Like returning home.

Did a reread of this via audiobook. Fantastic, still.

Awww, Tamora Pierce! Now I want to reread all of the Alanna and Daine ones, but all the eBook copies are checked out in all the libraries I have access to. Which is disappointing, but I kind of love the idea of hordes of teen and tween girls discovering Tortall on their phones or tablets. (Or my contemporaries reliving their childhoods, which may be more likely)

What a lovely re-read -- it's been a LONG time! So much of my young self is still just right there on the page; I think this series was up there with A Little Princess in shaping my peculiar elementary school morality of self-sacrifice.

I was given the opportunity to read this book again, thanks to my boyfriend's sister. I have always been in love with Tamora Pierce's books ever since I was in middle school. I don't do reviews that much, so forgive me if this isn't as well-written as it could be. I need to brush up on this anyhow.

This book is about a girl named Keladry who had decided that she wanted to train into knighthood. Along the road, she deals with problems that she was alerted to before she even took a step in the castle- she would be given a more difficult time just because the page is a female. No one felt that she would make it past a certain time- the most common being past a week.

It was very well-written. Despite the time skipping in some areas (which wasn't too surprising) the pace flowed nicely. One could feel Kel's frustrations leaking off from the pages while also taking in her want to be just as better as everyone else. She took things in stride and is someone I could relate to. I can't imagine it being re-written any other way.

There was one flaw that did bother me- even if it was answered a bit while back. I have always wondered why the older pages never really did harass her as much as was mentioned around the beginning of the story. It was one of the moments I was looking forward to the most, honestly. There were some moments where she stood up for the other first year pages going against the older pages (like Joren) but I had still anticipated more. Perhaps I just love too much conflict in a story.

I don't know if I'll have time to finish the rest of the books, but if I have the chance to I would do it in a heartbeat.

I didn't really enjoy this book much. The first series was good, but this one was kind of boring. I was especially annoyed that Kel wasn't allowed to just be a normal page since Alanna was allowed to. While I realize some people may still have issues with girls being knights, it doesn't make sense to me that the king could decree that girls are allowed to become knights, but then the teacher could refuse to let her come unless he was allowed to make a bunch of ridiculous rules for her. I will still read the rest of this series though. Hopefully I will enjoy them more.

It's fine but perhaps too young for what I was expecting. I shall continue though, see how it progresses

Honestly, the start to the 3rd Tortall series starts a helluva lot stronger than the other two. I think Pierce's choice to really narrow in on the details of the knighthood process (rather than just rushing through it in the first two Alanna books) allows for a bigger space to breath and for Kel to forge better relationships with her fellow pages. It was still a small book but I whipped through it quickly. Can't wait for Page and to see how it holds up!

Also, who doesn't love fun cameos from characters like Daine, Numair, and Miles from past books? That's the reward for reading through multiple series in the same universe!