Alanna: The First Adventure

With brilliant new livery to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this ground-breaking fantasy series, Alanna the Lioness – the first woman knight – rides again.

Alanna of Trebond may be a girl of noble birth, but she will not be sentenced to the life of a well-mannered young lady. Alanna dreams of becoming a knight of the realm of Tortall, and neither her gender nor her father’s orders will stop her.

Though Alanna’s father is preparing her twin brother, Thom, for the path to knighthood, he dreams of studying sorcery. To forge their own destinies, the two hatch a cunning plan: Alanna will disguise herself as a boy and take Thom’s place while he learns the art of magic.

But the path to knighthood is never easy and, on her first adventure, Alanna will find friends and enemies, sickness and sorcery, and discover the magic within her…

Forty years on from first publication, The Song of the Lioness Quartetretains its warmth, adventure, and steel, affirming this coming-of-age tale as a timeless masterpiece.

©1983 Tamora Pierce (P)1983 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

The Characters and challenges

This series is a wonderful place to escape to. I found Tamora when I was in my twenties. When this series celebrated its 40th anniversary Audible finally released them as audiobooks. I’ve read the series over and over through the years. Being able to listen to them is a nice blessing. I’m grateful for it and would love to see the rest of her books released the same way. Also I believe that Tamora’s daughter is an author as well. I will try to read her back lists as well as her mother’s. I’m grateful to read and listen to one of my favourite series in a new way. Being in this world with these characters is always a pleasure.