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seulgireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault
Minor: Misogyny
taranightreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
cicadaknight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
- Genuinely love Alanna’s wit and banter. Her characterization is probably what’s made this series stick with me for 2 decades.
- A story from the 80’s where men have loving, tender, and affectionate friendships with each other and a girl? Delightful.
- Pushy, waaay-too-old-for-the-protagonist love interests? Less delightful.
- At least for the era it was written, pretty fascinating for a girl character to reject sexuality entirely and then overcome her fear of it. When she IS ready to explore it, she isn’t oversexualized nor is her desire demonized.
- Also appreciate that this book fully avoided homophobic tropes around fear of the protagonist and her lover being caught or suspected of being involved while she’s disguised as a boy.
- Regrettably, no exploration of her two love interests being attracted to her masculinity given that she presents as male for 8 years. Bicurious kings lmao
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Outing, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Drug use and Racial slurs
Use of “yellow” to describe an asian-coded character. How this character is “asian-coded” should be its own discussion.jessereadsthings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexism
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
gnomescottage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The new worldbuilding focuses on Alanna's first experience of war, as well as some new examples of how magic works. Being a squire seems to give Alanna more freedom than being a page, able to travel see Thom at one point. This is also the introduction of Faithful, Alanna's cat whose meows sound like speech to her and may have a supernatural origin.
Both of Alanna’s suitors are older than her and are young adults by modern standards while she’s still a teenager, though are reasonably close to her in age. She’s fifteen to George’s twenty-one when he first kisses her and she rejects his advances. A year after the first kiss, George lets her know he’s interested in marrying her and is willing to wait years if need be, something that is on a fine line between endearing and creepy, saved mostly by their continued strong friendship and the fact that he does stop actively pursuing her after this conversation. Later on, she and Jonathan get together when she’s seventeen and he’s around twenty-one. At one point Jon gets possessive of her, a difficulty compounded by the fact that their relationship is a secret. Given the overall arc of the series, this works pretty well and is one step in Alanna figuring out what she wants from relationships and how she'll approach love and sex.
Alanna's distrust of Duke Roger, sorcerer and cousin to the king, continues. She keeps being suspicious of him but then not doing anything about it (for eventually explained plot reasons). It covers the final years of Alanna's disguise as Alan, since she planned from the start to reveal her identity when she became a knight. There's a new storyline related to the war with Tusaine, beginning with diplomatic efforts and then leading into Alanna fighting in part of the campaign. I don't think there are any major things introduced and resolved within this book, since even the war with Tusaine serves as an extension of machinations begun earlier. Alanna's relationship with Jon begins here, but I don't think it could be called "resolved" at this point, it's implicitly on hold while Alanna is traveling but they haven't talked about it within the text.
This leaves the rest of Alanna's life for later, but specifically her next steps as a newly-revealed Lady Knight, travelling with Coram to figure out what she wants. Alanna is still the main narrator, but this includes small sections following other characters, most of whom have grown and changed from the first book. It covers several years of her life, and Alanna matures a lot during that time. It could make sense for someone to start here, as it doesn't rely on a lot of complicated backstory and it briefly recaps whatever is necessary. The main plot focuses on Alanna's time as a squire, ranging from her upcoming Ordeal of Knighthood, to the campaign against Tusaine, to Roger's meddling. It also shows more of Thom than the first book, now that he's almost done with his magical studies.
Graphic: War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Death of parent
aprica's review against another edition
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
inferiorwit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
charm0nix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Sexism and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
redkeys's review against another edition
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Outing