: [email protected] (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Unnumbered Reviews #4:  "Song of the Lioness", by Tamora Pierce
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 20 Dec 93 03:35:35 GMT
 
    Unnumbered Reviews #4:  "Song of the Lioness", by Tamora Pierce
 
Tamora Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" tetralogy (****-, on an uncalibrated
four-point scale) is easily one of the best juvenile fantasies of the past
decade.  It loses some points for world-building -- the setting is generic
medievaloid -- but gains those back and more for the main character, Alanna.
 
"Alanna: The First Adventure" introduces us to the ten-year-old Alanna and
her twin brother Thom, as they are about to be sent off for schooling --
he to become a knight, she to become a sorceress.  Except that it's Thom
who's interested in sorcery and Alanna who is determined to become a
knight -- so they trade places, and she disguises herself as a boy.
 
This first book covers the early years of her successful imposture.  As a
page she begins to learn the skills she will later need as a knight -- the
sword, some sorcery, courtly manners, some book-learning.  She also begins
to know the people who will be important to her in later years, such as
Jon, the prince, and George, who styles himself king of the thieves, both
of whom befriend her.  And such as Duke Roger, who is only two lives away
from the throne, and whom everyone but Alanna seems to trust implicitly.
 
The book has the feel of a cross between Howard Pyle's "Men of Iron" and
Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsinger", set against a fantasy background.  That
comparison, however, doesn't do justice to the writing, which is excellent,
or to the main character, who is more complex and interesting than Myles
or Menolly.  If you enjoy a good juvenile, try this one.  If you can't find
it in a children's bookstore, your local children's library should have it.
Then, if you liked it, there are three sequels.
 
	"Yer father will have my hide!"
 
	She made a face.  "Father doesn't care about anything
	but his scrolls."  She drew a breath.  "Coram, I'm being
	nice.  Thom wouldn't be this nice.  D'you want to see
	things that aren't there for the next ten years?  I can
	work that, you know.  Remember when Cook was going to 
	tell Father who ate the cherry tarts?  Or the time
	Godmother tried to get Father to marry her?"
 
"In the Hand of the Goddess" covers Alanna's years as a squire, and the 
growing but covert enmity between herself and Roger.  He doesn't act
against her directly, but the deaths that keep coming close to her seem 
to bear his fingerprints.  Alanna receives assistance, some of it super-
natural, but eventually is forced to take the Duke on alone.  Against
this background, Alanna must also learn to grow as a woman, despite a
necessary dearth of guidance.
 
The third book, "The Woman Who Rides Like a Man" is the weakest book of
the four, though still worth the reading.  Alanna, now known to be a
woman, has been knighted, but she is not precisely welcome at court.  Her
travels take her to the southern desert, the land of the Bazhir.  (The
Bazhir, modelled upon generic pseudo-Arab tribesmen, represent the worst
failure of imagination in Pierce's world-building.)  First captured and
then adopted by a Bazhir tribe, Alanna finds herself in a time, between
adventures, during which she must confront her goals and self-identity.
Always leery of magic, she is forced to become the tribe's Shaman.  Having
hard-won her independence, she must deal with numerous claims upon it.
 
"Lioness Rampant" finishes Alanna's story in high style, as her travels
take her on a quest for one of the world's great magical artifacts, and
then back home, where all the troubles she'd thought behind her threaten
to explode at once.
 
As I said, if you enjoy well-enough-written juveniles, you'll want to
read this one.  The converse is also true, though:  If you don't care
for juvenile fiction, this tetralogy isn't likely to change your mind.
(If you're not sure, stop by the children's library and borrow a copy
of "Alanna: The First Adventure", or have them get you a copy via
inter-library loan.)
 
Pierce is currently writing another series in the same setting.  It is not
about Alanna, though she makes brief appearances, and it is not as good as
the first series, though I'm enjoying it.  The first book in the series,
"Wild Magic: The Immortals", came out in hardcover last year, and the next,
"Wolf-Speaker", is due this spring. 
 
Disclaimer:  Don't think of this as a review series.  It's just unnumbered
to help me keep track.
 
%A  Pierce, Tamora
%S  The Song of the Lioness
%T  Alanna: The First Adventure
%T  In the Hand of the Goddess
%T  The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
%T  Lioness Rampant
%D  1983-1988
%I  The paperbacks are printed by Beaver Books in the UK and by
%I  Knopf/Borzoi Sprinter in the US
 
-----
Dani Zweig
[email protected]
 
   It was mentioned on CNN that the new prime number discovered
   recently is four times bigger then the previous record.
				-- John Blasik