Alanna
by Tamora Pierce
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Book Reviews of Alanna
Book Review: "From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight."
Summary: 5 Stars
Alanna is just a ten-year-old girl with dreams. Her father is a tight, strict man who cares about nothing but his studies. He wants Thom, Alanna's twin brother to be a knight at the palace and wants Alanna to go to the convent to learn how to be a lady. Both the children disagree with this decision. Thom has the magical gift and wants to become a sorceror while Alanna has dreams of becoming a knight and protecting her king. So Alanna and Thom switch places.
"Tomorrow he gives the letters for the man who trains the pages and the people at the convent. You can imitate his writing, so you can do two new lettersm saying we're both boys, You go to the convent. Say in the letter that you're a sorceror. The Daughters of the Goddess are the ones who train boys in magic, remember? When you're older, they'll send you to the priests. And I'll go to the palace to become a knight!"
This is what Alanna says and they really do carry out the plan. Alanna gets to the palace and figures out that life there is harder than she thought but she's a stubborn girl and will do all it takes to achieve her dream to become a real knight.
Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed Tamora Pierce's Alanna:The First Adventure. Out of the quartet, I think that this is the best one! The ideas are original and interesting. It was very well written and is an excellent teen fantasy. I'm 13 and I really loved it. If you enjoy fantasy and adventure, you'll love this book! It's an amazing coming of age story.Book Review: Cornwall, NY Sixth Grader
Summary: 5 Stars
Cornwall New York, Sixth Grader
I am a sixth grader.I have really enjoyed Tamora Pierce's writing, especially Alanna the First Adventure because of Alanna's intricate viewpoint on the dichotomy of right and wrong moral choices.
Alanna's father, Lord of Trebond, sent Alanna to a convent school to become a lady. Alanna, a rebellious girl by nature, wanted to be a knight. Thom, Alanna's twin brother wanted to be a sorcerer; to slay demons and walk with the gods. His father, who didn't care about what either of them wanted, sent Thom to the palace to become a page. The impact of this on Alanna was catastrophic.
There was the possibility of her dream not coming true, and Alanna was desperate. She realized that if she and Thom switched places, they would get what they desired. She decided to talk with Maude, the village's healing woman. When Maude asked the gods to give her guidance, what she saw made her agree with the twins. She aided them in the switch, and cleared her conscience.
Maude had some tough choices to make. She had never seen in the fire, and could only heal. Maude had taught Alanna and Thom all she knew, but they could still learn much more. Maude had to choose whether or not to follow her liege lord, or her pupils who she had taught for almost all of their lives. The responsibility she felt towards her lord was nothing compared to the comradeship she felt towards the twins.
Coram, Alanna's escort to the palace and great friend, was deep in controversy. He knew that Thom was such a poor bowman, tracker, and hunter that it would make a soldier cry. Alanna, on the contrary, was a wonderful bowman. She excelled at tracking and hunting. A grown man couldn't skin a rabbit faster than she could. Coram also knew that Thom disliked him, while Alanna was much friendlier. When Alanna threatened him with seeing things that weren't there for the next ten years, he was torn. He had his duty to his lord: to bring Alanna back. Coram was also scared of magic, but he was even more scared of the embarrassment of taking Thom to the palace.
Alanna was torn between her duty to her father, or to herself. Her father wanted her to be a proper lady, but Alanna wanted to be a knight. It was illegal for a girl to be a knight, but Alanna already knew that. How irksome it was that just because she was a girl, she was considered weak and helpless. In order to do what her father wanted, she had to deny her own wants. Was that truly the right thing to do?
Thom had his own problems as well. He wanted to be a sorcerer, but his father wanted him to be a knight. Thom knew that he had an obligation to himself, and to his father. He hated most people. He only loved himself and Alanna. Thom knew that he and Alanna had much more power than most gifted people, and this made him rather cocky. Thom was hard to like, but he was always a steadfast friend.
I would recommend this book to fantasy readers, because of everything that goes on in it. It is an amazing tale full of wonder and suspense. I have enjoyed it tremendously.
Book Review: Very cliche, choppy and predictable
Summary: 1 Stars
I read this book because I love fantasy, particularly children's fantasy and it was recommended to me by Amazon. However I was so disappointed. The story didn't run very smoothly with its characters- In fact the characters were so cookie cutter that I couldn't follow them for very long without getting bored and having to put the book down.
The story begins with a girl Alanna- who has a twin brother Thom. And they look very similar- so very similar that the girl could pass for her brother- or vice versa- although neither Alanna was ever described as being boyish, nor Thom ever described as being small-statured, or girlish. Alanna has to go off to the convent to learn to be a lady, and Thom off to become a page, and eventually a knight. But of COURSE Alanna doesn't want to be in the convent and Thom doesn't want to do guy-things, like becoming a knight. He wants to be a sorcerer- so of COURse Alanna is afraid of magic and doesn't want to use it. So they switch places, since their father is the extremely absent-minded kind of father and pores over books all the time. Conveniently, the convent is also a place where young boys learn magic and sorcery. We never really know why. Its just the way it is. (Incidently myself, I wonder why the author even bothers to adopt places as supposed from medieval culture and then twist them around to fit her story, yet never explains for what reason they are there, other than for the main character's convenience).
The book proceeds from there- at a painful pace. Each character comes in with a "cut off the block" feel. They are supposed to be different and extraordinary- yet turn out to be even more of the same boring ordinary than ever. I got the feeling the author was trying too hard to write an "adventure". When events happened in the book it felt too much like I could see the strings pulling the characters around in a puppet show. For example, in some instances a character would suddenly do something very unlike their character, for no other reason it seemed, than to get across some idea about Alanna the author wanted you to know- without all out telling you, "oh yeah by the way, Alanna is a special girl that can tell when people can't be trusted, even when apparently everybody else in the entire world doesn't get the memo.
Finally, the end does not even duke it out with the villian that the book tries to build up through-out the story. The people that are battled and conquered by our heroine are introduced mere pages before they are met. They are not even alluded to, wondered at, or known to exist prior to the end chapters of the book. It was like the author decided it was time to end the story and start on the next one and just thought... "now where can I get some kind of big Bang to show off my heroines prowess and provide an ending climax?"
Not worth the effort reading.
Book Review: Pierce's best series
Summary: 5 Stars
This novel is one of Pierce's best books. It has a good plot and life-like characters. The obstacles that face Alanna are portrayed realistically, and it is satisfying to watch her overcome them, but you must read on through the series to see how she faces Duke Roger. Don't be fooled into thinking its going to be a gory war story. Alanna faces both external and internal conflicts.