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Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Tamora Pierce

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What Members Thought

Jul 06, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ya

Alanna and her twin brother switch identities so she can become a knight and he can study magic. A very enjoyable training montage ensues, wherein Alanna shows herself to be stalwart, stubborn, and willing to do a great deal of extra work in order to achieve her dream of being a warrior. But physical exertion alone isn't enough to protect the kingdom, especially when a magical sickness sweeps the kingdom. Alanna has to come to terms with her own femaleness and magical ability if she wants to sav ...more

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May 06, 2016 El rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult-n-kids, 20th-centurylit-late, read-in-a-blink, hear-me-roar-and-gender, library-borrow

What was I reading as a kid? Because I was like five when this book came out, and I don't remember reading it as I got older. So what was I reading? Oh, the Sweet Valley Twins. Right.

I think if I read this when I was like 10, I'd be really into it. Or a little older, I suppose, because there are some things that come up here that are actually sort of shocking considering it was the early 80s and unless you're Judy Blume, you just didn't write about these things. (If you don't know what I'm refer What was I reading as a kid? Because I was like five when this book came out, and I don't remember reading it as I got older. So what was I reading? Oh, the Sweet Valley Twins. Right.

I think if I read this when I was like 10, I'd be really into it. Or a little older, I suppose, because there are some things that come up here that are actually sort of shocking considering it was the early 80s and unless you're Judy Blume, you just didn't write about these things. (If you don't know what I'm referring to, do yourself a favor and read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.) You especially didn't write about these things in a fantasy book geared towards younger readers. At least not in my experience. Hell, I don't even think the perfect blonde Wakefield twins ever experienced.

Alanna is not a Wakefield. And therein lies her intrigue. She is red-haired and purple-eyed (how bad-ass is that!?), and she doesn't want to be a girl. You know those Wakefield girls? They wanted to be girls. (Okay, Jessica more than Elizabeth because Elizabeth was really just concerned about school, but Jessica totally peer pressured her into fitting society's idea of what a teenage girl should be.) Alanna didn't want to be a girl from the word 'go'. Her twin brother, Thom, has a more appealing life as far as Alanna is concerned, but when it comes time for the two of them to go their separate ways to gender-appropriate studies (her to a convent, he to a place to learn to become a squire), they both pout and whine because they don't want to be what society wants them to be. Good for them!

So they essentially switch places. Thom gets to go do whatever, and Alanna pretends to be a boy in order to go practice knighthood. She manages to hide her true gender from everyone else (which is strange to me because don't teenage boys smack each other on the ass with towels and stuff? I don't know - I just know girls throw tampons at each other in the locker room like in Carrie) for quite a while until *gasp* she gets her period. But even then she tells one or two people and they're all like "Whatevs, it's cool" which is pretty enlightened for the time this book was published. She goes to a healer because she doesn't quite understand what this blood-stuff is all about, and she learns about the birds and the bees.

There's no additional talk about the period which of course is questionable, because lord knows most women can't just ignore the fact their period has started like ever in their lives. It's a thing we have to be pretty aware of or else a mess will be made. But this is also a fantasy, so we can forgive this fact. Let's all just hold hands and cheer for the fact that a children's novel features a young, strong, female character (albeit one who wishes she were a boy) who gets her period and it's something that is discussed. I mean, hell, you don't ever hear of any characters ever going to the bathroom in most novels, so such a taboo subject coming up? Yeah, that's pretty impressive.

The biggest issue with this book is coming from me as a 37-year-old reader, and most younger readers would not have these concerns. It's a short book - I read it in one sitting which is perfect for how crummy I feel right now, but the plot moves so quickly that there are moments when even I had to backtrack a page or two to figure out where the shift occurred. There's not a lot of fluidity here, though I expect this has more to do with the fact that it's a children's book and kids don't need as much plot-heavy descriptions or character growth or whatever we adults are always yelling about.

I do like Alanna in this first book. She's spunky and a little too perfect which is normally a turn-off, but the fact that she fights so hard to rebel against being a female is simultaneously annoying and refreshing to read. I'm eager to see how she grows in the next three books.

If I knew a younger reader of the right age, I would totally recommend this to them. For the rest of us, meh, I say you might enjoy it if you're interested in reading a children's fantasy book written in the early 80s that addresses gender issues.

Also, are they going to make a movie of this at any point? Hollywood loves making movies based on books. Did that ship sail now that this is considered so "old"? I would love to see this on the big screen. ...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Debbie Barr rated it really liked it

I only wish that someone had handed this book to me when I was, oh, about 12 or so. I'm sure it would have been a favorite. Listened to the audiobook, which was very well done. ...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Hannah added it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade-and-chapter-books, ya, high-fantasy, for-class-masters

I read this series for the first time a decade ago, in eighth grade. Now that I've had to read it for school, I am so happy (though unsurprised) that it super duper holds up. It's fabulous. Awesome. It took all of my self control not to go and get the other three to read right now, but sadly I have to read at least six novels a week for school, plus another three or so to stay abreast of blogging and other commitments. Le sigh. Someday, Alanna. I'll love you forever. ...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Trin rated it liked it

Shelves: american-lit, fantasy, childrens, genderfuck

Pretty much the first thing people mentioned when I asked about YA genderbending novels. This is another book I probably would have enjoyed a lot more when I was in the target age group; it's still very enjoyable, if incredibly predictable. I may pick up the rest in the series if I can get the cranky librarians to stop giving me weird looks. ...more

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May 30, 2021 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a lot of fun. I went into it knowing very little about the series so I didn't expect it to start in such solid middle grade territory. This book holds up surprisingly well for being published such a long time ago and I can see why it's so popular. Having an afterword by Pierce (in the 2014 reissues) also nicely contextualizes the story as it was written/published alongside the context that inspired her authorial choices (like chopping up the original 800+ page draft into four books and ...more

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Oct 17, 2013 Jessie rated it it was amazing

So good. Reminded me of The Blue Sword by McKinley. I have no idea why I waited so long to read this.

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Sep 19, 2007 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: age-ya, fantasy, 2007

Another quick read. The whole idea of this book, about a girl who dresses like a boy so she can become a knight, just interested me. The story moved quickly, and the characters quickly grew on me. There are a number of plot lines that will develop in the other books in the series.

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