huzzah tamora pierce and her wonderful heroines. i adore the way she writes coming of age stories for girls with a warrior spirit. her tales revolve around powerful young women who fight for what they believe in.

i read her ’song of the lioness’ cycle a few years ago and loved it. i may have even enjoyed this series a bit more as the protagonist, Keladry, was not gifted with magic the way her predecessor was. she had to battle for her place every step of the way.

a young girl enters the rough and tumble man’s world of those that train to be knights. no one wants her there and so she is on probation, proving herself worthy of her position. from this first test, through her early knighthood, we get to watch as she gains herself quite a few friends, and almost as many enemies. through it all, she remains solidly human, never proving to be infallible nor the perfect knight.

i look forward to reading more of the tales of tortall.