Rating: 
Summary: Even Better than the First
Review: Readers will definately find the second in the SONG OF THE LIONESS quartet to be even more entertaining and facinating than the first. It is most certain that even boys will enjoy IN THE HAND OF THE GODDESS more than ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE because of the swashbuckling adventures that take place. Readers will find Alanna's first battle to be enthralling, intriguing, and a definate page-turner, while other passages, such as the Prince's birthday banquet, are hillarious and uplifting. It seems that because Alanna is "growing up", readers will find they are able to identify with her character much more than with the first book. Tamora Pierce has a gift for making her books' scenes and emotions vivid and realistic as her characters seem to come alive upon the pages. The only flaw in this incredible book is the lack of physical detail of the characters and their surrounding. Some characters are only allowed the scant description of their hair and physical build. There are few whose eye color and other facial features are even mentioned. However, these minute flaws should not discourage anyone from reading this most entertaining and intriguing book.
Rating:
Summary: The books is the best in a great series
Review: In the Hand of the Goddess is the best of the Alanna series. It has everything: romance(i love jon), action, adventure, mystery, conspritacy(sp.), and magic.
Song of the lioness is my favorite series and this is by-far Tamora Pierce's BEST!!!! I can't wait for her new series, which is going to be about alanna's daughter!
If you haven't read this series at all, then you are missing out!!!
I orginally read this book w/o knowing it was a series. It left me on edge and in love w/ the characters. Alanna is my favorite heroine of all time. She isn't perfect or strikingly beautiful. She is hot-tempered, funny, true to her friends, afraid to love, pretty(in my opinion), brave, and much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Not So Great
Review: Tamora Pierce lays down the story of Alanna, disguised as a boy, a squire training to be a knight in the mythical kingdom of Tortall. I found the plot appealing but cliched (Alanna has an affair with her master), and I thought that the main charcter was too powerful-- her only weakness was the fact that's she's a girl in a man's world. She was the only one with the clarity to recognize the plot of the villain, and she defeats him easily. Tamora's writing style isn't very gripping; the fight scenes weren't exciting, and the suspense was dull. The writing style was simplistic. I read this book before I read the rest of the series and hated it. After I read the series in order, however, it's much more endearing, though still nothing I'd read twice. I think Tamora has the ability to write well, but this book isn't well executed.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Tamora Pierce
Review: Still passing as the boy Alan, Alanna of Trebond has finally become a squire. Not only has she fulfilled her years as a page, she has been chosen to serve Prince Jonathan, a honor that Alanna takes with grace. Known only as Alanna to those close, including the Rouge George, she embarks on finally becoming the warrior maiden that she has dreamed of. But life takes a curve when Alanna receives a visit from a quite peculiar guest, The Great Mother Goddess, who informs Alanna of what she must conquer within herself.
But when Duke Roger, Prince Jon's cousin, returns to the palace of Tortall after an extended excursion, Alanna feels, like she did upon their first meeting, that Roger of Conté was not to be trusted. Alanna seems to be the only that feels this way, and after confronting Jon who truly loves his cousin, she is forced to do nothing.
One thing, though, that Alanna has never been good at is keeping quiet when she is worried. This shines through and Alanna shares her worries with her former teacher and trusted friend, Sir Miles of Olau as well as the thief George Cooper. Alanna also seeks the guidance of her twin Thom, who is fast becoming the strongest sorcerer in all of Tortall. She, without proof, must sit back and wait until she is able to prove her suspicions.
As Alanna continues through her life as a squire, an urge to be truly female causes Alanna to enter the world of womanhood. Bonds of love bring Alanna into fright that no battle ever could....
Rating:
Summary: wiser reader
Review: Being 23, I have read a wide variety and large # of books. These books are simply fabulous. This book is just as book if not better than the first in the series. Once I started the series I couldn't stop.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!!!!
Review: In The Hand of the Goddess is the second, (and best) book in the song of the lioness quartlet. Alanna of Trebond in now a squire to her best friend, Prince Jonathan. She is disquised as a boy, trying to win her sheild and become a knight. But she faces many hardships in the process, such as, trying to hide her true identity, protect her Prince and so on. The book is filled with adventure, magic, fencing, and a little romance too based in a fictional world. I.E, it's the perfect fantasy for girls, teens, and even youlder woman. The whole series is faboulous, be sure to read them in order though, or else you won't understand it. I wish i could say more, but i don't want to give anything big away, so read the books instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been interesting...
Review: The first book in this series wasn't fantastic, but it did show a certain amount of promise. There was enough plot and character definition that I wanted to read the second book, to see if it got better. So much for promise. Whatever it was that the first book had, in this book it degenerates into feminist propaganda. Here Alanna discovers the joys of casual sex with no responsibility, no risk, and no commitment (and we're supposed to believe this is a *good* thing!). I guess there're no venereal diseases or messy emotional entanglements in her world. Ick. Anyway, if you're looking for a good feminist SF/Fantasy book that's more than mindless mass-market pulp, try Sheri Tepper or Marion Zimmer Bradley (though technically those are adult books). If you're just looking for good YA fantasy that doesn't insult your intelligence, Cynthia Voigt (look for *Jackaroo* and its sequels) and Susan Cooper (*The Dark is Rising*) are both excellent writers.
Rating:
Summary: Wow Really great book
Review: I just want to say this is the best book in the entire world!
The plot is unbelievable. This story has it all: action, adventure, relationships, romance and alittle sex. Yeah I know this isn't the type of book for kids under 10. Man, I couldn't put the book down! It was awesome. Alanna is my idol. If you haven't read this book (and all the others in this quartet) you have got to read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Characters, Horrible Plot
Review: The characters in this book are sincere, deep and very funny to read about. Alanna is coragous and daring, but soft and pokable at the same time.
But, despite the really good characters and their personalities, I didn't like this book. The main character seemed bossy, rude and too eager. If you fought in a army, you woundn't jump at the occasion to fight!
But, most of all, there were some...uh...romance in this novel that scared me a little. Well, a lot. The girl dates and makes out with a lot of people in htis book, and more than I have fingers to count.
A good adventure if your desperrate. But, only if all the copies of Harry Potter are gone, I don't recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Grown-ups, don't balk because Alanna sleeps with Jon.
Review: I was nine when I first read this book, and I wasn't at all disturbed by the "sexual references." It is a part of Alanna's character development--she vows to never love a man but she likes Jon as a fried, she enters puberty and he suddenly seems handsome, but she's still stubborn; he is always there for her in the battle, she has saved him from fever, they've been through a lot together--and then she resists sex at first, but following advice from the Goddess, who told her to learn to love, she goes through with it. It's a relationship like real life, not at all like some movies, where a couple has dinner together and later that night are in bed together. Alanna even uses birth control. If you read the book without prejudice just because of the sex, actually analyzing the storyline, it's much more appropriate than some PG-13 movies. Also, grown ups, you may not like to hear this, but your children know more than you think about "birds and bees."
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