The Song of the Lioness Quartet
1. Alanna: The First Adventure
Alanna has just one wish - to become a knight. Her twin brother Thom, prefers magic and wants to be a great sorcerer. So they swop places and Alanna, denying her magical roots and disguised as a boy, sets off for the King’s court. Becoming a knight is hard, but she is determined to succeed. Her determination wins her powerful friends at the palace. But court life holds unexpected dangers. Something about Duke Roger of Contè, Prince Jonathan’s cousin, terrifies Alanna. Soon she will have to face a challange to test all of her skills....
In this first book of this amazing fantast quartet, Tamora Pierce shows us a young girl, determined to reach her ambition and is prepared to go against all the odds.
2. In the Hand of the Goddess
Alan of Trebond is the smallest but toughest squires at court. Only Prince Jonathan knows she is really a girl called Alanna. Alanna meets the Goddess, who tells her she must learn to love, leaving Alanna to wrestle with some difficult questions. Then, when she is sent north to fight the marauding Tusaine, Alanna is swept into a world of danger and intrigue. But while she proves herself in battle, she cannot vanquish the fears in her heart. As she prepares for her final training to become a knight, Alanna is troubled. Is she the only one to sense the evil in Duke Roger? Does no one else realise what a threat his steely ambition poses? She must uncover Duke’s Roger’s secret before facing the terror of The Ordeal of Knighthood, the ceremony that will make her a knight... or destroy her.
In the second book of this amazing fantasy quartet, Tamora Pierce shows Alanna trying to conquer her worst fears and showing her to finally become a knight, the first Lady knight in Tortall for over a hundred years.
3. The Woman who rides like a Man
Now the first Lady knight in Tortall in over a century, Alanna has proved herself equal to the men around her. She now rides to the Great Southern Desert in search of adventure. Captured by the Bloody Hawk tribe of the Bazhir, the people of the Southern Desert, she must challanhe ancient tribal customs if she ever hopes for freedom. But how can she convince the tribe to change, when their powerful shaman cries hourly for her execution? Tradition demands she prove her worth in a magical duel... to the death.
In the third book of this amazing fantasy quartet, Tamora Pierce carries on the adventures of Alanna during her first year as a knight of the realm of Tortall.
4. Lioness Rampant
Alanna has fought shaman, bested wraiths and vanquished magic, but nothing could prepare her for this... Accompanied by the legendary Shang Dragon, Corum her faithful friend and man-at-arms and by Faithful the cat, her ever-faithful guardian, and later by Princess Thayet jian Wilima and her friend and guardian Buri, Alanna must attempt the immpossible. Recover the fabled Dominion Jewel. Thayet was forced to flee her home in Sarain and now plans to live as a commoner in Tortall. However, Alanna has other plans for her... But Alanna must uncover the Jewel quickly and return to Tortall. For Tortall is in terrible danger and is about to be thrown into turmoil. For Roger of Cont1e is back and more powerful that ever...
In the final book in this amazing quartet, Tamora Pierce draws the quartet to a stunning climax and close, as Alanna goes from hero to legend.
The Immortals Quartet
Set around eight or nine years after the Song of the Lioness Quartet, this tells the story of a young girl called Daine, who finds she has the practically unknown ‘Wild Magic’. This gives her a bond with animals and the ability to heal them and later, the ability to shape-shift into them. Each book gives us a look in a year of the life of Daine, who finds her Wild Magic may help prevent Tortall from destruction...
1. Wild Magic
The first volume of Tamora’s Pierce’s enthralling four-part fantasy series.
“Daine’s mind filled with vines of sparkling light wrapped around darkness - or was it the other way round? When the space between her eyes was full, the magic spilled out of her.”
Set in the fantasy world of Tortall, this is the story of Daine, a thirteen year old orphan, who discovers she possesses the hidden ‘Wild Magic’, which allows her to communicate with animals and harness their minds. Soon Daine finds herself needing all her strength, as together with her friends, Numair the mage, Onua the Horsemistress and Alanna the Lioness, she battles the Mages of Carthak to save Tortall from destruction...
2. Wolf Speaker
The second volume of Tamora’s Pierce’s enthralling four-part fantasy series.
“The change from her mind to Russet’s was gradual this time. It felt as if she were becoming part of him in slow bits, when he blinked she knew she saw through his eyes.”
When the wolves of the Long Lake Pack ask Daine to protect them from the humans who are destroying their home, she responds with alacrity. But she and Numair soon realise there is a more sinister side to the destruction... For Tristan Staghorn, the Emperor’s Mage, is controlling Fief Dunlath, and only Daine and Numair can stop him from carrying out his evil plans...
3. The Emperor Mage
The third volume in Tamora Pierce’s enthralling four-part fantasy series.
I haven’t got it yet!
4. Realms of the Gods
The final voloume in Tamora Pierce’s enthralling four-part fantasy series.
“Daine sat up in her bed-nest, eyes wide in the gloom, soft lips parted. “Numair, what is it?” “It’s the barrier,” he replied softly. “The barrier between the Realms. It’s... gone.”
Trouble has come again to Tortall. Not only are Daine, Numair and their friends fighting their old enemy - the ex-emperor Orzone - but the barrier between the realms has vanished. And when Daine and Numair are accidentally dragged into the Divine Realms, where Daine discovers some things about her past, before she came to Tortall, they realise the situation is more grave than they first thought, because Uusoae, the God of Choas, is up to no good, and must be stopped at all costs.
The Circle of Magic Quartet
Right now, I only have No. 3, Daja’s Book, (The Fire In the Forging, UK title), so this is the only summery I can give.
3. Daja’s Book The Fire In the Forging (UK title)
“I think fire is the most fascinating element. It is friend and foe, and sometimes the difference lies only in the direction of the wind at the time” - Tamora Pierce
The magic is out of control...
The Winding Circle mages were supposed to aid drought-stricken Gold Ridge. But with their magics tangleed and entwined, Tris, Sandry, Daja and Briar only add to the valley’s problems.
They must learn restraint....
As flash-fires close in about the castle, the four struggle to master their unpredictable power. It seems their skills must be separated and confined. But that might hamper Daja’s growing ability to manipulate fire... and destroy their one hope of saving Gold Ridge.
The Fire In the Forging is the third book in this wonderful fantasy quartet. You’ll fall under its spell...
First Test (sent in by Eisam)
Keladry of Mindelan dreams of becoming a knight. After living in the Yamani Islands for a long time, where she learned the Yamani form of fighting, she decides she is just as good a fighter as any of the boys. But Lord Wyldon, the trainer of Pages and Squires, doesn't think girls can become knights, and decides to make her a probationary page for one year. If she does well, she will be able to continue training, if not, she won't be able to come back the next year. But Kel doesn't give up that easily. Though the boys don't like the idea of having a girl train with them, she makes friends with Nealan of Queenscove, and later with some other boys, including Prince Roald, the heir to the Tortallan throne. Still, the other boys continue to bully her, and Lord Wyldon tries to chase her away, because of several things, including her fear of heights. And why does the Lioness always stay away from her? And who is sending her all these expensive gifts?
More summaries to come!
