The thrid book of the Lioness Quartet, finds Alanna, her psychic cat, Faithful, and her man-at-arms, Coram, among the desert tribes of the Bazhir. Here Alanna breaks with tradition by training three gifted youths - two of them girls. She also sets out to tame the evil in a substitute crystal sword that she suspects belonged to her enemy, Duke Roger. Meanwhile, her ambitious brother, Thom, is experimenting with raising the dead and new trouble brews. Also, she has a misunderstanding with Prince Jonathan, her lover who has assumed their betrothal and a romantic reunion with George, the King of Thieves. First off, this book was nowhere near as good as the first two. Although the second half is better than the first, I didn't like the Bazhir plotline. However, I understand Alanna was getting over her fight with Duke Roger, but I just wish Tamora Pierce had done a better job writing that part. The first two books picked up much quicker. With the exception of Alanna, all, or almost all, of the original characters either had small roles or were removed entirely. Take her twin brother Thom for instance. Although, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man features him in a return appearance, at the end, it's only for one scene, which is very disappointing since he's one of my favorite characters. On the brighter side, his character has turned darker which is interesting. Prince Jonathan, who's role was also reduced, really seamed to be pushing Alanna into a relationship - marriage and children - which I didn't like, but from what I hear, he's jealous of Alanna's freedom. The book somewhat lacked the nice cross between adventure, fantasy and drama from the first two and you need solid characters or the fantasy will fall flat. The book is not as fast paced and much more tedious, which is quite bad and ends on a weak note. Even though it was important that Alanna fix her sword, the rest of the final chapter was unnecessary. What should have happened, was that The Woman Who Rides Like A Man should have ended with Thom's appearance and Alanna arrives and has her brother fix her sword. This cameo appearance by Thom would have made a stronger ending to the book. Finally, since everyone discovered Alanna's a woman in the second book, the suspense is ruined for the rest of the series. This hurt the book immensely. Overall, not as good as the first two - much more mediocre. On a side note, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man was banned because of sexual references and the use of the amulet to prevent pregnancy.
The thrid book of the Lioness Quartet, finds Alanna, her psychic cat, Faithful, and her man-at-arms, Coram, among the desert tribes of the Bazhir. Here Alanna breaks with tradition by training three gifted youths - two of them girls. She also sets out to tame the evil in a substitute crystal sword that she suspects belonged to her enemy, Duke Roger. Meanwhile, her ambitious brother, Thom, is experimenting with raising the dead and new trouble brews. Also, she has a misunderstanding with Prince Jonathan, her lover who has assumed their betrothal and a romantic reunion with George, the King of Thieves. First off, this book was nowhere near as good as the first two. Although the second half is better than the first, I didn't like the Bazhir plotline. However, I understand Alanna was getting over her fight with Duke Roger, but I just wish Tamora Pierce had done a better job writing that part. The first two books picked up much quicker. With the exception of Alanna, all, or almost all, of the original characters either had small roles or were removed entirely. Take her twin brother Thom for instance. Although, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man features him in a return appearance, at the end, it's only for one scene, which is very disappointing since he's one of my favorite characters. On the brighter side, his character has turned darker which is interesting. Prince Jonathan, who's role was also reduced, really seamed to be pushing Alanna into a relationship - marriage and children - which I didn't like, but from what I hear, he's jealous of Alanna's freedom. The book somewhat lacked the nice cross between adventure, fantasy and drama from the first two and you need solid characters or the fantasy will fall flat. The book is not as fast paced and much more tedious, which is quite bad and ends on a weak note. Even though it was important that Alanna fix her sword, the rest of the final chapter was unnecessary. What should have happened, was that The Woman Who Rides Like A Man should have ended with Thom's appearance and Alanna arrives and has her brother fix her sword. This cameo appearance by Thom would have made a stronger ending to the book. Finally, since everyone discovered Alanna's a woman in the second book, the suspense is ruined for the rest of the series. This hurt the book immensely. Overall, not as good as the first two - much more mediocre. On a side note, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man was banned because of sexual references and the use of the amulet to prevent pregnancy.
