The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
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| Original Atheneum U.S. hardcover of the book featuring the title character. | |
| Author | Tamora Pierce |
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| Cover Artist | David Weisner |
| Series | The Song of the Lioness |
| Genre(s) | fantasy |
| Publisher | Atheneum |
| Released | 1986 |
| Media Type | Hardcover, paperback |
| Preceded by | In the Hand of the Goddess |
| Followed by | Lioness Rampant |
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man is a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce, the third in a series of four books, The Song of the Lioness. It details the knighthood of Alanna of Trebond as she lives in the Bazhir desert after her becoming a knight.
[edit] Plot introduction
Now a full knight, Alanna leaves the capital to travel among the Bazhir in the desert, eventually becoming adopted by one of the tribes, though clashing with the tribe's shaman who seeks to destroy her name among the rest of the tribe. After fighting to the death with the shaman for her honor and winning, she has to replace the shaman and cannot leave until she trains another.
[edit] Plot summary
The third book sees Alanna through her journey through the Bazhir desert, where she and her manservant Coram are adopted by the Bloody Hawk tribe. During their stay, Alanna duels with the Bloody Hawk shaman, a crazed wizard who is convinced Alanna is evil, and kills him. According to Bazhir law she must be the tribe's shaman until she trains a new one to replace her.
Alanna selects three Gifted children of the tribe, Ishak, Kara, and Kourrem, and begins to train them in magic. She also inherits the former shaman's sword, with a crystal on the hilt, symbols that remind her of the dead sorcerer Lord Roger, and a terrifying amount of dark power. She keeps it because her old sword, Lightning, broke during a battle. She also teaches the traditional Bazhir to slowly lose some of their prejudice against women. During their training, Alanna sees glimpses of the shamans the girls will become, but the boy, Ishak, constantly attempts stronger, darker sorcery. In a sudden encounter, Ishak steals the crystal sword from Alanna and tries to master its power, but it consumes him and kills him. Alanna continues to train Kara and Kourrem.
Prince Jonathan and Sir Myles of Olau make a visit to the Bloody Hawk tribe, where Jonathan and Alanna renew their love affair. When Jonathan asks her to marry him, Alanna is shocked and asks for time to think it over. During their stay, Jonathan is adopted by the tribe and takes up training under the Voice of the Tribes, an old friend of Alanna's and Jonathan's. When the Voice dies, Jonathan is made the new Voice, thus acting as a sacred link between all the Bazhir tribes. This status will help unite northerners and southerners when he eventually becomes King of Tortall. Also, Myles adopts Alanna as his daughter and heir to his lands. Jonathan, arrogant as ever, assumes that Alanna will marry him though she has asked for time to think about it, and when he begins to make arrangements for her to return to Corus with him, they argue. She refuses to marry him, and he wounds her deeply by saying he'd rather marry a woman who knows how to act like a woman. Jonathan and Myles leave, and Alanna continues her training of Kourrem and Kara, who eventually pass the required tests and are made co-shamans for the tribe.
Alanna and Coram travel for a while to Port Caynn to visit George Cooper, who is putting down a Rogue rebellion there. While Coram woos George's cousin Rispah, Alanna begins a love affair with George, who has loved her for years, but when he wants her to return to Corus with him, she refuses to go with him. The two split, and Coram accompanies Alanna back to the desert, where the Bloody Hawk chief asks her to check on a female shaman, a friend of his, whom he has been having bad dreams about. When Alanna and Coram arrive at the shaman's drought-stricken village, they see the starved, crazed villagers burning the shaman, thinking the sacrifice will please the gods and provide them food. Alanna and Coram rescue her, but not in time, and the shaman dies after leaving Alanna with a scroll to give to the Bloody Hawk chief. The chief tells them it is a map to the Dominion Jewel, a legendary stone that provides untold powers in the hands of Gifted or unGifted rulers. Alanna and Coram decide to go after it.
[edit] Characters in "The Woman Who Rides Like a Man"
- Alanna of Trebond - heroine and focus of the book/series; now knighted and a shaman of the Bazhir
- Jonathan of Conté - heir to the throne of Tortall and is Alanna's lover
- George Cooper - the King of the Thieves and is in love with Alanna
- Myles of Olau - her friend and mentor who adopts her later on
- Ali Mukhtab - the Voice of the tribes
- Coram Smythesson - her manservant
