I remember never being quite as fond of the Protector of the Small series as I was the other Tortall books, particularly the two first ones, but as an adult, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The premise of the series is that 14 years after Alanna, girls are allowed to become knights, but it's still a very sexist, patriarchal society, so no girl has. I really enjoyed that because it didn't just have Alanna fixing everything by being a heroic woman. She definitely changed the world a great deal, but didn't solve all of its problems.

And Kel is a very different protagonist than Alanna. Alanna is a hero, a mythical figure almost with the gods on her side and powerful magic, coming from a long line of nobility. Kel is just an ordinary kid who wants to be knight like her older brothers, just like a hundred other kids in the country. She doesn't have magic, she doesn't have the gods on her side. She doesn't have lofty aspirations as a knight. She just wants to do her duty to her country. And it makes such an interesting contrast to Alanna, who has a strong presence in this book.

One of my favorite things about this book is how heavily it deals with femininity. Kel has very little desire in typically feminine pursuits because they don't interest her, but when the other boys bully her and threaten her and tell her to go home, she doesn't try to blend in. She actively wears dresses whenever possible to make herself girly as a reminder that she's different and she's not ashamed of being a girl. I loved that element. I've read very little that's more badass than a female character sticking it to a patriarchal society by actively being more feminine.

This book also deals more heavily with politics than the previous series in the Tortall universe, which I think is one reason I enjoyed it less as child, but I love it more for that now. The conservatives are fighting against many changes in the country, including female knights and fighters. Kel has little interest in politics, just wanting to be an ordinary knight, but she can't avoid it simply because she's a girl. It's an interesting element to the story, and really well done in this book.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this series. I think it's definitely better to read it after Alanna because so much of the world building and the government and history comes from that series, but it has fewer problematic issues as it was written fifteen years later. I think this may become my favorite series in this universe, just based off the first book.

(Tagged as YA for the series)