Lady Knight Books In Print, Audio Books.|
Lady Knight buy bestselling books in print, audio books |
 |
List Price: $23.95 Our Price: You Save: $0 Features • Large Print |
| [ + Zoom ] [ Buy Now ] | Book : This item is currently not available. |
|
Lady Knight description In the final thrilling installment of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series ( First Test, Page, and Squire), our sturdy young heroine, Keladry of Mindelan (a.k.a. Kel), has finally been knighted. Never one to rest on her laurels, Kel champs at the bit, ready to tackle the horrific magic killing devices she was shown in the Chamber of the Ordeal during her knighthood initiation. The huge, insectlike machines, "made of iron-coated giants' bones, chains, pulleys, dagger-fingers and -toes, and a long whiplike tail," feed on the souls of dead children and are systematically killing off the citizens and warriors of Tortall. Thoroughly disgusted to discover that not only is she not going to be assigned a combat post, but she has been placed in charge of a refugee camp instead, Kel, in her usual noble, stoic way, swallows her disappointment and sets out being the best refugee camp commander possible. Of course, destiny has a way of sneaking up on a young woman like Kel, and soon she is fulfilling the ordeal the Chamber set out for her... and then some. Tamora Pierce once again draws her legions of fans into her story, blending humor, pathos, exhilarating battles, and gripping drama with a very real, very appealing protagonist. It's easy to make war appear black and white, a matter of good versus evil. Pierce finds the shades of gray. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter |
|
|
| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Trading off quality writing for quality story-telling? |
| Tamora Pierce's first two books were obviously written by someone who didn't quite know their style yet. The "Lioness" quartet isn't written spectacularly, but the story is interesting and catchy, and the characters and action are enough to keep readers going. While perhaps the second two books of this first quartet weren't as good (slightly slower, unfortunately), they were still enjoyable. The same applies to the better "Immortals" quartet. In the "Immortals" quartet, the writing is better, but the stories are new, original, and interesting. Fun, still.
Then we hit Kel and the "Protector of the Small" quartet of Tortall. All seemed nice and dandy, right? Well, not exactly. "First Test" was reasonable enough, but Kel is an incredibly flat character. What made the Lioness quartet so fun was that Alanna was a kick-[...] character. She felt wholly real, with her temper, her personality, and her MISTAKES. Kel is just bland, flat, and picture-perfect. Pierce created the character she wanted, not the sort of character that would actually exist. But it was still fun. Enjoyable, that is. "Page" was cool, "Squire" was awesome and incredible, but then we hit the finale. This book, "Lady Knight". Pierce generally falls with her finales. As a general thing, her stories are mostly predictable and run-of-the-mill, and she seems to run out of ideas once she hits the end. Here's an example of that. I loved "Squire", and then I read this. It was a disappointment, certainly, but not only that. It was boring. It was dull. It's the sort of book that's only worth rereading for the sake of NOT DOING something else. It's not the sort of thing you go back to because you loved the story and the characters. Kel was just as flat, just as predictable, and just plain dull throughout this book. What made "Squire" and "Page" so interesting was everything AROUND Kel - meaning, her friends, her surroundings, her enemies. They were who made the story what it was. Here? It's just slow action that moves at a pace similar to a grandmother turtle. Obviously, anyone who has read "Squire" and the other books in the "Protector of the Small" series will want to read this to finish it off. Really, I figure this won't actually scare away most of Tamora Pierce's girl-based fanclub, but I figure people should know what they're getting into. TO SUM THIS UP: "Lady Knight" was where it became clear that while Pierce can now write well, perhaps her imagination is failing her. With nothing interesting here, it seems that she has forsaken quality story-telling for quality writing. This doesn't have a particularly interesting story-line, it moves slowly, and the cool characters from days ago are simply side-men now. This doesn't live up to previous books. In the meantime, I'll go back and reread "In the Hand of the Goddess". |
|
|