Lioness Rampant

Lioness Rampant, the fourth book in Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet is by far the best. It has a coherent plot that ties all of the chapters together. It ties up all the loose ends that have been left hanging in the rest of the series. It highlight's Alanna's growth and gives everyone a happy ending.

It's actually impressive how much Pierce improved over the course of this series. I think part of that is that she was given more room to develop her characters and plots. The fourth book is nearly twice as long as the first one. It also helps that the main character has grown up a lot since the first book.

The final book completes Alanna's journey to adulthood, which follows the classic hero's journey beat for beat. But Pierce manages to keep it fresh and interesting. I'm definitely keeping this series around for my hypothetical future daughter (who already has an entire shelf on my bookcase). I'll probably get around to the rest of Pierce's books too, eventually. Though that may be years off.

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