First Test
core novel 1999 Tortall
Record
| First published | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.25 (63,957 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780679889144 |
| Internal chronology | 9 |
Synopsis
First Test is the first book in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small quartet. A decade after Alanna's secret became public, a new law finally allows girls to train openly as knights, and ten-year-old Keladry of Mindelan becomes the first to try in a hundred years. Unlike Alanna, Kel refuses to hide who she is, but the training master Lord Wyldon, opposed to the change, places her on a unique probationary year rather than accepting her outright. Facing hazing from fellow pages, sabotage of her belongings, and open skepticism that a girl can meet a knight's physical standards, Kel must prove herself without the benefit of concealment. Her determination to defend other trainees from bullying begins to win her quiet allies, even as an anonymous benefactor takes a discreet interest in her progress.
Where it sits
- Universe: Tortall
- Series: Protector of the Small core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Tamora Pierce
Notes
- From the series record (Protector of the Small): Keladry of Mindelan's quartet, the first girl to openly train as a knight after Alanna.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Protector of the Small: position 1 of 4: next Page (2000)
- Internal chronology, within Tortall: position 9 of 14: previous The Realms of the Gods (1996) · next Page (2000)
Sources
← Tortall dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.