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jessereadsthings's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
Definitely my favorite in the series and in the Tortall book so far. The part where Kel returns to a ruined Haven made me genuinely emotional. Though I do wish the rest of the books had lived up to this one in my reread.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, and Animal death
Minor: Rape and Racism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Finishing off the Protector of the Small quartet, LADY KNIGHT is an excellent end to a good series. It's the story of Kel's first big assignment as a knight: running Haven, a refugee camp near the border with Scanra. In her Ordeal of knighthood she was given a task by the Chamber, and chafes at the feeling that running the camp is holding her back from going after the man killing children and turning them into strange metal monsters. There are new storylines related to her time running Haven, and her care of Tobe, a boy with horse magic. I don't think anything is both introduced and resolved here, since the biggest rescue relates to the task the Chamber set her in SQUIRE. Technically a great many characters' storylines are "resolved" through death, but those who are met and then later killed are nearly as many as those whose first mention on the page is when Kel finds their bodies.
As the final book in the quartet it leaves open the idea that Kel and her comrades will have further deeds when this is done, and it settles what she'll do after Haven. It resolves the magical threat posed by the killing machines, and gives an idea of what her friends will do next. It teases a few things that could happen later for secondary characters, but these won't necessarily show up in future Tortall stories.
Kel is still the narrator, with the exception of a brief section from someone else's perspective. She definitely sounds older than the first two books, and her characterization in LADY KNIGHT is consistent with the end of SQUIRE. Other than the fact that Kel was set a task before the book begins, this is self contained enough that it could mostly make sense if someone read it without any of the other books. It covers only a few months, rather than years, and focuses on events within a small area once it gets going. The ending will definitely be more satisfying for someone who at least read SQUIRE, but there's still a lot to love for any readers who try starting here (especially if they're familiar with Tortall as a setting from other series).
Kel has grown up a lot but is very aware of how much she still has to learn. She has a lot of strong relationships which get a chance to pay off here. She's not hanging out with people as much, since her duties and her organization of the refugees take the narrative place that training filled in the earlier books. However, Neal, Dom, and Owen have a strong presence, and I'm fairly confident that this has more of Merric than the rest of the series combined. The animals play an even bigger role this time, made possible by some help from Daine.
The worldbuilding focuses on the logistics of running Haven, as Kel begins having to to many things herself and gradually gets infrastructural support and clerks to make some aspects easier. There's some detail about the war, but as the fourth book of a quartet set in a world already filled with stories, it doesn't pause to explain quite as many things as the earlier books did. There's still enough to make the relevant things make sense, and it works overall.
The plot is the most focused of the quartet. Kel has two main things she needs to accomplish, and she works on running Haven until she gets the information she needs to act on the directions from the Chamber. I enjoyed the process of turning Haven into a defensible position filled with confident civilians who know how to defend themselves. The story conveys the shape of Kel's days without dragging, never letting go of the need to stop the source of the killing machines as soon as she can.
As the final book in the quartet it leaves open the idea that Kel and her comrades will have further deeds when this is done, and it settles what she'll do after Haven. It resolves the magical threat posed by the killing machines, and gives an idea of what her friends will do next. It teases a few things that could happen later for secondary characters, but these won't necessarily show up in future Tortall stories.
Kel is still the narrator, with the exception of a brief section from someone else's perspective. She definitely sounds older than the first two books, and her characterization in LADY KNIGHT is consistent with the end of SQUIRE. Other than the fact that Kel was set a task before the book begins, this is self contained enough that it could mostly make sense if someone read it without any of the other books. It covers only a few months, rather than years, and focuses on events within a small area once it gets going. The ending will definitely be more satisfying for someone who at least read SQUIRE, but there's still a lot to love for any readers who try starting here (especially if they're familiar with Tortall as a setting from other series).
Kel has grown up a lot but is very aware of how much she still has to learn. She has a lot of strong relationships which get a chance to pay off here. She's not hanging out with people as much, since her duties and her organization of the refugees take the narrative place that training filled in the earlier books. However, Neal, Dom, and Owen have a strong presence, and I'm fairly confident that this has more of Merric than the rest of the series combined. The animals play an even bigger role this time, made possible by some help from Daine.
The worldbuilding focuses on the logistics of running Haven, as Kel begins having to to many things herself and gradually gets infrastructural support and clerks to make some aspects easier. There's some detail about the war, but as the fourth book of a quartet set in a world already filled with stories, it doesn't pause to explain quite as many things as the earlier books did. There's still enough to make the relevant things make sense, and it works overall.
The plot is the most focused of the quartet. Kel has two main things she needs to accomplish, and she works on running Haven until she gets the information she needs to act on the directions from the Chamber. I enjoyed the process of turning Haven into a defensible position filled with confident civilians who know how to defend themselves. The story conveys the shape of Kel's days without dragging, never letting go of the need to stop the source of the killing machines as soon as she can.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Animal death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Child death
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, and Physical abuse
Minor: Cursing, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Excrement
wondereads13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
All of these books are very gritty and realistic, but this one takes it to the next level. A lot of war-focused fantasy stories have the main character out on the front lines or in some sort of strategist position, but the opposite is true for Kel. She is instead in charge of building, running, and defending a refugee camp, a position that reveals all the horrors of war to her and the reader. Even when Kel does end up going on her quest to defeat the evil, it's only justified by an attempt to protect those people she has been put in charge of. It is also exacerbated by the presence of Tobe, Kel's new servant, and the other children, who are caught up in the conflict despite being at the most ten years old. I also love the ending of this one. The main conflict is wrapped up rather neatly, but there's a lot of ambiguity about what Kel will be doing next, so it lets the reader speculate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, and War
inferiorwit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Animal death, Kidnapping, Slavery, Gore, War, Vomit, Excrement, and Blood
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
charm0nix's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Violence, and War
manarnia's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
And so ends another quartet! Kel and her friends are fantastic. Parts of this book dragged for me, but overall, it was a good ending to Kel's story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Trafficking, Sexism, Misogyny, and Slavery
Minor: Torture
meganpbennett's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At the end of Squire, the Chamber of the Ordeal gave Kel a mission: she is to find and kill the mage who uses necromancy to power the killing devices with the souls of children. As a Knight of the Realm, she is forced to follow the orders given to her by her King, and those orders include constructing and governing a refugee camp. When the Scanrans destroy the refugee camp, taking all adult survivors as slaves and bringing the children to the necromancer, she has a choice: does she obey her King or does she track down the Scanrans and recover her people?
This was not my favorite of the quartet - I found the ending very abrupt, and it felt a bit like the author was trying to tie off loose ends by force. That being said, not-at-her-best Tamora Pierce is still leagues better than other authors at their best.
This was not my favorite of the quartet - I found the ending very abrupt, and it felt a bit like the author was trying to tie off loose ends by force. That being said, not-at-her-best Tamora Pierce is still leagues better than other authors at their best.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Kidnapping, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Child death
Minor: Misogyny and Slavery
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