This review is absolutely tainted by nostalgia. Without that, I absolutely would’ve given this book a far lower rating.

This book is easily the worst of the quartet. The first half of the book is a bit slow, and so much less important than the second half of the book. I remain annoyed at Pierce for pairing Alanna with yet another man who is way too old with her (a 20 year old with a 40 something. Ew.). I also disliked that the two main antagonists were Alanna’s childhood bully and Roger. Both caused a lot of problems but had a very short and almost uncomplicated end. I wanted to see Alanna face new enemies not the same ones from earlier.

The thing that redeems this book is Alanna herself. Alanna is brave, proud, and unashamed to be the first female knight in Tortall. She is openly gender non-conforming and refuses to let anyone tell her who she should be or what she should do. Oh boy do I hate her taste in men but it is very much her own. Alanna lives, fights, and loves on her own terms. The second half of the book really emphasized this for me.

This book was many things. At points I found it boring, at other parts exasperating in terms of Pierce’s plot choices. But Alanna herself has always been a character whose existence I’ve found reassuring since I was a child. Did she deserve better writing than this book? Yes. Very much yes. (Tamora Pierce do better.) But Alanna’s pride, openness, self-assurance and confidence as a gender non conforming person as a character written in the 1980s remains reassuring, especially with the stuff happening politically in the US right now.