Actually, I have a question for you: why do you like the later books better than Alanna? It's been a while since I've read the others, true, but I felt like most of the sequels other than the Immortals were sort of...copies. (Granted, Lloyd Alexander does the same thing down to the characters, but...well. :D) Did I not read far enough ahead? Are there other things that make you like the Alanna books less than the others?