Squire by Tamora Pierce

I quite enjoyed Squire. It was well paced and well written. I enjoyed getting to know Lord Raoul and the King’s Own. I feel like Kel grew into more of her own person with them. Not that she wasn’t before, but Raoul gave her permission to grow into her sense of humor along with her serious streak.

Oh yeah, and this book has a lot of Kel crushing on Dom and having a relationship with Cleon later… the joys of reading adolescent romance… however, I do like that Kel’s affections don’t center on any one person for long. I think it’s definitely more realistic to the average girl’s experience. That is, any non-ace girl, which is the only experience I can actually speak to. Although honestly… my first few kisses with my boyfriend almost exactly mirror Kel and Cleon’s, so that’s fun. I love Kel’s mother. Ilane of Mindelan is a gift to her children. I truly believe all parents should be as frank about sex as Ilane is. It’s awesome.

I find it interesting that there’s this thing here about bought magic not being as good as magic you’ve done yourself. But like… not everyone can be a mage and a majority of the people talking about this aren’t mages so… it’s just a little weird. Kind of reminds me of the arguments about crafty things or kids even… not as good if you didn’t make them, apparently. It’s not ultimately that big of a thing throughout the book, just an interesting note.

I feel the conclusion to the Lalasa kidnapping was interesting, to say the least. It puts actual ruling in perspective for Kel and the reader. We’re reminded that the rulers or rule at the behest of their people, be they monarchs like Jonathan and Thayet or not. At least, that was my takeaway.

On a related note, I’m not going to discuss what happened to Joren and Vinson during their Ordeals in this review. However, I will say: I wish we had something like The Chamber of Ordeal for our lawmakers and presidential candidates.

At this point, I don’t really know what else to say about Squire. Kel’s journey from Page to Knight feels both conventional and unconventional at the same time. Raoul was right when he said times were changing and knights needed to be more flexible. I feel like Kel’s squire-dom reflects that.

Favorite Line

"Haven't you ever noticed that people who win say it's because the gods know they are in the right, but if they lose, it wasn't the gods who declared them wrong?" - Lord Raoul of Goldenlake