After Alanna the Lioness hid her sex for eight years to become Tortall's first female knight King Jonathan proclaimed girls welcome to train as knights along with their brothers. In the ten years since no noble family has had a daughter willing or desirous of going through such trials, so when Keladry of Mindelan and her parents petition the crown it is a battle to allow her tutelage under the Training Master. Alanna champions the girl, but is forbidden meeting her or showing such support.
Kel idolizes Alanna and has only dreamed of following her footsteps. When she is notified of the Master at Arms' condition Kel is furious, but her time as a diplomat's daughter has trained her well. Lord Wyldon gives Kel one year--if she proves herself up to snuff she may stay, but the entire academy seems to be looking for any excuse to throw her out.
With the threat hovering constantly, and the very obvious absence of her hero, Kel must prove to herself and her classmates that she can make it in the men's world as a girl.
Kel is a powerful young woman, as many of pierce's protagonists, her resourcefulness and tenacity earn her respect and friends in the all-male world. Readers of all ages will enjoy her spirit.
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