I see Kel is still my fave. As an adult I picked up a lot more of the missing Dane books, though, than I did as a kid. I should read those one of these days...

Kel's such a spectacular character, and I see now why I related so hard to her. She doesn't want to care what other people do, though secretly she does. She wants to do everything the guys can, and with some work, she can. I suspect her Yamani people's similarity to the Japanese helps too, and may be one of the reasons I latched so hard to her.

(Also loving the parallels between the Yamani and C.J. Cherryh's atevi. Kind of curious if the two affected each others' work at all.)

The plot is simple, but somehow so much more compelling than Alanna? I feel like Kel's much more real as a character than Alanna, even though Kel is good at all this stuff. Alanna's failings were few and far, while Kel hasn't a magical bone in her body, can't believe why anyone would want to be friends with her, and loses most fights she starts. I just... she's the best. And definitely one of my few female childhood heroes.