Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

So, Alanna: The First Adventure is actually quite a quick novel. It’s really easy to read and breezes through three years worth of Page training. Like, really breezes through it. I noticed there was rarely time to actually sit with any of Alanna’s issues, aside from the notable exception of the Ralon thing.

Speaking of, this whole “we don’t report our bullies” thing is some bullshit… carries on into the next generation, too. So dumb. I know this well because, I was honestly far more invested in Protector of the Small than I ever was in Song of the Lioness. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but I guess I just didn’t find it as satisfying. That’s actually exemplified in Alanna. Aside from Alanna herself, there’s not really much to get invested in, I don’t think.

The random swapping of POVs gives me a bit of whiplash. The entire lack of detail here versus the Beka Cooper books also is giving me a bit of whiplash, though it is very welcome. I do not need super detailed accounts of Alanna’s day to day. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have enjoyed more detail… Alanna’s story thus far is just not memorable. Like, I literally did not remember anything from it aside from Jon, Gary, and George being Alanna’s friends. I’d still be a little hard pressed to come up with even an outline of what happened despite having just finished the book.

Roger of Conte suffers from a bad case of “obviously the bad guy.” He’s not even super subtle about it himself, Alanna’s feelings about him notwithstanding. “I am not often kind, Alan.” Really, dude? I also very much agree with Alanna’s assessment of his motives at the end. I don’t remember any details at all about Roger from my past reads, but he definitely has “super obvious bad guy” vibes, even without Alanna’s feelings about him.

I’m pretty sure I’ve only revisited Alanna once since my first reading. Having her entire four years or whatever as a Page all compressed into one book is interesting. Seems as thought the time just flew by, which is probably part of the realism, really. If you’re so consumed with work or schooling or whatever, the time just flies by. I honestly don’t know if it really works in the book’s favor, though. Like I’ve said, I literally remembered nothing about Alanna so… yeah. It was a fun, breezy read that didn’t leave anything stuck in my brain for later.

An After-Thought

In the 2014 Afterword, Tamora Pierce notes that she originally wrote Alanna's story as an adult novel. I think that is probably why Alanna is the way it is. The teenage years of a protagonist's life wouldn't really be that interesting to an adult audience and so aren't super fleshed out.