I really like Tamora Pierce, but some of her last few books have been terrible. Trickster's Choice was the most boring, mary-sueish thing ever written. GAH. Such a dissapointment.

Sigh. I spent way too many hours of my childhood/preteens reading the Song of the Lioness books. My favourite was The Woman Who Rides Like a Man. Think I'll have to dig them out and read them again.