This is the third book in the Song of the Lioness quartet, so you certainly should have read the first two before reading this one. Alanna finally became a knight at the end of the second book--but she was also revealed to be a woman. Deciding she needs some time away from the court, she goes out into the desert and becomes involved with the Bazhir--a tribal people who seem patterned after the Bedouins of Arabia. Alanna manages to gain the respect of this patriarchal people and for a time acts as their shaman and takes on three apprentices.
From what I gather from reviews, people feel mixed on whether this installment is the weakest of the four, or better than the first two. Personally, I'm with the second. I feel Pierce matured as a writer in this novel. It's true, in some ways this is skippable. It feels more like an interlude between the main plot of the quartet. It's also in that sense more self-contained, and it's better paced than the first two books, taking place in the course of a year.
Also, I have to cheer at how Pierce handled the entire romance between Jonathan and Alanna--for several reasons. One, because there's an ornery part of me that gets grumpy about the tired heroine gets the prince. But also, especially compared to the message of books like Twilight, Alanna actually thinks it all through, and doesn't just get swept away by her passions. I liked that--it's part of what makes Alanna a distinctive and admirable heroine.
