L'épreuve

If the first book was about Alanna learning to train for knighthood while being a girl, this book was about Alanna learning to be a girl while training for knighthood. A fine distinction, perhaps, but an important one for her character development. This book in the quartet was about her embracing those parts of her that are absolutely female, and about learning that they are not weaknesses, that they needn't be hidden all the time, and that they are completely compatible with and in fact necessary for living the life she really wants to live.Faithful's introduction was a lovely thing. I do so love an animal companion, and Faithful is one of the best. Vaguely sarcastic talking magic cats are pretty much the perfect thing.There is more Myles being awesome, more George and Jon being pretty darn cool, a larger role for Gary, and just generally Alanna having really great friends who know her better than herself and have got her back. She is even a heroine who realizes that, for once, and almost never takes them for granted. I just love all of these characters and every time I pick one of these books back up I remember why.The Ordeal was kind of dark. Not too dark, because this is obviously not an adult book, but handling everything that went on in there was kind of scary. Also, I share her distaste for spiders. Just...ew. It was worth the terror for her to end up handling her fears and finally earning the knighthood she so deserves.I am probably going to be spending some time in Tortall for the next few weeks; I can feel it growing on me again, and they are all rather short books. For now, I'll leave you with Alanna's last words: "C'mon, Coram!" she cried, galloping past him. "Let's go find an adventure!"