The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness, #3)

by Tamora Pierce

On her first tour as a knight errant, Alanna assumes a position of influence with a fierce desert tribe, makes some changes in the role of women in the society, and continues her own emotional development.

Reviewed by nitzan_schwarz on

3 of 5 stars

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2015 tbr challenge + cleaning my shelves 2015

Originally Posted Here. Would appriciate it if you pop by ;)


That's me. With everyone else clapping in the background.

Once again, I find myself unimpressed with the Song of the Lioness. It's not that I dislike the books. It's just that they've never blown my mind away. The writing has never felt exceptional to me. And the characters... nothing unique.

In fact, if anything, the characters have always been merely okay to me. Especially Alanna. She grows more and more "merely okay" with every book. Jonathan is turning into a douche. George is pretty great, but I'm not head over heels. The only one I truly adore isn't even human - he's a cat!


I would support you, Salem Faithful!

I truly think these books may be a bit too young for me. Like, if I read it at 12, I would praise the heck out of them, as so many do. As it is, at twenty, I don't find much in them. I don't think they're exciting, I don't think they're overly clever. I mean, J.K Rowling put hints to stuff that would be important in the seventh book in the freaking first book. That's clever. In Song of the Lionessthings just happen, usually without too much warning or hints. 

This book was a bit better on that front - definitely an upturn from the first book, where the last chapter just whacked me in the face because where the heck did that come from? it was like I was suddenly in a different story! Ahem. Anyways...

The plot in this one was... okay. Didn't much like how the romance overtook everything once Jon appeared, or how quickly Alanna turned to George once things fell apart and it was definitely less exciting than the last two books. I felt like this book was written just so Alanna would accept her magic, so it could be used in the final installment. Let's at least hope the last one is even a tiny bit epic due to that. 

Anyways, I will finish this series. Only one book left, after all, and it's a pretty fast and meaningless past time for me. But I'm sorry - still not the biggest fan...

Originally Posted Here. Would appriciate it if you pop by ;)

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 10 February, 2015: Finished reading
  • 10 February, 2015: Reviewed