The Protector of the Small Quartet (First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight) by Tamora Pierce (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
I remember reading a lot of Tamora Pierce books when I was in high school. Her books gave me my love of magic and knights and castles and kings and queens and the like. I love her magic system, how it's different colours depending on the person, and how not everyone has magic.
This series comes after her Alanna series and her Daine series. I haven't read the Trickster books or the Beka Cooper books, but I'm not sure if I want to. There are some books I have from high school that I feel are too young for me now. Maybe I'm just being strange.
These four books are about Keladry, or Kel, from the little fiefdom of Mindelan. Her father was an ambassador to a group of islands that are very Asian influenced, the Yamani Islands, and now they are back in their home country of Tortall. Kel's brothers are all knights, and after the training she received in the Yamani royal family, she decides she wants to be a knight.
In the capital, this news causes trouble for the king, the head of training, and the realm's only female knight, Alanna (she became a knight by pretending to be a boy, Kel wants to be acknowledged as a girl throughout her training, and would be technically the realm's only female knight as Alanna is referred to as Sir Alanna). The training master, Sir Wyldon, sees Alanna as an unfair advantage for Kel (Alanna is gifted with magic and was visited by their Goddess multiple times in her series), and she is ordered to stay away from Kel until she completes her training.
Kel goes to the castle to learn to become a knight, and is shunned by most of the other boys. She is put on probation, given one year to prove to the training master that she has what it takes to continue. Most of the boys, with the exception of the intelligent and sarcastic Neal, avoid her, playing tricks on her. It isn't until they realize that she can help them with their training and their homeword, and that she knows how to lead their groups in training activities.
Most learn to accept her. Some don't, like Joren, but he pays for his treachery, his tricks, and his hatred.
Kel's strength is very underrated, and most grown men are surprised when they see what she can do. This is because she trains relentlessly, striving to become stronger than the others just so she can catch up to the boys.
Over time, Kel is sent secret presents, like bruise balms and little knives, and then saddles and gloves and swords, by a mysterious supporter. She wants to know who sends the presents, and discovers who it is in (in either the third or fourth book, but I can't remember, I'm 75% sure it's the thrid book).
An issue I have with these books is that the first takes place over a year while the others take place over a period of years. The second one seems so rushed, it's probably my least favourite of the four. Also, at the beginning, Kel is 10 years old, but at the end of Lady Knight she's 18/19. I'm wary of deciding on an age for readers of these books. Maybe 13 and up, but do 13 year olds like reading about 10 year olds? It's like you have to grow up as you read these books. I was 14-15 when I read them.
Squire has to be my favourite our of all four novels. Kel gets to travel around, learn new things, meet new people, gets a griffin for a pet (only for a year, through), gets kissed a bunch of times (yay, go kissing), and learns about the world.
I'm curious why Pierce makes Kel so tall in the end. She ends up like, 5 foot 10 or 11. That's a bit more than my own actual height. If she'd been an average 5 foot 5 girl, there's no way she'd be taken seriously as a knight. Maybe that's why.
I love the names Pierce gives her characters: Keladry, Faleron, Nealon, Verilidaine, Quinden, Kalasin, and Domitan. They're all so medieval-sounding, it's wonderful.
I like that Kel continues to stay a girl through all this fight training and knight-schooling. She gets crushes, she gets kissed, she gets her 'monthly courses' as some people put it. She's always a girl, but she does know how to kick butt.
Pierce's books frequently involve magic, but Kel is one of the ones without any magical ability. She does what she has to on her own, with her own strength of will and intelligence.
Kel saves so many people and helps so many, it's a wonder she doesn't get marriage proposal after marriage proposal. I'm curious about the end of the series, if something was hinted at there, but I'm not sure if Pierce was actually hinting at something or not.
I have my favourite characters, like Kel and Neal, and the ornery horse Peachblossom (don't name geldings after girly flowers, people), but I also like Faleron and Dom. I think they're both so cute. I have to explain, because I read these books in high school, and they're guys who go around like knights, saving people and stuff. There was something so appealing about that. Even now I can get all girly and fluttery thinking about it. What teenage girl didn't want to be carried off by a knight? I did.
So, if you like stories about knights and battles and magic and swords and overcoming adversity, then you might like these books. I do recommend these books for teen girls, because the central theme is that girls can do anything boys can, girls can be as strong as boys, as tough and as controlling and as smart, and there's nothing wrong with teaching girls that.
Go girls, we so rock, and go read a book.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Book #1: Saints of Augustine
Saints of Augustine by P.E. Ryan (2007, paperback 2008)
I had to read an excerpt of this book, chapters 13 to 15, when I took a children's lit class in the spring of 2009 during the young adult unit. I found the chapters interesting and very funny, and so I set out to get the book. I finally had to order it through Amazon because none of the local bookstores had it in stock and it arrived yesterday.
Be warned, I'm giving out spoilers, but this book is so good.
The book is about Charlie Perrin and Sam Findley, sixteen-year-olds living in St. Augustine, Florida. They were best friends until Sam cut Charlie out of his life a year earlier with no explanation. Now, Sam is hiding his sexual orientation from his family and friends and Charlie is coping with his mother's death and father's alcoholism by smoking pot. It takes place in the summer before their senior year, three weeks before school starts up again, and even though they haven't spoken ot each other for a year, Charlie and Sam are thrown together when they try and run from their problems.
Sam and Charlie seem like normal teens: they have friends, they have jobs, they have complicated family lives, and they have secrets. Sam is gay, unwilling to come out after his father and mother have separated and his father is off in London with his new boyfriend (yes, Sam's dad is gay, too). Charlie has dreams of pro basketball but he's in deep crap because he owes 500 bucks to the local drug dealer after buying so much pot from him.
To me, Sam is troubled while Charlie seems dumb, but Charlie smokes pot to escape his life. His father has turned into an almost drunk after the death of Charlie's mother. He stays at home, ignores his job, and pisses off Charlie to no end.
Sam's mother is dating Teddy, a loud-mouthed racist and homophobe, and Sam clearly doesn't like him. He wants his life to go back the way it was, with his father in the same country so they can talk about things. When Sam meets Justin, he questions his sexuality even more, considering Justin is out and open.
Sam and Charlie come together after Charlie's dealer trashes his car and after Sam's mother sees Sam and Justin making out. They end up on the road, driving to the empty house Charlie works at fixing up, and pour out everything that's been bothering them, effectively becoming best friends again.
I thought this book was very funny and very emotional at the same time. It deals with divorce, death, and social pressure and expectations. Charlie is like the comic relief, while Sam is more of an emotional figure. Both seem, to me, like realistic teenagers, ones who do drugs and cope with loss and figure out who they are and who they're attracted to.
The kiss between Charlie and Sam was a little unexpected, considering it's Charlie that kisses Sam, but it stems from Sam's old possible crush on Charlie. Chapters 13 to 15 were the making up chapters, the explaining and accepting chapters, and I understand why only those three chapters were included in the YA excerpt. They were the coming together, the understanding and the realizing, the conclusion of all the crap that happened in the past year to Sam and Charlie.
Good thing there's a chapter 16. If it ended at 15, it would've sucked. And to be clear, Charlie is straight. He kisses Sam just to see what it would feel like.
There are bits I wish would've happened, like Charlie's dad and him making up some more, or Charlie's dealer getting busted by the cops, or Sam's dad coming back so they could talk, or he and Justin making up after Sam's running out on him, but that always happens. I hope Sam and Justin made up, and I hope Charlie didn't go back to his girlfriend Kate. She was far too smart for him.
One criticism I sort of have is that there were a lot of problems heaped on Sam and Charlie. I don't remember having that many problems in high school, but it's always different depending on where you are and so on. And I didn't really think Charlie's continuous and possibly fake attempts to get Kate to a motel so they could have sex were necessary. Of course, maybe he's just a horny sixteen-year-old.
I like how each chapter has a little subtitle or quote that hints at what the chapter is about. It's like a clue, and then when you find it you feel all special.
I have the fancy paperback that has a Q&A with P.E. Ryan and a playlist at the back. He's assigned a song to each chapter, so I'll have to listen to them and see how well it all fits together.
So, I really enjoyed this book. It's not all happy and sunshine and rainbows, but neither are high school and the teen years. I would enjoy a sequel, but it ends nicely and doesn't really need one.
Highly recommended for all readers, especially YA lit fans, people who enjoy life stories and novels about friendships, and gay and straight lit. I do think this book is aimed for teen guys, but as a girl in her early 20's, I enjoyed it every much, so lots of people can read it.
Lindsay E.
I had to read an excerpt of this book, chapters 13 to 15, when I took a children's lit class in the spring of 2009 during the young adult unit. I found the chapters interesting and very funny, and so I set out to get the book. I finally had to order it through Amazon because none of the local bookstores had it in stock and it arrived yesterday.
Be warned, I'm giving out spoilers, but this book is so good.
The book is about Charlie Perrin and Sam Findley, sixteen-year-olds living in St. Augustine, Florida. They were best friends until Sam cut Charlie out of his life a year earlier with no explanation. Now, Sam is hiding his sexual orientation from his family and friends and Charlie is coping with his mother's death and father's alcoholism by smoking pot. It takes place in the summer before their senior year, three weeks before school starts up again, and even though they haven't spoken ot each other for a year, Charlie and Sam are thrown together when they try and run from their problems.
Sam and Charlie seem like normal teens: they have friends, they have jobs, they have complicated family lives, and they have secrets. Sam is gay, unwilling to come out after his father and mother have separated and his father is off in London with his new boyfriend (yes, Sam's dad is gay, too). Charlie has dreams of pro basketball but he's in deep crap because he owes 500 bucks to the local drug dealer after buying so much pot from him.
To me, Sam is troubled while Charlie seems dumb, but Charlie smokes pot to escape his life. His father has turned into an almost drunk after the death of Charlie's mother. He stays at home, ignores his job, and pisses off Charlie to no end.
Sam's mother is dating Teddy, a loud-mouthed racist and homophobe, and Sam clearly doesn't like him. He wants his life to go back the way it was, with his father in the same country so they can talk about things. When Sam meets Justin, he questions his sexuality even more, considering Justin is out and open.
Sam and Charlie come together after Charlie's dealer trashes his car and after Sam's mother sees Sam and Justin making out. They end up on the road, driving to the empty house Charlie works at fixing up, and pour out everything that's been bothering them, effectively becoming best friends again.
I thought this book was very funny and very emotional at the same time. It deals with divorce, death, and social pressure and expectations. Charlie is like the comic relief, while Sam is more of an emotional figure. Both seem, to me, like realistic teenagers, ones who do drugs and cope with loss and figure out who they are and who they're attracted to.
The kiss between Charlie and Sam was a little unexpected, considering it's Charlie that kisses Sam, but it stems from Sam's old possible crush on Charlie. Chapters 13 to 15 were the making up chapters, the explaining and accepting chapters, and I understand why only those three chapters were included in the YA excerpt. They were the coming together, the understanding and the realizing, the conclusion of all the crap that happened in the past year to Sam and Charlie.
Good thing there's a chapter 16. If it ended at 15, it would've sucked. And to be clear, Charlie is straight. He kisses Sam just to see what it would feel like.
There are bits I wish would've happened, like Charlie's dad and him making up some more, or Charlie's dealer getting busted by the cops, or Sam's dad coming back so they could talk, or he and Justin making up after Sam's running out on him, but that always happens. I hope Sam and Justin made up, and I hope Charlie didn't go back to his girlfriend Kate. She was far too smart for him.
One criticism I sort of have is that there were a lot of problems heaped on Sam and Charlie. I don't remember having that many problems in high school, but it's always different depending on where you are and so on. And I didn't really think Charlie's continuous and possibly fake attempts to get Kate to a motel so they could have sex were necessary. Of course, maybe he's just a horny sixteen-year-old.
I like how each chapter has a little subtitle or quote that hints at what the chapter is about. It's like a clue, and then when you find it you feel all special.
I have the fancy paperback that has a Q&A with P.E. Ryan and a playlist at the back. He's assigned a song to each chapter, so I'll have to listen to them and see how well it all fits together.
So, I really enjoyed this book. It's not all happy and sunshine and rainbows, but neither are high school and the teen years. I would enjoy a sequel, but it ends nicely and doesn't really need one.
Highly recommended for all readers, especially YA lit fans, people who enjoy life stories and novels about friendships, and gay and straight lit. I do think this book is aimed for teen guys, but as a girl in her early 20's, I enjoyed it every much, so lots of people can read it.
Lindsay E.
Rules of my Ramblings
#1: Sometimes I might say a few things, and sometimes I might ramble on. If I'm rambling, I liked it.
#2: All suggestions will be considered. Hopefully, they're books you haven't read yet.
#3: If I've read your suggestion and I didn't like it, I might just tell you and not post something.
#4: Don't count on me being regular with this thing. It all depends on what I'm doing.
#5: If you don't like the books I like, don't go bashing it.
#6: Cookies are nice.
Lindsay E.
#2: All suggestions will be considered. Hopefully, they're books you haven't read yet.
#3: If I've read your suggestion and I didn't like it, I might just tell you and not post something.
#4: Don't count on me being regular with this thing. It all depends on what I'm doing.
#5: If you don't like the books I like, don't go bashing it.
#6: Cookies are nice.
Lindsay E.
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