Page (Protector of the Small #2)

Summary:

As the only female page in history to last beyond the first year of formal training to become a knight, 11-year-old Keladry of Mindelan has an uphill battle to fight. In addition to proving herself worthy of being a page, Kel spends her time defending first-year pages from bullies, staying on top of homework, conquering her paralyzing fear of heights, and keeping up with Lord Wyldon's grueling physical training schedule. Kel's detractors do everything in their power to thwart her progress, from tormenting her friends to sabotaging the Midwinter Festivities to kidnapping her maid and dog on the day of final examinations. The tide of resistance begins to turn slightly during the summer between Kel's second and third years, when she leads a team of pages in defensive maneuvers against renegade bandits--coincidentally on the same day that she gets her first period. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

As I said for “First Test” I really like reading stories where folks are in training.  This book is similar in a lot of ways to “First Test”, but it covers all of Kel’s years and the progress she makes over time.  This book is interesting because we get a sense of the things that Kel really is into and what she might be successful at in the future.

I do have to put this one at 4 stars rather than 5 because there isn’t all that much that happens until the very end.  That being said, however, there are a lot of things in this book that set up the subsequent ones.  I still really enjoyed it, but I don’t think it’s quite as strong as the others in the series.

Warning: Contains violence.

Rating: 4 stars!

Who should read it? Fans of the tortall realm!  You could start with this book for the series, but I’d recommend starting with “First Test”.

Want to read the whole series?

• First Test (Protector of the Small #1)

• Squire (Protector of the Small #3)

• Lady Knight (Protector of the Small #4)