Reviewed by nitzan_schwarz on
YESSS!! I've rid myself of my Tamora Pierce virginity! Woohoo~ Tamora Pierce has been high on my Must Read authors for a while now. I've never heard of her before I found Goodreads, but once I did it seemed every favorite new blogger I found was a HUGE fan of hers. Finally, I decided to take that final step and see what its all about. So, did I get what I wanted?
Yes and no.
Alanna was definitely a fun, fast, interesting read. I was actually surprised at how short it was, I expected a bulk of a story. I enjoyed Alanna (the character) greatly, and I loved watching her grow, watching her doubt herself, and watching her overcome her doubts. I also kind of adored how she had such disregard for boys' nudity. Like, when some people find out she's girl they're like YOU SAW ME NAKED and she's like 'yeah, so?'. HEART!
I loved how the book span years, instead of weeks like a lot of books do today, and I enjoyed the fact the book deals, in part, with womanhood. I was wondering if it will go there - periods and all that, and I was pleased to see it did. Some books just seem to ignore the existence of those.
I also loved George and Jonathan. I loved how George treated Alanna good and kindly even before he knew she wasn't really Alan. He was just so sweet and didn't ask for anything back. He also makes an interesting king of thieves - what with being so nice. And Jonathan... I liked seeing a prince who's not a prick. He's nice, kind, protective, a bit of an idiot sometimes (Seriously, dude) but he's a boy so...
Both were good, "possible love interests in the future" kind of characters. Still not sure who I root for, but I kind of spoiled myself on who's the cannon at the end, and kind of spoiled other things that I wish I didn't (the curse of being too curious! I need to stop this bad habit...).
All that being said, this book also kind of disappointed me at parts. For example, there's almost no build up toward the climax and The Black City. It's just kind of whacks you in the face on the final chapter. It's all dealt with very loosely and offhandedly, too. I was shocked at how unrealistic and easy the climax was. It was all like... almost an after thought. I kind of felt like there was no real relations between everything that happened prior to the last chapter and the last chapter.
The whole book also read very young. This may have something to do with the character's ages, but I've read books with similar ages that didn't feel half as young. I wonder how it would read to me in the next books, in which she grows even older. If the writing style matures together with Alanna, then I'll regard this as a stroke of genius as opposed to a shortcoming.
Basically, the book did not compare in details and complexity to books like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson (please don't stone me for this!), which have a similar vibe and characters. Those books tie everything so amazingly well, which wasn't the feeling here. I dunno how this series will fare in the "bigger picture" kind of thing (lots of things happened in this book that will probably carry on to a series long arc), so I'll have to get back to you on that.
That being said, I have ordered the second book already, and will read the next books in the series ;)
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 24 March, 2014: Finished reading
- 24 March, 2014: Reviewed