Rating:  Summary: AWESOME! Review: Out of Tamora Pierce's many books, i think this one was one of the best she has written yet. The Alanna series touched me, and Protector Of The Small series showed even more compassion and adventure. I can't wait till Mrs. Pierce writes the KNIGHT version of this series. Keep pouring 'em out, they keep getting better! It shows that in a world of prejeduce and hate, females are actually getting stronger. It's a shame of the problems females face as we all grow up, and this book shows that we can overcome almost every one.
Rating:  Summary: It's good but not as good as I would expect. Review: Keladry is a new squire and is looking forward to the next four years as a squire. The only trouble is no one wants The Girl as a squire. Finally, she gets a knight master, the Knight Commander of the Kings Own. She learns the skills of a knight first hand and helps people along the way. She also trys herself against the Chamber of the Ordeal through out her years as a squire, finally truely facing it to become a knight. The Chamber has more in mind than a meer test though. I love Tamora Pierce. She is my favorite author. This book just isn't her best though. The charactors didn't seem as real emotionally as they did in her other books. I think it was still really good though and can't wait for Lady Knight.
Rating:  Summary: Good book Review: A fine continuation of the series. Kel moves out of the palace and into the wider kingdom. Interesting new characters.This also does a nice job of setting up what should be an AWESOME 4th book.
Rating:  Summary: i haven't read it YET!!!!!! Review: Helllloooo! i know it seems dumb to write a review about a book i haven't read. But i guarrantee that this book is gonna be cool!...too bad though, about alanna not choosing kel for her squire! sigh...oh well. just BUY this book!
Rating:  Summary: I couldn't put this book down Review: I have read all the books written by Tamora Pierce and they just keep getting better. I couldn't put this book down and finished it the same day it arrived. In this book Keladry grows up and confronts some of her worst fears. It is mingled with humor and adventure and I highly recommend it to anyone who liked Tamora Pierce's other books, or any books by Mercedes Lackey.
Rating:  Summary: Relatively Interesting, Lacking Uniformity Review: Unlike the other Protector of the Small books, this one lacks certain aspects that make the others incredibly appealing. However, the book is still an interesting read -- and I encourage most to do so. Tamora Pierce's great aspects as a writer consists of her ability to implement humour, exemplify personal character traits, engage the reader through endless torments that lead to an unpredictable end. This book falls short of the aspects mentioned above. First off, there is an inconsistency in Kel's character, and maybe it's me, but her "affair" with Cleon seemed totally out of character, and perhaps not the best resolution for the budding tension between Neal and Dom. It also baffled me that the characters we loved from the first book, Neal (especially), Merric, Lasala, Roald, etc. were BARELY mentioned in the book. Cleon, of course, got the most attention. It was rather disappointing that these characters got such minor roles, there personality traits and significance lost and forgotten. An author must keep certain constants, yet adopt changes as well. Tamora succeeds brilliantly in introducing new angles, however, the abruptness of the changes often leaves the reader incredulous -- the staples of personality traits and scene were often undermined as a result. Kel loses some of her frank Yamani characteristics, loses some of her innocence, and is immersed into this entirely different angle of life. She loses her love for Neal, and loses most contact with her friends. The book didn't make me cry out for joy or laugh heartily when Kel stubbornly set out to prove her abilities -- like the last books where she stood up to Joren and his friends and accepted a loss. The book loses steam often, however, this is similar of all of Ms. Pierce's books...maybe except for the Immortals Quartet, the 3rd book generally is the weakest, but then there is ALWAYS an explosive 4th book. However, some positive aspects of this book were: There is definetely more action, definetely more interesting adventures that Kel experiences with the King's Own. The world of Tortall is a great expanse, and although it's slightly disappointing that the world of the palace (one grand, constant, and comfortable) is abandoned, it is incredibly enjoyable to be immersed in such a world, when reading this book. I definetely recommend this book, and although it may not be the best, it certainly holds to the criteria that makes Tamora Pierce's book so desireable
Rating:  Summary: Better than the last one! Review: This is the most reacent book in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the small series. Now Kel is a squire and she has a new training master, one who is much more lenient on her. She can carry her Yamani glaive and he teaches new jousting skills. The Yamani princess arrives, Kel finds a baby Griffin and she meets up with all of her old friends again, including Neal of Queenscove. In short, because I know no one likes to read long reviews and to fit everything in this would be a LONG review, this is an excelent book from a renound author, who gets better with each book she writes.
Rating:  Summary: The Best Book Ever. Excedes(is that right) Harry Potter Review: I think that Mrs. Pierce outdoes her self ever time. But this time, she r(...)eally outdid herself. I don't think she, or anyone, could do better at all. You can almost fall in love with the charecters.
Rating:  Summary: A book that all Tamora fans will love. Review: This book, the third in the Protector of the Small series, is one of Tamora Pierce's best. Keladry of Mindelan has survived her years as a page and is moved up to a squire. But she doesn't want to be a desk knight, and is worried that a real knight won't pick her. Until Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak (yes, the same Raoul in the Alanna books, for all you Pierce fans) takes her on as squire. He treats her just like he would a regular goy squire, which is one reason she likes him. He is also the commander of the King's Own, and with him, Kel will almost definitly see plenty of action and get to try her skills. The only bad thing about this is that Sir Alanna isn't going to be her knight master - instead, she picks someone Kel is very close to! Even so, after the King's Own tracks down some badits, Kel gets stuck with a griffin and has to lug him around with the Own, which gets to be kind of troublesome. After tacking down the bandits, Kel and her knight master return home to the palace, where he helps her to joust, something she begins to get very good at. Soon, the prince's bethroed wife from the Yamani Islands comes to Tortall, where Kel helps to introduce the young princess to her new city of Corus. The entire court, servants, nobles, and squires alike, all go on a Great Progress, where the princess will be introduced to Tortall and it's people. I don't want to spoil anything else, but lets just say that things get to be even more tense between Kel and her old enemy, Joren of Stone Mountain; Kel keeps challenging herself against the door of the Chamber of the Ordeal where she has visions; and there is a great deal of trouble with the Scanrans in the north - the Kraken turns out to be a big test to Kel to prove herself to the men of the Own. All in all, this is a very exciting book, and I can't wait for the next book to come out, Lady Knight!
Rating:  Summary: Excellent! Review: Maybe I have no right to say what I am going to say because I haven't read the other books in this series...but after reading this one, I don't want to.
I picked the book up for a $1--hardcover brand spankin' new. I got what I paid for!
I knew it was a children's book and thought it would be a light, fun, easy read. It seems that Kel only starts to really gain character at the end of the novel. At times there are certain things that the author seems to just "write in" the book because the situation she's in will make it easier. For example instead of talking about earlier in the story of training birds to read hand signals, when there is a need for the birds to know hand signals it's very convenient that they already possess this ability and of course Kel trained them before...but when did she have time? When you read the book it tells her daily schedule and never mentions bird training at all! There are lots of loose ends like this throughout the book. Also, it's very unrealistic. Not unrealistic in the fantasy sense...even in a fantasy world it wouldn't happen. Want to know why it wouldn't happen? Because the author does not convince me that this could really happen in another world. I am referring to female squires and knights. The Lord of the Rings is believable because Tolkein can convince me that these things are real. Pierce is not believable. Also, she borrowed too many elements from Japanese culture for the Yamani people or whatever Pierce named those people. Just by calling them a different name doesn't make the things she talked about non-Japanese. How about coming up with something original? The book was okay...just okay. If I had it to do over I wouldn't read it. There were also way too many flat characters that I couldn't keep up with. I would need that dictionary in the back to keep them straight because most of them didn't do anything except show up and say hello and then fade away until their next hello. I really think a lot of the characters were unnecessary. And the bird.... too much like a Phoenix for me.
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