books 2005: The Woman Who Rides Like A Man, by Tamora Pierce

[supercheesegirl]

Okay, so I lied about the part where I was only going to read one book a day. I read this one last night.

Oh, Alanna. What happened to you and Jonathan? He used to be your best friend, but ever since everyone found out you were a woman all he can think about is marrying you and getting you to have his babies. What the hell? When did he become such a jerk? I mean, you worked so hard all those years, does he think that now that everyone knows you're a girl you're going to just put on a dress and be all docile? Even though that's pretty much what you're doing now, I mean, you've been a knight for a whole year and instead of doing knightly things you just moved to the desert to do this earth mother shaman thing. And what's up with your brother? And now you're sleeping with George? I mean, I was rooting for George all along, but the scene when it arrived was a little anticlimactic, just "I think this should have happened a long time ago" and off you go. Is that really a good example to be giving our young adult readers?

I'm going to go read book 4 now. But overall I think books 1 and 2 were better than book 3.

Comments

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

While I do find the first Alanna sleeps with George thing anticlimactic, I don't think it's a terribly bad example for young adult readers to see an 18-20 year-old having relatively casual sex with a longstanding friend after breaking up with someone who is obviously the Wrong Guy. I mean, Jon's a sweetie in his way, but he has Wrong Guy tattooed across his forehead in blinking neon. Alanna and George have been sniffing at each other practically since the beginning of book one. Sooner or later, something was bound to happen.

I think we show teenage girls way too many images of women getting lucky and settling down with their first choice at alarmingly young ages. Statistically, that's not the most likely thing to happen. I mean, when I was fourteen, my romantic judgement sucked. By the time I was 24, my judgement was just as bad. Someone, somewhere has to point out to kids that these things happen, and life goes on.

It picks up again in book four.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I was mostly just being goofy when I said that about being a good example, but it's true that for some reason I was a little bothered by Alanna's sexual choices, and I'm not sure why. I guess I'm not used to my YA heroines being so casual about sex? She's got the anti-pregnancy charm, and it seems that stds aren't a problem in her universe, but I guess I just wanted a little more depth than what we were shown? The first time Jon asks she says no but then she goes right to his room later that night. Maybe I wanted her to be more thoughtful of her actions? In one of her conversations with Jon in book 3 she says that he should marry a virgin, and when he says that she was a virgin when they were first together, she replies that people wouldn't believe that. Well, why didn't she think of this stuff before she slept with him? With her nontraditional lifestyle any sexual activity she has would likely be noticed and gossiped about, and dignity is really important for a knight. Maybe I wanted her to be mindful of that.

I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

Tammy actually answers some of these questions on her website:

www.tamora-pierce.com

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

But, very important warning, READ THE BOOK FIRST.

The FAQ spoils the plot.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

oooh. that's a good point.

you might need to read ALL the books first, actually.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I'm in the middle of the fourth book now, so I'll check it out when I finish this one. I don't know yet if I'm going to go on to the others, and I don't know much about them anyway, so I just won't notice that part. :)

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

the wild magic books are worth reading, too, and the Protector of the Small books are several kinds of worth reading.