First Test by Tamora Pierce

Genius. Fantastic. Fast Moving. Intriguing. Real. Genuine. All of these traits are phenomenally added together into a glorious fantasy of a girl wanting to be a page, squire and eventually a knight.
Upon arriving, she discovered just how horrible some boys could be. All except one didn't give her a chance. Nealan of Queenscove was her best friend from the beginning.
But Kel wasn’t just some little girl, her family lived in the Yamanis Islands for nearly half of her life and the Yamanis' ways were a big part of Kel's culture.
Everywhere she went she used her Yamani skills to ignore the tormentors and keep her going. Her craftsmanship with her glaive helped her in the training yards and slowly but surely she made more and more friends, including the love of a companionable and faithful flock of sparrows. She worked everyday, all day long, strengthening her muscles to keep up with the boys. Though she didn’t receive special treatment of any kind or help of her mentor Alanna the Lioness, she got on as well as a girl could being surrounded by so many boys and being in their “territory.”
In the end, trusting her or not is the only thing that stands between living and dying.

The plot captivates you and carries you swiftly along so you can’t put the book down until you find, to your great disappointment, it’s the end and you just have to read it again. The book is even good for younger readers, too, such as myself of twelve years.

Wow! This book ROCKS!!! Without-a-doubt, Right-as-rain, Sure-fire, Happily-everafter This book classifies as them all. It begins in the middle of a disputation. the fight is over a certain law that states that girls can try for their shield (become a knight)right along with the boys. The problem is that now a girl named Kel wants to test the law, but a certain teacher who happens to be against it, is threatening to resign if the King allows it to actually happen. I say let the guy go but King Johnathan decides that (having just finished the immortal war and being a little short on knights)they need the teachers help. So they reach a compromise, Kel can give it a shot, but only if the first year is a probationary term and the person to decide in the end whether Kel stays or goes is the teacher. And that's not all!!! Alanna can't interfere!!! When Kel finds out that she won't be given the same fair treatment as the law states, she isn't so sure that she wants to participate at all. After all, their the ones that need the knights. But she decides that she isn't going to prove her stuff by refusing. So she, Kel, sets out on a mission, a mission to prove that Girls are just as good (if not better)than boys, a mission to prove that those idiots at the capital city of tortall don't know what their up against, a mission to become the protector of the small.

"First Test" is the story of Keladry of Mindelan, better known as Kel. When Kel goes to Corus, the capital of Tortall, to become a page, everyone makes fun of her and tells her that girls shouldn't become knights. She befriends Nealan of Queenscove, Prince Roald, and many others who all believe she can do it. Later, she becomes respected by just about everyone, except the training master. In time, they all see that she is a very powerful player in the game of life or death......