This book is one of the nearest and dearest to my heart, and a constant companion in my childhood. For a long time I owned only the first two books in this series and the first few Harry Potter books on cassette tapes and played them over and over until the tapes wore out. I identified with Alanna more than any other single fictional character. The short, stubborn girl who disguised herself as a boy and trained to be a knight was my role model and icon. I still find myself thinking of certain passages- the start of Alanna's period and her fury over growing breasts- all of the time. Reading this book as an adult some of its mechanics show though, but it still stands up as an excellent and exciting young adult novel.