Mark Reads ‘In the Hands of the Goddess’: Epilogue

In the epilogue of In the Hands of the Goddess, Alanna makes a decision about what to do after Duke Roger. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to finish In the Hands of the Goddess.

Epilogue

I had about a week to think about where this quartet could go after this book, and I honestly thought that Alanna would choose to not only stay at Court, but she would begin to pursue a relationship with Prince Jonathan. His support of her clearly meant a lot to her. I think she’d also continue to grow closer to George, at least as a friend. And even if I felt weird about his pursuit of her earlier in the book, I still like him a whole lot.

Truthfully, while Alanna had said that she’d go off looking for adventure after the Ordeal, I thought the events in the last chapter would keep her at Court. Hell, I thought that maybe even the king would require it. But Alanna keeps her word, and now I know that she and Coram are going to head south in search of ADVENTURE. What I love about this most is that Tamora Pierce makes it clear that she’s doing this for herself. She is not trying to impress George or Jonathan. She is not trying to prove her worth to either of them. This is solely for her own satisfaction. She wants to know that she is deserving of the title she was bestowed once she passed the Ordeal, and this is the only way she knows how.

Also, this book essentially featured a love triangle, and Alanna chose neither boy so she could go on adventures. Yeah, this fucking rules.

I think I like this book more than Alanna: The First Adventure, but I have so many more Tortall books to get through that it seems silly quantifying my experience this way. As a whole, this book largely dealt with how Alanna coped with the many fears she had about growing up. I can’t believe everyone knows she’s a woman now! I thought that wouldn’t happen so early in the series. But I also didn’t expect a fantasy novel to frankly deal with sex, love, romance, and death in such fascinating ways. So even if the pacing of this quartet is sort of all over the place, I don’t mind. The story is engaging, and the themes are immensely pleasing. Plus, THERE ARE MORE BOOKS. THERE ARE SO MANY MORE BOOK.

Thursday, I’ll post my predictions for The Woman Who Rides Like A Man, and we’ll start the third Song of the Lioness book on Monday. Oh my god, there is NO HINT as to where this series is going to go. It’s so lovely to be unprepared again.

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