my favorite

This is the first book in the series that has been my favorite for over ten years. Alanna is a strong female character who fights for what she believes in and achieves her goals. It is a fantastic read full of surprises and characters you come to love, and some you love to hate. I recomend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy and amazing heroines.

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13 people found this helpful

Persistence & determination - a great YA book.

Alana & her twin brother Tom have a problem. Alana is to be sent to the convent to learn to be a lady and Tom is to go to the palace to learn to be a knight. The trouble is, Tom hates the fighting arts and wants to be a sorcerer. Alana loves the fighting arts but only boys are allowed to be trained. Determined to get their way, the twins switch places, Tom going to the convent to learn magic, Alana posing as a boy and going to the palace. Thus begins Alana's first adventure.

The adventure follows Alana (known as Alan) as she struggles to fit in with the other boys and overcome her own physical limitations. Being smaller than the other boys and being a girl makes "Alan" fearful that she will never be good enough to win her shield. But she refuses to give up. She meets each challenge with renewed determination. She tries harder, trains longer, and pushes herself to the edge of her endurance to prove that she belongs. She struggles to overcome her fear of using her magic, the truth that she has no control over the changes in her body, and the guilt of having to lie to people she has come to love and respect. In spite of it all, "Alan" manages to earn the respect and approval of most of the people around her... even her enemies.

I ran across this book on tape at the library, when my boys were in their early teens and we all loved it. The pace was fast enough to hold my boys interest but not so juvenile that I got bored. I was very impressed at how the author handled the physical changes of growing up. Touching on the subject, making it a real part of the story without getting overly graphic or involved.

If you prefer more complex adult books, you may not like this series, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the characters, the story, and felt that the reader did an excellent job of bringing the story to life.

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8 people found this helpful

Disappointing narration

We're big fans of the Alanna series. Unfortunately, this narrator does such a poor job that the book seems lifeless, which it most definitely is not. Skip the audio version -- it's a waste of time. Read the book.

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8 people found this helpful

Excellent

This is an excellent book, the first writing done by it's author. This book is a true measure of her talent, and it's story almost impossible to stop for more than a few minutes. I'm now on the third book and I listened to the second straight through. If adventure, magic, and chivalry are of interest to you then the whole series is a must read. In fact i'm buying the fourth book now, and intend to listen to everything Audible has of hers.

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7 people found this helpful

Love this story and audiobook!

I absolutely love this series, and I'm 23! I discovered Tamora Pierce in middle school and her books have stuck with me ever since. Alanna and her friends are fantastic characters and their adventures are definitely entertaining.
Alanna is such a great, likeable role model!
Unlike another reviewer, I personally love Trini Alvarado's narration of this. Her voice and pace are natural and expressive, unlike the readings done for some other Pierce books, which I found to be too slow. I first heard her on the Trickster books and fell in love. The voices for different characters are quite engaging and consistent, which allows the listener to distinguish between characters while listening. Besides, isn't it fitting that this series have a female narrator?

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4 people found this helpful

I love this book so much.

What did you love best about Alanna, The First Adventure?

It is about a girl in a mans world, and the author has the decency not to ether emphasise her sex every five minutes or make her into some sort of sexless fighting machine. Alanna is real person. That is what I love about this series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alanna is me when I was that age: short tempered and suborn.

Have you listened to any of Trini Alvarado’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Trini Alvarado is a brilliant narrator. This was the very first audiobook I bought back in the day. I think I have listened to it so many times I could recite it word for word, yet I listen to it again and again because Alvarado is just that good.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I have.

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3 people found this helpful

Decent story with magical elements

I debated with myself on how many stars to choose after finishing this first book. I did like it although I found myself not looking forward to listening as I have other books. Parts of it made me quite uneasy, and I don’t think it will be one that I have my children listen to, primarily because of the Unspoken justification of the lying and deception. Something about the life built on the lie bothered me, and it did make me tense and slightly disturbed. At least the main character felt bad about the lying, I appreciated that.
I do understand that there have been times that women could not do things because of their gender and I think that in that regard it is a book of empowerment, so my thoughts about this story are complex. Even though life differs today in our country, I am not disrespecting what has been done to get us where we are, nor the bravery and commitment of women who helped to change that aspect of life in our own world.
I will listen to the next book and probably all three because I am curious how the story will resolve itself, though so far I thought much of the story was predictable. It’s was just OK, not bad and not fantastic, but the writing and language was so well done that I will continue to see where it leads.
I do love a complex fairy tale because that is what this is. Magic, chivalry, bravery, and strength are also part of the story, making this a pleasant read, even if not on my list of top five favorites. I would recommend this book in certain situations and only to certain people but it is not a book for everyone.
Beautiful performance and voice. Just the right length for this first book.

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2 people found this helpful

Probably Great for Teen-Girls Who Like Fantasy

The book was amateurish. The story was predictable from the beginning to the end. And it almost certainly is suited perfectly for its intended audience which, I'm glad to say, isn't me.

From what I understand, this was Pierce's first novel, so I the amateurishness of it is completely forgivable and I listened to it all the way through only cringing ever now and then. Mostly, the story just didn't mean much to me. I've read the same story from a male perspective probably a dozen times from a dozen different authors.

So if you want to encourage your 12 year old daughter to pursue fantasy reading, and she just can't understand the "boy books", then maybe this is the right place to start her off.

The narration is pretty decent. Nothing sticks out about it as particularly good or bad.

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2 people found this helpful

Good, but a trifle predictable

I listened to Alanna: the First Adventure via my subscription with Audible, and I found this story to be pleasantly entertaining (if at a few times) simplistic.

Alanna is a young girl with red hair and violet eyes. When her father dictates she must enter a convent, she trades places with her brother Thom who is to become a page and eventually a knight.

I read the Alanna series as a teenager and was fascinated by her adventures. Now as an adult some of this story seems a tad predictable. Pierce's writing lacks detail and some of her characters (such as the prince, George etc.) are rather clich? for the fantasy genre. Still, this is a great series of books that young girls and adults will enjoy... I only wish that Pierce had fleshed out her characters a bit more. Although I liked the characters I never got the sense that they were anything other than stereotypes.

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2 people found this helpful

Amazing Author vs Terrible Narrator

I'm very familiar with this book series going in- Tamora Pierce is my favorite author of all time. And maybe I'm spoiled by narrator's like Susan Denaker or Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, who all do incredible jobs. But Trini Alvarado is just awful. Her voice is pleasant enough on its own I suppose, but it's got a breathy thing to it like a smoker's heavy lungs. She ignores all punctuation and reasonable syntax, instead spewing out words at a haphazard pace. I had to set it to .9x just to make listening to it bearable, and I can't go lower because then she'll randomly slow her speech in a way that's so jarring I just don't understand when only half paying attention, but most of her dialogue needs at least .8x to be remotely enjoyable.

Sometimes she'll add a little a slight inflection or tonal shift to her voice when a character is speaking. Most of the time, she'll get a bit of a mumble-mouth going, or give such a flat reading of dialogue that it's impossible to tell when someone is speaking or not- Tamora Pierce doesn't fill her dialogue with 'X-person said', it's all very intuitive, but if you're not reading it on paper, you need SOME indication that the book is switching from speech to action.

Frankly, I am amazed that the narrator has such a high score on this title. I can only assume that people just find Tamora Pierce that good, or there is some shenaniganry from audible to inflate the good reviews. Trini Alvarado is terrible at her job, with chances far in favor that they'll be no better and a lot worse than if you'd just grabbed some random person off the streets and paid them to read the lines. I am incredible disappointed.

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1 person found this helpful