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Titles in Order of Publication:
FIRST TEST
PAGE
SQUIRE
LADY KNIGHT
 LADY KNIGHT (Protector of the Small, 4)
by Tamora Pierce
Random House
ISBN: 0375814655
Young Adult
429 pages
Read an Excerpt
Readers who grew up with Keladry won't be disappointed by LADY KNIGHT, the fourth and final installment of the PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL series (previous titles were FIRST TEST, PAGE, and SQUIRE).
Followers of the quartet are already familiar with the adventures of Keladry of Mindelan, whose hero is Alanna the Lioness, the first woman to ever become a knight in the kingdom of Tortall. Unlike Alanna, who had to disguise that she was a girl during training, Kel is out in the open now that the King has decreed any nobly born girl may enter the palace school.
For those of you who need a refresher --- FIRST TEST is the story of the hardships Kel endures during her probationary year at school. PAGE, the second book, details Keladry's years as a page, where Kel faces a disobedient stray dog, a company of bandits, the onset of puberty and her fear of heights. SQUIRE, the third book, describes Kel's next four years when she lives away from the palace.
In LADY KNIGHT Kel grows up and completes the Ordeal, finally achieving her dream of knighthood. But things don't go as smoothly as she planned. Immediately she is thrown into the fray and watches over a refugee camp near the war between the Scanrans and the warriors of Tortall. There a nagging vision continues to haunt her.
During Kel's initiation, in the Chamber of the Ordeal she saw an evil man behind monstrous, insect-like killing devices. These machines fed on the souls of dead children, devastatingly bringing down the forces of Tortall. Her duty as a Knight makes her responsible for the refugees, but she can't sit back and do nothing while her fellow knights and friends battle the killing machines.
The young knight believes she knows what must be done to stop the man behind the killing machines. Torn between duty and destiny, what should Kel do?
Author Tamora Pierce once again brings refreshingly realistic characters into a her deeply imaginative world of magic and myth. Don't miss this one!
--- Reviewed by Troy Froebe
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