The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

I enjoyed this, the third book in Tamora Pierce's Alanna quartet, a lot more than the previous two. As a whole, it's more cohesive. Whereas the previous two books seemed largely like a series of vignettes, this book actually had a plot that carried through all the chapters and connected them into a single story.

Alanna is now a knight and off looking for adventure. While riding through the desert, she's taken hostage by a tribe. Eventually the tribe accepts her as one of their members and even makes her their shaman so she can train their gifted children. Even though she's technically an adult now, it turns out that Alanna still has a lot to learn. She becomes more comfortable with her talents and has a couple of romances.

The final two chapters seemed more like setup for the final book, and it all wrapped up a little hastily. But Pierce continues to improve with each subsequent book. I'm definitely hanging on to this series for my future daughter.

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