Keladry is the first person to take advantage of the King's decree to allow girls to train as knights. This is the first of a series set in the same world as the Alanna books, but a decade or so later. Just know that I really, really, really love this series and I highly recommend it, especially if you're just getting into high fantasy. I also love how some of the other pages opinion of Kel changes over the course of the book and they also become really good friends with Kel.It's hard for me to explain my love for this series and how much it means to me and because of that I can't really give the book the review it deserves. I do think it helps to have read the song of the lioness series and the immortals series before reading this but the book still makes plenty of sense without knowing anything about those books so you don't have to read them.Kel and Neal are wonderful characters and I really enjoy their friendship. It's not too long, just short of 230 pages, but the story and the worldbuilding don't suffer because of it's length. Nostalgia aside, First Test is just a wonderful book on it's own. They are very, very special to me and I have always considered them to be completely underrated. Tamora Pierce's books, especially the protector of the small quartet, have always and will always have a special place in my heart because of how much they mean to me and how nostalgic I feel reading them. I first read this book in 7th grade when I discovered Tamora Pierce's books and fell in love with fantasy.

Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce