As I frequently do when reviewing whole series in one swell foop, this review will cover the whole series. This series was a big gap in my coverage of Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, because I couldn't find a good copy. I knew a bit about what happened in the series, based on cameos in the next series of the Tortall books, Daughter of the Lioness. And I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. The way it deals with Alanna makes a lot of sense, though there's a bit of "mystery" that I figured out right off the bat. All in all, a worthy part of an excellent set of books.