First Test, by Tamora Pierce is an exciting page-turner filled with action. Kel is the first girl to take advantage of the decree allowing girls to become knights, but she is put on one year of probation, just because she is a girl. This is one of the many obstacles she has to overcome to show that she can keep up with the boys. The main thing standing in her way is the training master, Lord Wyldon. He is firmly against girls becoming knights. Mostly because it is new and a change, which he doesn’t like, at all. Another obstacle she has to overcome is that she will have to face her greatest fears to become a knight.

This book is fantasy, but Kel does not use magic. Unlike Pierce’s other heroine stories, that also take place in Tortorall. I think that set it apart and makes it unique. I also like how she ties this book into her other series, like The Song of The Lioness Quartet, The Immortals Quartet, Trickster Series and others. Another thing I also liked was the way she described the setting. It gave me a clear picture of what the area looked like as well as what the characters look like. I would recommend this book to middles school girls, because it about a girl that age. What made me keep reading is that I wanted to see if she would make it or be sent home.