The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce - 226 pages
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce - 288 pages
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce - 353 pages
(The Song of the Lioness Quartet - books 2-4)

These books continue the adventures of Alanna, the girl who hides her identity to become a knight.
In the Hand of the Goddess tells her of years as a squire and her battle with Roger of Conte.
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man tells of her immediate adventures after receiving her knighthood and revealing her gender.  She visits the desert people the Bazhir.
Lioness Rampant tells of her quest for the Dominion Jewel.

Overall, these books held up well over time.  I enjoyed reading them again.  I think the only things that kind of bothered me was that everybody seemed to take Alanna's deceit extremely well and immediately forgave her and that it seemed every guy she met fell in love with her.

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce - 241 pages
The Song of the Lioness Quartet - book 1

Alanna has always wanted to be a knight.  So when her father decrees that she should be sent to the convent she switches place with her twin.  He goes to the convent to learn magic while she goes to court to learn to be a knight.  It will be difficult hiding her identity and learning to keep up physically with the other male pages, but she is determined to make her dream a reality.

I first read this book back in high school when it was first published.  It was considered one of the first girl empowering fantasy series for teens.  I wanted to see if it held up to today's books.  The story was still as good and engrossing as I remember.  And for the most part, the girl power was fairly well done.  There were only a few times that I thought it was a tad dated in its views.