The Song of the Lioness

The Song of the Lioness is a young adult series of fantasy novels published in the 1980s by Tamora Pierce. The series consists of four books: "" (1983), "In the Hand of the Goddess" (1984), "The Woman Who Rides Like a Man" (1986) and "Lioness Rampant" (1988).
Plot summary.
Noblewoman Alanna of Trebond, disguised as the boy "Alan", exchanges places with her twin brother Thom, to go to the royal palace in the city of Corus to train for knighthood, while Thom studies magic. Throughout the four novels Alanna struggles with her gender identity, as well as going through puberty and bullying. Alanna befriends characters of a wide background during the quartet including George, the commoner king of the thieves; the scholar Sir Myles of Olau; senior students Gareth (Gary) of Naxen, Raoul of Goldenlake, and Prince Jonathan of Conté; Princess Thayet of Sarain; Liam Ironarm, a martial-arts champion; and Buriram (Buri) Tourakom, Thayet's bodyguard. Her principal rivals are classmate Ralon of Malven and Jonathan's kinsman Duke Roger. In the second volume, Alanna also acquires the magical cat 'Faithful', who accompanies her thereafter (Faithful is hinted to be an immortal, but his origins remain unknown. Because of her double identity as a girl masquerading as a boy, small size, magic, and impatience, Alanna often questions her own character. In the third book, she becomes an honorary member of the 'Bazhir' (a Bedouin-like ethnicity) and gains acceptance as a warrior, mage and a woman. In the final volume, Alanna becomes King's Champion to Jonathan and Baroness of the coastal estate Pirate's Swoop, following her marriage to George Cooper, newly minted Baron of Pirate's Swoop.
Themes.
Gender.
Pierce expresses the concept that boys and girls are alike. Our education system has a huge impact on boys and girls to modify themselves. Thus we should lead them to be what they want rather than constrain their creativity or put them into stereotypes which has been set by adult society. When it comes to adult society, Pierce points out that women's competence and contribution should be valued and respected. Because of gender inequity, women's contributions are often ignored, which is quite common in our society. She strongly calls for help to build a more fair and balanced society for men and women, boys and girls.
The series covers the life and development Alanna as she disguises herself as a male and has to exist in life as a male. This causes a lot of gender discussion as in the first book it is easy for her to disguise herself as a boy as she is still prepubescent. But in her first year of training to be a knight, Alanna goes through puberty and gets her first period. This causes quite a bit of discourse in Alanna as she struggles to identify herself as a female while living as a boy. While she does come out to a select close few as female sometimes intentionally and other times not, she does still struggle with it, even as they encourage her to explore both sides she has available to her. This theme is one of the reasons the series received such a high feminist regard as it was very open and honest towards the female body and its limitations versus being able to push oneself beyond that. In 2019, Pierce posted on Twitter that "Alanna has always defied labels. She took the best bits of being a woman and a man, and created her own unique identity. I think the term is 'gender-fluid', though there wasn't a word for this (to my knowledge) when I was writing her."
Bullying.
The series as a whole pays attention to the struggles Alanna has due to her small frame, or her magic abilities. She spends the first half of " being beaten up by a bully and his friends, and eventually fighting back with the support of her friends. This theme being played up in the series has been a big part towards the use of these novels in classes as it teaches some of the faults towards bullying and what is wrong with it and why this book is worth teaching.
Author.
American author Tamora Pierce published "Alanna: The First Adventure," the first book in "The Song of the Lioness" quartet, in 1983. Tamora Pierce is said to have turned to writing at a young age as a means of escape from a troubled family life. Pierce drew much of her inspiration from other fantasy series such as The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Pierce set out to not only create an epic fantasy adventure, but to populate it with a strong female protagonist. Pierce saw the need for a female protagonist in the significant lacking of such heroes in the fantasy novels she enjoyed as a child, often stating that she wrote what she as a young-adult would have enjoyed. Originally, Pierce had written her acclaimed quartet as a single adult novel but, following editorial advice, rewrote it into the now famous young-adult fantasy series.
Pierce has said that she based the character of Alanna on her sister.
Reception.
Pierce's book has been selected Recommended Fantasy List in June 1991, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults in 2003 and Young Adult Library Services Association by YALSA. Her book has also been nominated south Carolina Children's Book Awards from 1985 to 1986. She has won Bookworm's Prize by ZDF Schüler-Express.
Publishing information.
Alanna: The First Adventure, was first published in 1983 by Atheneum Books, and then Random House Inc. The following books were published in 1984, 1986, and 1988, respectively. The series started out as a 732-page novel titled the Song of the Lioness, but her editor, Jean Karl, thought parts were too inappropriate for children and Tamora Pierce edited it into the present series.