Book Review: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

[Shiloh Adlar]

Title of the book: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Author: Tamora Pierce
Series: Song of the Lioness (#3)
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

This series keeps getting better and better. However, I will add that this was not my favorite book in the series for multiple reasons. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. What I really liked about this part of the story is that the readers once more get to see Alanna as the strong lady knight. She has not lost any of her personality, and she stands for what she believes in. As the story unfolds, she begins to change the world around her, and I find this to be very inspiring, especially for young girls who may be reading this series. Alanna has been a very strong female character and as she grows older, realizes that being a woman is not a bad thing. She can be a woman, do woman's things and still be treated with the same respect as her male peers. She comes in touch with more of her powers and makes realizations that will impact her entire life.

The part of the book I was not impressed with was a change in a certain character, one that slightly surprised me and made me so mad. I was not mad at Pierce, but rather this particular person for acting the way they were acting. There was also a point later in the book with another character that had me questioning many things that happened at the end of the prior book and relationships that were made "off-page" before a certain character came to our knowledge. While I won't go into spoilers, if you have read this book, I assume you know what I am referring to. While this begins a major plot point, I don't want to believe it either. It went in a direction I was not expecting, and while it definitely won't keep me from reading the next book in the series (I'm actually very intrigued to find out what will happen), it did make my head spin.