In the Hand of the Goddess

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Perhaps it’s my flu-addled mind –made worse by the numbing effects of Codral- or perhaps it really is because these are such simply-written children’s fantasies, either way I have just finished the second book in the series of Alanna’s adventures: a great feat for a slow reader like myself, as I only started it this morning. It just goes to show that being sick can have its advantages!

The second book in the Song of the Lioness quartet, In the Hand of the Goddess chronicles Alanna of Trebond’s adventures in the lead up to the final test that will earn her her knighthood. After destroying the Ysandir and revealing her true identity to Prince Jonathan, their relationship shifts from friendship to something more. But her confusion and fear of Jonathan’s feelings for her and hers for him are just one other problem to be dealt with alongside a pending war with Tusaine, her upcoming final test of knighthood, and finding proof that Jonathan’s cousin, Duke Roger, is plotting to kill the royal family. 

In the Hand of the Goddess is just as exciting and fantastical as its predecessor with the added element of adolescence. Unless you’re Carrie Bradshaw or writing a biological thesis on the subject, sex is an awkward topic to write about especially in a children’s fantasy novel. But –it being something in the story that brings conflict- Pierce gives it a go and manages to create those confused feelings without making it too adult. 

Again this book suffers mostly from a lot of stuff being crammed into it a la Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter but not having the same effect because of the book’s 200-page length. That, and the jagged time flow: Alanna literally goes from having her seventeenth birthday to having her eighteen within four pages! 

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The nonchalance with which Pierce drops in elements too becomes a little bit of a problem, as in this book there is a bit of a rush to add more explanation to certain things that were merely mentioned in the first: like the contraceptive charm Mistress Cooper gives Alanna, which I assumed was a spell but apparently is a necklace of some kind that we only properly learn here. When I came across this part in the book it definitely brought me out of the reading experience, as I had to then play catch-up trying to work out what she was talking about. 

Aside from these problems, which are in keeping with The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess proves to be just as enthralling and entertaining a read.

In the Hand of the Goddess was written by Tamora Pierce and first published by Random House in 1984.