The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce
Series: Song of the Lioness #3
Source: Bought paperback
Publisher: Atheneum Books For Young Readers
Age Genre: Young Adult
Challenges: Flights of Fantasy
Challenges: Prequel-Sequel
Challenges: TBR-Cleaning my Shelves

Alanna fights on...
Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a dual to the death. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mysterious fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman, despite the desert dwellers' wariness of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must battle to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes--for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

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 Lioness, things 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 SPOILER Alanna turned to George once things fell apart END SPOILER 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...

Nitzan★

Read More

Who Wore it Better - Alanna: The First Adventure

Who Wore it Better is an original meme I brought with me from Drugs Called Books. In it, instead of discussing fashion or cloths, we discuss book covers from different countries, and who has the best cover. The meme is co-hosted with the lovely Amanda from The Book Badger and will be featured on her blog every other week, so check her out as well!  

This Thursday, I'll be discussing different covers for Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. Alanna is a great example for a book that has had tons of different covers... for its English versions alone. I'll be showing you guys here my four top choices, along two of my favorite foreign covers, but there were plenty more to see.

1. English - so this is the cover I own, and I have a love-hate relationship with it. On the one hand, I LOVE how fierce she looks. I hated it at first sight, but when I look closer, I fell in love with her expression. But, I HATE all the dead space. Black background framing a drawn picture in a no-no for me. Seriously, was it THAT difficult to make the picture alone the cover?...

2. English 2 - so, this was my only other option when I decided to buy Alanna, and at first I planned on getting it. But then I looked closer and realize that as cool as it looks from afar it's... kind of misshapen. Something about the girl looks all wrong. Her face, her poster, her hands... something's not working, and I'm really particular on stuff like that. So, points down for that, points up for cool background lol. 

3. English 3 - So, I actually really like this cover, comic book-ish as it feels (to me). I love the background and how Alanna looks, and I love that it shows someone else but Alanna. I mean, yes - Alanna is the MC, but there are more than Alanna in the story. 

4. English 4 - I decided to show you guys this cover (even though I'd never get it for myself), because of the "adult" factor. This cover was obviously made to attract "grown-ups". Those that illustrated covers won't appeal to. It looks mature and serious, a single object that looks very realistic on a solid background. Not my favorite (maybe if it wasn't that shade of blue, I'd feel differently), but I like the thought behind it. 

5. Danish - I am in love with this cover, with all that I am. Just look at it! It has everything. It has Alanna, in her guy disguise, standing in front of a ominous, shadowy structure, ready for action. Mysterious, and captivating. Then we have Alanna, the girl she is, above, looking feminine and fragile. But this Alanna, she's almost part of the background. Because "girl" Alanna is always hiding, always pretending she's not a girl. It's got everything - the two sides of Alanna, the fight, the mystery.... I wish THIS was the English cover! 

6. French - so, I don't have much to say about this. It looks pretty cool, but it doesn't make me want to buy the book, either. It was one of the better foreign ones, though. 

After all this talking, I'll sum things up for you - Danish is my absolute favorite. The rest are kind of... well, tied. I don't love any of them, nor do I hate them...

Nitzan★

Read More