Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

2020 Review:

I had honestly forgotten a majority of this book since I read it last. Might do again, given how much I read, but that’s just my brain.

Pretty awesome, altogether. Kel’s well suited to taking care of people, which is what she does throughout. Part of the ending made me choke up, which is good. I rarely get choked up at book these days.

2024 Review:

So, as my review from 4 years ago states, I had forgotten, like, 99% of what happens in Lady Knight. That's definitely not a bad thing, just a thing that I apparently do with books I haven't read in a while. Lady Knight is worth remembering, though, as I feel it shows off Kel's skills and tendencies in a really fun way.

I feel like Lord Wyldon definitely picked Kel's first knightly assignment well, even if it did end up having unforeseen consequences. As young as she is, it's really impressive that she manages to keep her refugee camp well under control. This is partially from her learning from Lord Raoul and just Kel's own tendency to take control in a manner more befitting a "commoner." I also feel like Kel has more empathy toward pretty much everyone, so that definitely helped.

Lady Knight is interesting in that it takes place over 7 months, instead of the 4 years of Page and Squire and the year of First Test. Much of that time is spent in Haven, Kel's refugee camp, where we get ourselves invested in Kel's refugee charges. I didn't really realize this until later, but it's actually really important, because otherwise, I'm not sure we as readers would be all gung-ho about Kel hauling off to go rescue them later. It's totally within Kel's nature, but we needed attachment to them and there's only one book to do so and not even the whole book... anyway... it wasn't boring and Tobe and Meech are the kiddos I'd lay my life down for.

There's a paragraph in my personal notes where I wax poetical about Kel, Neal, and Merric being babies. Like, seriously, they're 18 in this book and 18 year olds are just... ahhhh. I could not imagine being one of those refugees faced with literal teenagers... I get that they're adults in the medieval-y fantasy world Pierce has concocted, but still... 18 is so young.

I was, again, moved to tears by all the coming together in support of Kel. First Raoul sending Dom and his squad out, then Neal, Merric, and them, then Owen and Tobe... just... tears. Many of them. And again at the very end... Lord Wyldon, my dude, has apparently completely come around.

Uh... yeah. Pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I really liked Lady Knight and I think it's a fitting end to Kel's quartet.

Remembering Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

 Possible spoilers for Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce. Sorry, not sorry.

I feel a little compelled to write this before I start rereading Lady Knight partially because I've read my current review (which will be posted with the new one later) and because I think I'm actually remembering a bit. My current review of Lady Knight is short and basically says that I remember nothing about it. This was in 2020.

So, basically what I'm remembering is about Maggur's metal devices. In Squire, Kel manages to bash one "to death." I'm fairly certain they're somehow powered by the souls of children. I'm also fairly certain this is made clear during Kel's Ordeal by The Chamber's vision.

I also think I remember something about a battle along a shoreline involving Peachblossom and/or Hoshi. I confess I could be mixing that up with something Alanna did in Song of the Lioness, but I really don't know. Well... I do, because what I'm remembering didn't happen in Song of the Lioness so... yeah. Still feels a bit like a misremembered something or other.

Ah, yes, Cleon and Kel break up. Pretty sure that's something that happens. I do not remember whether or not they end up sleeping together before that, but they definitely break up. Cleon's got that whole arranged marriage thing and Kel's nowhere near the mindset to get married and have kids and all that.

I know this isn't much and I'm definitely not remembering as much as I did in my other Remembrances, but I had to get it out of my system before I started rereading Lady Knight again.

In Other News

In finished another OviPets project! Cyberdramon, based on the Digimon of the same name. Cyberdramon took me approximately 8 months to complete.