Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce

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Submitted by suzy 
(Jun 07, 2007)

OK. To start things off I loved the first three books of this series! they were fast paced and interesting. You are drawn into the world of Kel, a girl trying to prove that girls are just as good as guys. She fights off bullies, upstages many of her male year mates and stand up for what everyone is taught to believe but many ignore because thats just the way things are. In the third book she has a relationship with a knight 2 years older than her and that really grabbed my attention because in both of her previous series the female heroine found love, yes they were kind of corny and a little odd but they just made me love the books that much more. Now for the reason i only gave the series a 4 instead of a 5. I found that 2 things could have been reintroduced into the book that were just dropped and it left me thinking, why did she put this in? First is the griffin baby. She find it,cares for it and returns it to the parents. The end. I just don't see the point. she could have reintroduced the griffin later in the series, it could have helped with the battles for instance. i just found it a let down that she overlooked those details that she included in her previous books. Also In the last book Kels romance with Cleon end abruptly and he never comes back into the story. That killed a little of my love of the book. (I never expected her crush on Neal to last) I know its stated that he married the woman he was betrothed to but he could at least come back and show that they are still friends and that they still have a relationship. I found this the other lack of interest in what her readers may be interested in knowing. I feel that she left alot of gaps in the story that would have easily been filled and would have made me love the series instead of leaving me to feel like its a let down. The biggest let down for me is that she never found love. Its a corny part of the story but I like it when her heroines find love. Overall i do LIKE this series but i found the last book a huge let down and i am no longer a huge fan of this series.

I highly recommend this series of books. I believe they are the best. They are my personal favorite of all the books I've ever read. It is about a girl training for the knighthood - against extreme odds, it shows girls are just as good as boys and we all can acomplish our dreams if we strive. The characters are great. They include an amazing girl, her funny best friend, tough training master and many others. The author really went out on a limb to write these and I think Pierce made many great choices while writing these books.

When I came upon this number in my local library, I fell in love with it at once. Keladry of Mindelan is a heroine who is focused on what she wants and doesn't easily give into what she feels. To find her yelling would be like finding a fire in the Sahara Desert at daytime-it would be extremely uncommon. She puts up with cocky attitudes, chauvinistic men, and people who think that she's just a f lousy and she accepts it by telling herself that she's a calm lake. Her adventures are extremely intriguing and Tamora Pierce has a way of drawing you into a "what's gonna happen next" situation. Plus the cast set up with her is very good. Her best friend-a boy who's 5 years older than the rest and has a very limited frame of mind. Her headmaster-a war hero that believes that she can never do as much as men can. Her maid-a girl whose frightened of men and what they can do (and has good reason to, too). Plus she has a finicky stubborn warhorse, faithful and clever sparrows, a loudmouth acquaintance, and a whole country watching her believing that she's "not proper." All in all-a very awesome book!

I have read all of Tamora Pierce`s tortallan novels up till the latest one - "Trickster`s Choice" - and I think they are all equally amazing, fantastic, etc. They are all about young girls growing up and finding their place in the world (2 become knights, 1 becomes a wildmage and 1 wdorks partly as a spy).
I will tell you briefly about the first series - "The Song of the Lioness". Alanna of Trebond does not want to go to convent and learn to be a lady she wants to be a female knight, her brother - Thom - does not want to be a knight, he wants to be a powerful soceror. So as a combined effort they manage to twist it so Thom goes to the "Mithran Priests" to learn advanced magics and Alanna goes to the palace to receive training as a knight.
Do NOT read any of these series out of order as it will ruin some parts of earlier ones. The order of these series and their seperate books goes as follows - "The Song of the Lioness" quartet (Alanna - the first adventure, In the hands of a Goddess, The woman who rides like a man and Lioness Rampant), "The Immortals" quartet (Wild Magic, Wolf Speaker, Emporer Mage and Realms of the Gods), "The Protecter of the small" quartet (First test, Page, Squire and Lady knight), tricksters series (Trickster`s Choice and Trickster`s Queen) and more to come.
I really recommend these books, they are all amazing reads.
Happy Reading!
Ow200

This book hits the hearts of many girls around the world that have always been told that they cant do something and have set out to do it and have been succsesful. This book has a character that changes with age and shows how she adapts to these changes. It has action as well as romance. It is a great book that I have read many times over only to fall in love with it all over again.