TP throwbacks: Song of the Lioness

[Kypriotha]

Welcome to the first of our TP throwbacks, Tortall edition. This week we will be focusing on all things Song of the Lioness!

This is the place to share all your thoughts, questions and headcanons about the very first TP series.

[devilinthedetails]

I'll break my thoughts down by book (warning: long post ahead):

Alanna: The First Adventure

-The first Tamora Pierce book I ever read. I read it for a book club in middle school so it will always be a nostalgic book for me since it made me fall in love with Tortall.

-Love the introduction to Coram and Maude and how the two are like parents to the twins. Kind of always wished that we had gotten to see more of Maude. Think she could have been like a mother to Alanna (similar to the role we see Eleni Cooper slide into). Always enjoyed the scene where Maude gives Alanna advice while cutting her hair.

-Duke Gareth slays every scene he is in from the moment he is introduced. I am so here for his dry wit and brocade dressing gown.

-I always enjoy Alanna's first lessons and the banter between Alex and Gary about how hard they have to work. Those moments gave me a soft spot for Alex early on.

-Gary is a great sponsor. I love how he helps Alanna through her assignments and knows how to cheer her up.

-As a kid who was picked on in middle school, I did appreciate that this book talked about bullying and showed that strong people like Alanna can be victims of it. It also encouraged me that Alanna had a group of friends who supported her in her fight against bullying. The older I get, though, the more problematic I find the way Jon's crowd (excluding Alanna who acts in self-defense) treated Ralon. Ralon is a pretty unsympathetic character, but the way that Jon's crowd (again excluding Alanna) behaves to him seems like bullying too and definitely exacerbates the situation between Ralon and Alanna by making Ralon more bitter of Alanna. It also rubs me the wrong way that we never get more history behind why Jon's group hated Ralon before Alanna arrived and why Jon ordered Ralon not to speak to him at all, which seems pretty terrible. The older I get, the less I like Jon the Prince, to be honest.

-This book showing a teenage girl getting her first period is so powerful. As a middle schooler, I could relate to a lot of what Alanna felt when she had her first period, and her conversation with Eleni always moves me.

-The Sweating Sickness always works for me in a Black Death sort of way, and Alanna saving Jon from it is epic. Francis dying is sad but would pack more emotional punch if we had the opportunity to know him better.

-Alanna going to visit the ruins of the Old Ones in Olau is cool, and her finding Lightning there always feels mythic in the tradition of Arthur drawing the sword from a stone. I am always curious to learn more about the Old Ones.

-Love Alanna's trip to the desert. The conversation in the Sunset Room sticks with me, and Ali Mukhtab leaves a strong impression on me even if he is only a minor character in this book. Bazhir myth is so awesome and interesting.

-The fight against the Ysandir (would love to learn more about them too) is great.

-Jon and Alanna's discussion by the oasis is one of my favorite scenes in any of the Tortall books. So much loyalty, friendship, and emotion with just the right traces of humor to lighten the tone. A spectacular ending that made me hunt down the rest of the series the first time I read it. I just had to know what happened when Alanna squired for Jon.

In the Hand of the Goddess

-I'm normally not the biggest fan of characters interacting with deities but the scene where Alanna meets the Goddess works for me. Maybe because the conversation feels spiritual in ways that explore Alanna's complexities and vulnerabilities as a character. Feels more like a character moment than just a chance to show she is special (though she still is treated as a sort of chosen one).

-Faithful is a great companion and guide for Alanna.

-Jon and Alanna's first kiss touches me in a way that most of their romantic moments don't.

-Alanna being captured and having to be rescued by her friends is pure tension and adventure. Jon's determination to rescue her also takes on new dimensions as I age. When I first read, I assumed that he didn't want her secret of being a girl to be revealed, but as I get older, I think he might also have been worried that she might suffer extra violence just because she was a female if her identity was discovered.

-Gary and his mustache are hilarious.

-Delia's scene with Roger is extremely creepy but I wish that we hadn't learned so quickly they were in league together. I think it would have been more fun to build the suspense and let the audience wonder if Alanna's jealousy is making her distrust Delia incorrectly.

-Alanna's duel with Alex is always scary. Shows how much Roger is manipulating Alex in this book. The older I get, the more horrible I find what Roger does to Alex.

-Alanna's Ordeal of Knighthood and earning her shield always feel like they could be spots where this book could end for me. I think having the main antagonist of the series (Roger) killed off so early created structural and plot issues that forced Roger's resurrection to occur and most times resurrections feel like cheap plot devices to me. I'm not sure Roger's first death is necessary at all. Think the series would have been improved without it.

-Alanna's farewell to her friends always touches me. Few people write friendship as well as Tamora Pierce does in my opinion.

Woman Who Rides like a Man

-I do love that this book shows us an Alanna away from court having the adventures she dreamed of as a child. I also appreciate that there is an effort to focus on the Bazhir.

-Unfortunately, the treatment of the Bazhir reeks of white man's burden and cultural imperialism. This book really reads like the Bazhir are so backwards they need progressive white people to come in and save them from themselves, which is especially problematic since the Bazhir in some ways are more progressive than the rest of Tortall. At least their government isn't quasi-medieval feudalism, one of the least progressive forms of government in history. Their government structure is much more democratic.

- I love many of the individual Bazhir characters like Kara, Koureem, and Half Seif, though. On an individual level, the Bazhir are written with complexity and sympathy, but on a collective level, their portrayal remains problematic to me.

-Jon as Voice always makes me uncomfortable. I just don't know why a peaceful solution between the Bazhir and northerners that doesn't involve the Bazhir surrendering this sacred position and submitting to Tortallan rule can't be found (or even is attempted to be found). Why can't the Bazhir rule themselves politically and spiritually? What gives Tortallan royalty the right to do so?

-I do respect Jon for traveling among the Bazhir, trying to earn their trust, and endeavoring to learn about their culture. All that is good and deserves to be celebrated but sadly it is undermined by the cringe of Jon being Voice. Such cultural appropriation and I don't use the term lightly.

-All Jon and Alanna's arguments irritate me in this book. Each is as immature as the other. Romantically they seem to bring out the worst in each other at this point. Glad they didn't get married. They would have made each other miserable.

-I do like a lot of the little details like the rise of Claw in the Rogue that set up major plot points for the next book. Makes the series flow.

-All in all, I enjoy visiting the desert for a change of setting but the treatment of the Bazhir makes this book feel more dated than the rest of the series. I use dated because I hope that if it were written today it would be written differently. I don't hate this book but it's my least favorite in the series. It's ambitious for trying to tackle cultural diversity but really drops the ball when it comes to dealing with cultural diversity in a sensitive manner.

Lioness Rampant

-When I first read the series, I was impatient at how long it took Alanna to get back to Tortal, but now I love seeing Maren and wartorn Sarain. Makes the world feel bigger.

-The moment where Alanna and Buri meet is awesome.

- I do love that Thayet--described as the most beautiful woman in the world--is biracial. Fantasy needs more of that. Women of all races can be and are beautiful. Let's celebrate that.

-Finding the Dominion Jewel feels like a mythical fantasy quest. Always exciting.

-Jon being vulnerable to Gary about the loss of his parents and the difficulties of ruling breaks my heart for how much he has suffered. I really think these losses and difficulties define him as both a king and a man. He really resonates with me as a character here, and I do get the sense of him basically having a brotherly relationship with Gary.

-Jon and Thayet meeting always feels iconic to me, but I'm biased since I love Jon and Thayet as a couple. I imagine they can bond through shared loss.

-Love all the little friendship moments. Alanna teasing Jon about his Thayet drawing, Raoul teasing Gary about his rambling on things like crop yields, and Raoul hugging Alanna on the ship. These are the details that make book friendships believable.

-Not really a fan of how a motivation for Alex's betrayal is teased but never given. Think he should still have been treated as manipulated and bewitched like he was in the second book. The continuity should have been kept especially if no credible motivation was given.

- Not really a fan of Thom going from paranoid about Roger to raising him from the dead. Screams plot contrivance to me to be frank.

-Not a fan of Roger's resurrection as I alluded to earlier but glad he stays dead the second time he is killed.

-The earthquake is terrifying.

-I enjoy the ending in the desert. Wraps the series up nicely.