From Tamora Pierce, the third book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.

Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a duel to the death–either she will be killed or she will be inducted into the tribe. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mysterious fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman–despite the desert dwellers' grave fear of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must fight to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes–for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

Author Biography

Tamora Pierce is a bestselling, much-loved author, perhaps best known for her Song of the Lioness quartet. She worked as a social worker for teenagers and wrote for radio before publishing Alanna: The First Adventure in 1983. Since then she has written over twenty-five novels for young people, is a New York Times bestseller and was awarded the 2013 Margaret A Edwards award for ‘significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature’. Tamora lives in New York with her husband Tim and their three cats and two birds.