First Test

This is the first book in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. This is also the first book of Tamora Pierce's that I have read. Looking at her other series, this is the one that interested me the most, so I picked it up. This series follows the story of Keladry, or Kel for short, who is the first girl admitted to training to become a knight since the King's proclamation that girls could do so. Kel has one year to prove she can keep up with the boys or else she'll be sent home.

I read this book within a day. It's short - about 200 hundred pages. And there's no real overarching plot - the story mostly just goes through Kel's training as the year progresses. What makes it much more interesting than say the training in Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit is it's not just details of the children's chores for the day. We get Kel's thoughts and emotions as she tries and sometimes fails and sometimes succeeds at the tasks. We get the slow progression of friendships Kel forms with her fellow students. We get the back and forth sense of uncertainty from the training master - is he for or against Kel?

For such a simple book, there's a lot of emotion packed into it. You are driven to care about the characters and what happens as the year moves on. I had no desire to put the book until I was through to the end. Kel herself is very likable, befriending animals and protecting her smaller classmates (Kel is tall for her age). She's smart and capable, though at times uncertain. And she has a fear of heights.

I liked this book, and I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series.