It was so wonderful returning to the land of Tortall! I loved this series when I was in middle school, and this adaptation brought me back.

Overall, this graphic adaptation did justice to the original novel-- in so many ways. The illustrations were beautiful and even though it has been many years since I've read Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness, this adaptation felt true to what I remembered. It felt true to the original. The illustrations also captured the setting really well.

Within each chapter, I thought the panels were well-planned and organized so that the story was easy to follow . The way they were laid out also helped emphasize certain moments or emotions. However, I thought the pacing could have been stronger. It was unclear how much time past between chapters and some of the flashbacks felt like an afterthought.

Additionally, I thought there could have been stronger character development -- especially between characters. We don't see Alanna interact with Jon all that much, but in the end, he wants her as his squire and the depth of that moment wasn't fully realized because there was no depth throughout the book. Otherwise, this was really well done. I look forward to including it in my classroom and it'll be a great way to introduce the genre of fantasy to students who might be interested.

It was kind of hard to determine a single star rating for this, because the story holds up as well as it did when I first read it 20 years ago, but I'm not really loving how it was adapted. The art is fine, and gets noticeably excellent in Act 3 (the ARC I was gifted is in black and white, but I'd love to see Persopolis and the Black City done up in full color as I understand the final product will be), but the choice to eliminate all exposition in favor of all text on the page being purely dialogue doesn't do the story justice in my opinion. It makes for some very clunky dialogue at times, and I was really relying on my memory of many past readings of this book to fill in a lot of gaps, so I fear anyone new to the story will be totally adrift.

The lack of emotional connection or development in all of her relationships felt particularly jarring. Francis gets name-dropped once and his image shows up on page maybe twice before we're supposed to believe him as a major emotional pivot point. In the first half it feels like we see more of her interacting with Gary on any sort of emotional level that we do with Jon or George, who are far more important relationships. George at least eventually gets his due on the page, but I felt very disconnected from Jon the whole time. They barely speak, then he's suddenly requesting her on his deathbed. They barely speak some more, and then he's dramatically monologuing about how close they are. It does do a pretty good job of showing you Alanna's personality, and also setting up Duke Roger's character.

Unless it is the absolute only way you are going to get this story in front of a particular kid, I'd recommend going for the original book rather than this adaptation. But I do HIGHLY recommend the book.

Original Story: 5/5
Graphic Novel: 3/5

Tropes:
- Middle grade fantasy
- Knights in training
- Girl disguised as a boy
- Powerful magic
- Brewing conspiracies

Thank you to NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for the chance to relive an old favorite.

This story was packed with determination, magic, and adventure. Alanna defies expectations to train as a knight, facing challenges with wit and courage. The artwork is really beautiful, enhancing its emotional depth and action. I haven’t read the original novel, but after experiencing this adaptation, I’d be interested to dive into Pierce’s world even further.

Thank you Netgalley, ABRAMS Kids, and Tamora Pierce for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Advance Readers received a black and white copy with unfinalized artwork. My review will reflect this.

Overall this is a STUNNING book, even in the greyscale version. The illustrations are very well drawn, with lots of detail. You can see and feel all the emotions the characters go through.

The story is very true to the book, with It is a very faithful rendition and brought back so many memories from reading the original book in my childhood. There were some minor things left out that didn't affect the story in any way.

I think this is a great book for middle school aged readers, and it teaches compassion, empathy, and how to stay true to yourself, even when you have to hide aspects of your identity.

I love Alanna!!! This is a wonderful adaptation of an iconic fantasy novel. I think it suffered a tiny bit from not being able to include all the details from the novel, but maybe that's just me being an overly analytical fan of the OG. It feels a little bit younger than the original lioness novels, e.g. I noticed it didn't include the anti-pregnancy charm that George's mother gives Alanna upon her first menses. I wonder how the graphic novels will handle how grown up the rest of the Lioness series gets. Nevertheless I really loved this and I thought the art was wonderful. I also noticed the Bazhir people seemed less of a problematic Orientalist representation of Arab peoples compared to the novel, which I really appreciated. I will certainly recommend this to my students and I hope it'll get a whole new generation of kids into the Song of the Lioness titles! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

That was awesome!!! That was a beautiful interpretation and I’m incredibly excited to see the next books.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the eARC.

As someone who has not read the original books that this graphic novel is inspired by, I found it highly entertaining and the illustrations were beautiful. The pacing was a little off in parts, often feeling cut off in spots, and I would have enjoyed more exploration of the characters relationships, however it was highly entertaining and enjoyable to read. If you are a fan of the original series, this graphic novel is a fantastic adaptation.

I absolutely love this series, and read them as a child myself so being able to really visualize it in art is such a gift! I love how it’s going to bring new readers to my beloved childhood novel and I hope that they will continue and do the rest of them!

Alanna longs to be a knight, something women are not allowed to do. Undeterred from her goal, she disguises herself as a boy and enters training.

I haven’t read the original Alanna books yet, but this was a really lovely introduction to the series. Some other reviews indicate the story received some gentle edits to be appropriate for a contemporary audience, and while I can’t comment on the original version, I thought this was a beautifully executed story about not letting biological sex dictate destiny. While reading this, I caught myself wishing several times I had encountered the story as a child– there are some really touching lessons around a person being more than their sex, the value of hard work, the importance of friendship, and more. While I’ve heard some readers say Alanna is a bit of a Mary Sue, I think this is tempered by her dedication and the intended audience for the books.

I read an ARC that was mostly black and white with some unfinished backgrounds, but I still really like the art. The figures look fluid and natural, and the scenes showing magic and other action are dynamic.

A fantastic graphic retelling of the first book in the Song of the Lioness series. This beautifully illustrated adaptation follows Alanna as she struggles to hide her identity while posing as her brother to train as a knight. It powerfully explores the harm that rigid gender roles inflict on both men and women, with Alanna shining as a heroine whose strength never comes at the expense of her femininity. We’re excited to add this book to our library collection.

I'm so excited to see one of my all-time favorite books adapted into a graphic novel! I really love how it's been handled—it's faithful to the original story, with thoughtful updates that improve the way it represents gender and ethnic diversity. From what Tamora Pierce has shared, it seems clear she's fully supportive of these changes. Bringing in a non-binary writer who clearly loves the series was a brilliant move, and from what I’ve seen of the artwork (this early copy still had unfinished backgrounds and wasn’t fully colored), it’s shaping up to be beautiful. I definitely want a finished copy for my shelves. If you’re a longtime Alanna fan, I think you’ll feel this adaptation does the novel justice—and hopefully it helps introduce the story to a whole new generation of readers!

Honestly I will read anything by Tamora Pierce but I am biased so this is probably skewed. I loved how this worked as a graphic novel. I think in first test a little more was lost in the adaption but I found this to be better for some reason. I hope that new reader find these books and lead them to be Tammy fans and I will 100% be selling to whomever will listen.

Song of the Lioness, Book 1: Alanna, A Graphic Novel Adaptation is the first in a series adapted from The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. Alanna and her twin brother Thom are being sent away by their father; Thom to train as a knight, and Alanna to become a lady. Alanna dreams of becoming a lady knight, a female warrior to be reckoned with and Thom of become a sorcerer. They come up with the idea to trade places and convince their servants Coram and Maude to partake in the deception. SOTL book 1: Alanna follows the first book in the series and Alanna's time spent as a page in the palace.

I absolutely love this series (it being one of my all time favourites) and was extremely excited to be able to read and review this adaptation. I'll admit, this isn't my favourite of the original series, though still brilliant. I actually started reading the original quartet from book 2 and found it easy to fall into the world and the place in the story.

I enjoyed this, though felt parts weren't well explained . Some parts could've done with a throw away line to explain who someone was or what was going on, for example stating they're in the city visiting George. However, this was an unfinished proof copy so the art was unfinished and all in black and white (I expected this on my kindle anyway, having a Paperwhite and not a Colorsoft so it's possible something will be more obvious when fully finished. This aside, I still thoroughly enjoyed this, it was an easy read and I really enjoyed seeing my favourite characters come to life in visual form. I can't wait to see the fully finished version (I will be purchasing the physical edition once it is available) and likewise can't wait for the rest of the series. Upon doing my research I was excited to discover there is already a graphic novel adaptation for the first book in The Protector of the Small quartet also by Tamora Pierce and will most definitely be purchasing myself a copy of that!

I give this a solid 4.5/5 stars.

alanna: the first adventure is such a wonderful intro to the world of tortall. this is a wonderful coming of age story, a fantastic exploration of gender roles, and a super fun fantasy story. it has the most badass heroine with the perfect female knight narrative. and some well-written angst about growing up (trusting your friends, learning to fight bullies, dealing with a period). you can also read this series as a depiction of gender queerness that tammy didn’t have the right words for at the time. like this book truly has it all. and I would recommend this to so many young readers (please give this book to your sons, and not just to your daughters!) I reread these basically yearly.

Tamora Pierce is one of my OG favorite authors and was my first foray into fantasy as a child. Song of the Lioness was not my first book by her, but one of my favorites, and I love that this book (and series) are getting a new lease on life. Alanna is brave and strong throughout the book, but we see a lot of character development in her as she navigates who is she and who she wants to be in a world where she faces many challenges. The friendships in this book are the sweetest and I can't wait to read Book 2!

I loved this!!! Book 1 of the graphic novel adaptation of Tamora Pierce’s iconic Song of the Lioness series did not disappoint. I think any person who enjoy graphic novels, fantasy, bad ass FMCs, magic, and a great plot will be excited to read this book. It was really nostalgic for me having grown up reading this series, but the graphic novels gives a fresh take on a classic. I love how determined and fearless Alanna is as she pretends to be a boy so she can enter the male dominated world of knights. She stands up to bullies, makes friends, gets stronger, finds allies to trust, and proves herself time and time again. This is a timeless story that can be loved for generations.

Super solid adaptation. It's been ages since I read the original Alanna trilogy, but from what I remember, it doesn't feel like anything was sacrificed here in order to tell the story in graphic novel form. It's still the same story at its heart, and I'm so excited to recommend this to some of our fantasy-loving teens.

It's been about 20 years since I read Alanna's story in book form as a pre-teen, and I'm excited for a new crop of young readers to pick it up in this new format. The graphic novel adaptation feels true to the story, and what I could see of the early artwork promises a beautiful reimagining. I do think the graphic novel loses some of the pacing of the original novel. There are many interludes and time skips which make the story feel disjointed. The later chapters as everyone grows to admire "Alan" flow a bit better, but the early chapters are somewhat jarring and can be a challenge to get past.

I will love this story in any format it has the chance to be told in. Super excited for a graphic novel format to introduce new readers to the story. This sticks pretty close to the books (sometimes a little too close, with a few bits of clunky dialogue), and I love seeing new imaginings of the characters I know and love. I'm excited to see the full-color version after reading the B&W ARC - already preordered my copy!

This may be a 5 star book after I'm not reading an ARC, but without color in the book, too many of the pages/squires looked the same. I'm also not entirely convinced that a five star review wouldn't just be a vote to nostalgia, but if an adaptation isn't allowed to be about nostalgia, what are they for?

This series was a foundational part of my adolescence and this adaptation captured most of the wonder of reading my first Tamora Pierce book for the first time.

I hope that this brings a new generation of readers to the books.

ARC provided by NetGalley.