Reviews - Lioness Rampant, Book 4

1.17k reviews for:

Lioness Rampant, Book 4

Tamora Pierce

4.25 AVERAGE

teaandpirates's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 stars. Satisfying conclusion but some of it felt rushed. Still I love these characters so much and I cried.

lashu's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

starryfaye's review against another edition

4.0

Finally! I've finished the Song of the Lionness quartet! This is a very exciting accomplishment for me, especially since I haven't read the series since I was little.

Now, onto the review. When I started reading it, I got frustrated because it seemed long winded and annoying. I was impatient to get to the end, since I was rushed for time to read it. All that aside, the book was good.

We got to go further into Alanna's adventures, and it was great to see Alanna's world open before her as she traveled. There was a taste of the world outside Tortall in the previous book, but it only concerned the relationship between the Bahzir and Alanna's people. Instead here, we get to meet a new, interesting, colorful cast of characters: Liam, Thayet, Buri, and loads of others. Also Alanna gets to be stronger and more diverse, learning Shang ways and being open to people who don't necessarily like magic, or even her (some were wary of the Lady Knight).

There were some problems with the book that I didn't like. Even though I was frustrated at first that it literally took at least 150 pages before Alanna goes after the Dominion Jewel, in retrospect it added a more human element, where there was a focus on friends and meeting people rather than questing and adventure, although there was a lot of fighting in between. That being so, it could have been shortened a bit. In addition, Duke Roger coming back was annoying - I really wanted him to stay dead, that cur. Maybe it felt cheap that the author would just reuse him as an enemy instead of making up some new enemy, and it irked me quite a bit, although it did go into the story well, so that his death and his plans weren't as abrupt. Speaking of his plans

Spoiler

we never really find out what he set out to do - take the throne? Defeat the Gods? It was vaguely mentioned but still not satisfying enough to know what his intentions... and what about Alex? We never knew what he wanted to gain from it, and it seemed weird that he just became evil, like he and Alanna were friends too! Speaking of friends, I wished they went into her relationships other than her love interests Liam, Jon and George, and with the boys she grew up with as a knight, Raoul, Gary and the others, just like in the first book, so in that sense it felt a little lacking. And poor Faithful! We don't even see another cat join Alanna, he just becomes a part of the stars - hopefully his kin will join Alanna's cubs.

Tamora Pierce's writing about battles are very descriptive and somewhat exciting, but sometimes I just didn't want to hear anymore about jabbing and looking for openings, y'know?

All in all, the book tied up the story nicely, in terms of who ends up with who and what happens after the great battle. I was sad to see the book end, because I spent forever growing up with Alanna and her world and Pierce's brilliant writing throughout the quartet, but I'm glad she had a happy ending and there will be more books concerning her or Tortall's world at least. The series is really great, and it pleases me to know that the series is just as good as I read it when I was little, in awe and wonder at a bad ass female heroine with fiery hair and a fierce personality to boot, taking on the world.

EDIT: I absolutely love the covers of the series, they're so gorgeous and fit it so well! ♥