In the Hand of the Goddess

About In the Hand of the Goddess

In the Hand of the Goddess is the second book in Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet and a confident, propulsive continuation of one of the foundational series in YA fantasy. Following Alanna: The First Adventure, this volume continues the story of Alanna of Trebond - still disguised as the boy Alan, now a squire to Prince Jonathan - as her double life grows more dangerous and her gifts more fully realized. Pierce was writing for young readers, but she never condescended to them. Alanna grapples in this book with the obligations that come with exceptional ability: what does a gift of healing cost when you could use it to save someone you have been ordered not to help? What does loyalty to a prince require when that prince is not always right? These are adult questions, and Pierce asks them with directness. The romantic complications introduced here - the triangle between Alanna, Prince Jonathan, and the thief-lord George Cooper - are handled with more nuance than the genre often manages. Jonathan represents duty and the life Alanna has fought to enter; George represents freedom and an affection without conditions. Pierce does not resolve this by making either man a villain. The antagonist, the sorcerer Duke Roger, is given genuine menace and one of fantasy's more unsettling forms of villainy: he is charming, patient, and motivated by something more interesting than naked ambition. His confrontation with Alanna is built toward throughout the book with careful plotting. Alanna's relationship with the Great Mother Goddess - who has been shaping events around her heroine - takes on explicit form here, and the intervention of a divine patron raises questions about agency and destiny that the series continues to explore. In the Hand of the Goddess is the quartet growing into its full power: character-driven, emotionally honest, and driven by a protagonist who remains one of YA fantasy's most beloved heroines precisely because she is allowed to be complicated.

Tropes & Themes