The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man is largely a book of Alanna finding herself outside of the concerns of earning her shield. She becomes comfortable with her magic, is adopted to a loving family and people, and ultimately learns to fully be herself. It might not be as detailed as I would like, but it’s a mostly fun tale.

I have noticed that Pierce doesn’t really describe settings or clothing very much at this point in her writing. I guess that makes errors in borrowing cultures a little easier to hide or just, not make. Dunno. Strikes me as a little odd this time around. It’s especially thrown into sharp relief as I begin another reread of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Pierce simply does not set scenes with as much skill as Rowling. We get more feelings from Alanna, but even those are relatively scarce. It’s not bad, exactly, just not as immersive as I remember it being when I first read The Woman Who Rides Like a Man. Many shrugs.

I do enjoy the magic system. We knew a little about it before, but since Alanna is teaching now, we get to learn more about it. I like that there’s a general knowledge base magic users need to know, but also that they have specialties that are more innate and unique.

So, this whole thing with Jonathan wanting Alanna to marry him. I don’t remember how I felt the first time, but I think I want to punch him this time. He’s so sure she’ll eventually give in, he’s smiling, probably more smugly that we’re told, about her “Let me think about it” answer. I very much think Alanna saw right through to Jonathan’s actual reasons for wanting to marry her at this stage. But he’s a dude and she’s said she loves him to obviously means she’ll marry him. Barf. No. Not how that works, my dude. You can love someone, sleep with someone, and not want to marry them. I am glad Jonathan’s a bit self-aware about his behavior outside of this moment, but it’s definitely not enough. Pierce talks about it more in the 2014 afterward, apparently Jonathan got so used to court ladies he assumed Alanna would be like them, forgetting she isn’t. Still not great on his part.

So, it’s interesting that each of the cities doesn’t have their own Rogue at this point in time. In Beka Cooper’s day, I doubt George would have set foot in Port Caynn for fear the Port Caynn Rogue would have his head. Just fun to see how times have changed… or canon. As so often happens with prequels written after the fact.

The break from Alanna’s story to George’s was honestly a shock, this time around. I did not remember it at all, though I vaguely remember who Claw actually is… or was. Again, not a bad turn of events, as I believe this break was important to the overall story, like, will be more important in Lioness Rampant. George forming an alliance with Sir Myles is definitely important down the line.

Anyway, I blew through The Woman Who Rides Like a Man in a day, more or less. I am enjoying Song of the Lioness thus far, though it is definitely different this time around. I think maybe when I was younger, I was more likely to fill in details with my imagination than I am today. The world just doesn’t seem as vivid now. Still a good read, just not as immersive as it used to be.

Just A Little Update

I know I said the last time I mentioned my GoodReads reading goal that I was going to start upping the goal by 5 books at a time, given the time of year and change in my schedule. However, given the speed at which I'm blowing through The Song of the Lioness, I went ahead and put the goal back to where it would have been would I have added 10. I know this probably has little interest to anyone but me... but yeah. Figured I'd be honest about my "Goal Smashing" tally.