Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1) in Our Shared Shelf

May 16, 2012 Brittany rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: yafantasy

I hate giving this book a two-star review. I feel bad about it. It's like kicking an adorable, defenseless kitten. A red-haired kitten. With purple eyes. And surprising aptitude for pretty much everything. And with lots of courage and just oozing adorable precocious pluck. But absolutely no sense of humor.

People seem to love this book, and I think I know why. Had I read this as a young girl, I would have loved it. It's a coming of age story about a girl who feels different from everyone else. On I hate giving this book a two-star review. I feel bad about it. It's like kicking an adorable, defenseless kitten. A red-haired kitten. With purple eyes. And surprising aptitude for pretty much everything. And with lots of courage and just oozing adorable precocious pluck. But absolutely no sense of humor.

People seem to love this book, and I think I know why. Had I read this as a young girl, I would have loved it. It's a coming of age story about a girl who feels different from everyone else. One who is (of course) gorgeous and possessed of amazing skills, has her own horse, and is flawless in every way. She's not so much a character as she is a cipher for young girls' imagination. Which is fine, and I would probably recommend this book for kids ages eight through, I don't know, 14. But that doesn't mean I enjoy reading it.

I tried to pinpoint what, exactly, bothered me about Alanna, and I decided it was her cipher-ness. But it's also that Pierce did a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. We're told she's funny, but we never see any real examples of it (except when she says something that's not funny and all her friends laugh so we're lead to believe she's funny. The laugh-track effect). She's incredibly lucky, and she seems to be blessed the ability to miraculously discover or develop a skill when it's called for.

But I think, in the end, it's that both she (and the storyline) are cliched and predictable. As soon as you find out she's a twin, you know how this is all going to go. As soon as you meet the (good, kind, noble) prince, you know they'll be friends and she'll eventually save his life. There's even a king of thieves with a heart of gold and a dastardly uncle. Neither the characters nor the story was believable. If I'm to accept that Alanna pulled off the deception she did, I'd need to know a lot more about how. It was just all too cliched (I'm not sure you actually can get away with a red-haired purple-eyed protagonist, no matter how good you are). Too much went on behind the scenes, and I was expected to suspend my disbelief too much. My eyes got tired of rolling

It's not a bad book. Like I said, I'd recommend it for younger readers, but I didn't enjoy it myself. As bad as I feel about that.

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Nov 24, 2014 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: ebook, fantasy, ya, magic

A quick review for a quick read. If I had read ALANNA when I was at the age of the characters I would have loved it, with its girl-in-boy's-clothing switch and hints of magic. Being far out of that age range now, I can see the pacing issues and the "mary sue"-ness of Alanna. But it's a fun beginning-quest novel, and Pierce doesn't shy away from verisimilitude for her characters. But this is clearly written for younger readers, which is fine--I'll be sure to find a copy of this for my daughter wh ...more

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May 19, 2011 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-world

You can tell it's an older book because it doesn't do a whole lot of explaining of the rules of Tortall (especially the magical rules), but it's a good story. Plus I always love a strong female character. ...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Shannon rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2012

It was okay, and I'm totally going to read the rest of the series. Alanna was just so fabulous at anything she set her mind to that it got a bit tiresome. ...more

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