Protector of the Small Quartet

These are the kinds of fantasy "girl" books that everyone rolls their eyes at before dismissing. Really, I do this, too. But Tamora Pierce is outrageously popular at my library and I thought I ought to read something of hers. Someone suggested I begin with the Protector of the Small quartet, which is, I believe, the third series she'd set in her medieval fantasy world.

The story involves young Keldary of Mindelan (Kel, for short) who grew up in the Yamani Islands (Japan) with her ambassador mother and father. Upon her return to Tortall (Europe), she decides she wants to become a knight. This has only recently been made possible by the legendary Alanna the Lioness, who disguised herself as a boy in order to do it. She was so great, apparently, the king decrees women should be able to openly train for knighthood. Kel has no magical gift, as Alanna does, so if she can survive the training, it will prove to all the fusty conservatives that women really can fight, etc. Kel's weapons training in the Yamani Islands makes her a natural, and she eventually defies all the odds (including a fair but conservative training master that doesn't believe girls belong in the program, loads of cruel boys who think her success threatens their manhood, hazing, bullies, a crippling fear of heights, and a horse that's too big for her) to survive not only the first probationary year (not imposed on any boys), the three additional years as page, one (I think?) as squire, and the mystical "Chamber of the Ordeal" that tests knights-to-be. Along the way, she picks up a flock of tamed sparrows (useful for distracting the enemy and pecking at him), a beat-up mutt (good for tracking and biting), a warhorse named Peachblossom, and even a baby griffin for a short time. The last book tells of her first duties as a knight, including running a refugee camp, stopping terrible "killing machines" (magicked robots fueled by the souls of murdered children), and killing the mage making said machines and murdering said children.

This kind of story and characters make me cringe, but mostly because deep down I really do enjoy them. As an adult, I realize that the writing isn't all that great, the story is pretty much formulaic, and a lot of the plot devices are somewhat transparent. However, it's a good story. I liked it in the same way that I devoured Piers Anthony novels (each of those has pretty much the same story with different characters) and Mercedes Lackey's books (ditto) as a kid. I like fantasy, even if it's dorky and predictable and corny at the same time. A librarian should always tell a patron not to be ashamed of their reading choices, so I suppose I should just get over it and declare proudly that I enjoyed these books. As I keep wanting to go back and rewrite that sentence, I guess I have a ways to go...

Issues include magic, gender roles, mild sexuality, battle violence and gore, necromancy, bullying, hazing, and social strata.