Download Now In The Hand Of The Goddess (Song Of The Lioness, #2) Constructed By Tamora Pierce Accessible Through Bound Copy
do I start
These books came with such high reviews, and I was really excited to start reading it, But then I started reading it, First off, Alanna is a Mary Sue, Anything that happens ends perfectly, with no consequences to the characters, She's stereotypical and isn't consistent at all,
Meanwhile, the years progress between pages, and months can pass by between paragraphs leaving the reader totally lost and annoyed, Things that are supposedly major plotpoints have no buildup and end within a few pages, with no reflection,
I secretly believe that this book was written by ayear old girl as names like 'Moonlight', and 'Faithful' litter the pages, The author never addresses any real struggles that a girl acting as a boy would face, does nobody really notice that her voice hasn't changed, or that she has no facial hair Really
There's so much more I could say about this book and how disappointed I am with it.
It was painful to finish, I think my brain is bleeding,
My goodness, my memory is atrocious, I thought that the ending of this book was supposed to be the ending of the final book in the quartet, so now I will be continuing on with the series going in totally blind!
This was so enjoyable, I love these books so much.
The nostalgia is real!
I do think that they could have been fleshed out a little bit though, There is a bit of glossing over and jumping forward in time in big leaps, so things moved very fast in pace, I wish I had the chance to slow down and savour it more,
Other than that, loved the action, the characters, the world, This was definitely more enjoyable for me than book! Still not quitestars, but I have to round up because these really are fast, fun reads.
Alanna is badass and I love her, SPOILERS AHEAD
"I don't want to fall in love, I just want to be a warrior maiden, "
HAHAHAH YEAH RIGHT,GREAT JOKE ALANNA
Sooo, . . this book was basically like a sketch of Alanna's teenage years, In on chapter she's,in the next one she's
Alanna gives everything these cutesy names which made me throw up a bit, Come on,she names her cat Faithful, Jesus. Oh,please,spare me the pain.
Book:
How can you not doubt Alanna's decisions when she prefers Jonathan to George
What about the development of the supporting characters
I don't know.
. . because there isn't any development!
THE END,
After a strong start to this series, this book is a slight step back, We continue to follow Alan/Alana as she gets ready to take the tests for her knighthood, and we continue with uncovering the plot kill the king and prince.
Plus, Alana gets a talking cat courtesy of the goddess,
You know, on top of the violet eyes, the sword she King Arthur'd out of the cellar, and the amulet, her healing abilities and now her magical cat, I'm starting to suspect that Alana just might be Special.
At least she's not entirely a Mary Sue, A couple of characters hate her the evil ones, of course and she doesn't do everything perfect the first time, but it's a near thing, Oh, and of course, she's got two different guys interested in her, because of course she does, And of course, both men are gross about it in their own special ways, rolls eyes
While still competently written, this suffers a little from lack of plot, It felt more like several subplots strung together between the bindings of a book, It was interesting to see Alana learning how to be a girl again after all these years spent being a boy, and I did love the cat.
How could I not But this felt more like filler, and I think it resolved the assassination plot much too neatly and tidily, Really enjoyed this one! Can't wait to pick up Book! first readJanuarystars
Speeding through years of Alanna's squirehood, her Ordeal, and a final showdown with Duke Roger the Evil Sorcerer, In the Hand of the Goddess wraps up Alanna's quest to become a knight with more of a whimper than a bang.
We leave our faithful Lady Knight preparing to depart for the south on adventures of her own which I am PUMPED FOR,
. Alanna's secret is pretty much not hers to share, huh She doesn't get to reveal it to the king and queen and the rest of the court on her terms she didn't get to tell Jonathan on her terms: all together, her agency is kind of run roughshod over which is distasteful to me.
. On that note: can someone please tell me why Gary is the one who she tells her secret to mostly, it seems, because Jonathan picks him for her This right here is exactly what I meant about Alanna's selfishness: is there any difference between Gary and Raoul at this stage of the story Yes, there is further development in later books, but here, now, facing her Ordeal: why does she pick Gary What sets him apart from the rest of the hoard
.
lskdjfldjk JONATHAN. I wished I liked this story arc more: what I wouldn't give for a heroine to have a romance that doesn't end in HEA but remains a healthy, loving relationship instead of a "learning opportunity" for her future hero UGH.
Except I DIDN'T LIKE THIS RELATIONSHIP AT ALL,
Part of it is the fact that it develops when Alanna is still serving as Jonathan's squire And Alanna makes several comments about how her life is hisnot because she loves him in a romantic sense, but because she is his liege.
And her examination of why she wants to be his lover is rooted in jealousy and halfdismissed out of her own fear which she does acknowledge!but it doesn't ever crack a surfacelevel.
It's extraordinarily shallow, and easy and instead of feeling like she's choosing to be with Jonathan in a romantic sense, it rather feels like he's available connecting rooms!, he's down with it he's flirting with all the ladies, and she's curious although she tries very hard to stop that train of thought.
This ties into the above: that the Alanna series does not do its relationships justice, They are simple, easy things: if Alanna likes a person, they are good, If Alanna does not like a person, they are evil, Taking a lover is an easy decision once the decision has been made, There are no complexities to the people Alanna interacts with: they are either for her, or against her, or tools for her to learn her lesson i.
e. , the lesson to "love" as given to her by the Goddess, I found myself flinching away from Alanna far more than I recall, wanting there to be a deeper examination of her life, her world, her actions, her peers, her masters.
. In the vein of THAT RELATIONSHIP, up until she makes the decision to open her door for him, all the physical manifestations of attraction are done to Alanna: she is kissed several times without her permission.
She is hugged. She is touched. She does not instigate any of it, which makes her decision to take Jon as her lover seem all the more like it came out of nowhere George is guilty of the kissing, too! HOW COULD YOU GEORGE.
ALSO, when Alanna is describing Jonathan's tantrums which, I believe, are supposed to read as the angsty fits of a lovelorn suitor, they read as dangerous and manipulative.
She has to flirt with ladies and can't talk to boys and has to look a certain way and has to dance with the people Jonathan says she has to dance with and and and!! THIS IS NOT COOL BEHAVIOR.
I remain squicked out by the relationship,
. AHAHA STUPID
ROGER.
. OH THOM.
SORRY I HAD A THOUGHT: I think I recall from an interview with Pierce several years ago that the Alanna Quartet was originally meant to be one novel but publishers at the time did not believe that a larger book would sell and so she was asked to break her original manuscript into pieces.
From my current vantage point midarc, I'm curious what sort of impact that tidbit has on the flow of things, .