Celebrating 40 Years of Alanna of Tortall

When I was astir 12 years old, I utilized to walk agelong summertime hours astatine my family’s business, located successful a boring Midwestern portion mall. We were situated disconnected the road and determination wasn’t anyplace I could locomotion to, oregon overmuch to support my attraction nearby, truthful I often spent my clip speechmaking a stack of room books successful the worker interruption country and wandering the sidewalk successful beforehand of the fistful of different stores — a pizza place, a dollar store, a tanning salon, and different assorted shops that didn’t truly entreaty overmuch to an almost-teen. This was the aboriginal 2000s, and I wasn’t rather connected online and wouldn’t person had entree to a machine adjacent if I was, truthful the summers seemed to agelong connected and on.

And then, 1 day, I discovered that the Hallmark store astatine the different extremity of the portion promenade had a publication section.

This was the screen of my archetypal transcript of Alanna: The First Adventure!

It was small, and mostly contained wide marketplace paperbacks, but determination was a conception specifically devoted to kids and teens, and erstwhile I recovered this root for books, I was begging anyone who’d perceive for books. My grandmother, bushed of maine interrupting her enactment day, yet caved and handed maine a 10 dollar bill. The archetypal publication I bought was Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. I tore done it, and past went backmost to my grandma begging for the adjacent 3 books successful the series, which she graciously obliged. Of each the things that my grandma ever gave maine successful her lifetime, I don’t deliberation she realized that buying maine those 4 wide marketplace paperbacks was astir apt the astir impactful gift.

For the uninitiated, the Song of the Lioness Quartet follows Alanna of Trebond, who is astir 11 astatine the commencement of the series. She desperately wants to go a knight contempt the information that she is simply a miss and it Simply Isn’t Done. Her duplicate member Thom is expected to go the knight, portion she is to beryllium sent to the cloisters to larn however to go a lady. With the assistance of 2 loyal household servants, Thom and Alanna power places truthful that Thom tin spell larn however to go a mage successful the cloisters and Alanna tin spell to tribunal arsenic her brother. She spends astir the adjacent 7 years masquerading arsenic a lad and grooming her hardest, forging unexpected alliances successful tribunal and successful the superior city, and making a fewer enemies, too. Along the way, she learns she’s been chosen by the gods for a peculiar destiny.

The archetypal 2 books, Alanna: The First Adventure and In the Hands of the Goddess, screen Alanna’s years arsenic a page, past squire, successful the king’s court. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man and Lioness Rampant travel Alanna’s archetypal years arsenic a knight, traveling the continent and facing dangers, prophecies, enemies astatine location and abroad, and helping radical successful need. Not lone are they large stories, but these books woody with issues that, looking back, I saw seldom successful the modern books I work astatine the time, fto unsocial the phantasy ones: getting your period, steadfast relationships (both romanticist and platonic), forging your individuality erstwhile you don’t acceptable into society’s expectations, and having enactment for the archetypal time. They besides diagnostic beauteous coming-of-age storylines and are astir the value of pursuing your way and lasting up for what you judge successful and those you attraction about, and forging a recovered family. What peculiarly resonated with maine was Alanna’s tendency to beryllium a knight, nary substance what it took. But contempt years pretending to beryllium a boy, arsenic she matures she realizes that portion she mightiness person wished to beryllium calved a lad due to the fact that of the opportunities afforded to them, she besides likes being a woman, and wants to indulge successful feminine things arsenic well. What I took from that was that girls tin beryllium tough, capable, and beardown — but they tin besides beryllium brushed and feminine. Alanna didn’t person to choose, and arsenic the bid progresses, she holds fiercely to her independence, valuing it much than idiosyncratic summation oregon adjacent romance with a antheral she loves.

I won’t unreal that the books are cleanable — they were written passim the 1970s and published successful the 1980s, and successful immoderate ways they amusement their age. I person immoderate thoughts astir the property differences betwixt Alanna and 2 of her emotion interests, and The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, successful particular, feels a small clunky arsenic it explores Alanna’s clip with the Bahzir, a conquered radical who unrecorded successful the godforsaken of Tortall and bash not admit the king. Alanna finds herself spending months with them arsenic she takes implicit the magical grooming of 3 young radical of the tribe, and she doesn’t ever person the astir progressive views connected femininity and identity. She does germinate implicit time, and successful the afterword of the 2014 edition, Tamora Pierce reflects connected her inspiration and her ain struggles with knowing feminism arsenic being inclusive beyond her ain archetypal understanding. She acknowledges that her intent was ne'er to origin offense, but hints astatine the ways her reasoning has evolved since drafting the publication 40 years ago. I urge picking up Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas, an fantabulous YA graphic novel, for an updated look astatine phantasy knighthood and colonialism.

While truthful overmuch astir the satellite has changed successful the 40 years since Alanna: The First Adventure was published, I deliberation Alanna’s communicative inactive resonates with truthful galore people, and not conscionable the Gen X and Millennial readers who archetypal work these adventures. Here is simply a heroine who forges her ain path, who has faults and petty grievances, who wants the full world. She doesn’t ever get what she wants, but she ever stays existent to who she is. Alanna helped usher successful a full caller epoch of beardown women successful phantasy who were much than princesses oregon maidens successful distress, and who helped specify the thought of a beardown pistillate protagonist arsenic idiosyncratic who doesn’t conscionable wield a sword, but who is emotionally susceptible arsenic she holds accelerated to her convictions. I’m truthful thankful that my grandma gave maine the acquisition of Alanna of Tortall 20 years ago, and portion we are fortunate to person truthful galore much astonishing YA phantasy books starring beardown young women, I anticipation that Alanna of Tortall volition inactive beryllium astir for astatine slightest different 40 years.

Want to research the Tortall universe? Here’s wherever to start.