Terrier: The Legend of Beka Cooper #1

If you're already a seasoned Tamora Pierce aficionado, you no doubt will be ecstatic to discover her latest book, TERRIER: A TORTALL LEGEND, in which she introduces a new "shero" (as in heroine) named Beka Cooper. Fans already have spent many action-packed, thrilling hours in the kingdom of Tortall --- Pierce has been writing there since 1983. Our beloved Alanna, who started it all for us, is a homegrown Tortall legend and power personality in her own right. What could Pierce possibly add to the already-brilliant collection of stories set in the mythical, pseudo-Middle Ages village? After 24 young adult novels --- many already set in Pierce's invention of an otherworld where talking cats are as common as rain --- many writers would want to move on. What else could one say about the same place? Therein lies the indescribable mark of Pierce's genius as a storyteller. The previous characters are so captivating and the tales so enthralling that readers who have read through any of Pierce's series set in Tortall simply want more. And she delivers with gusto. In TERRIER, Pierce provides another well-drawn character in Beka and presents fans with the tasty backstory they've been craving since ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE. "My characters choose to protect those who can't protect themselves, and teach them to protect themselves," Pierce told me in a 2005 interview. She sticks to that mantra with Beka's determination and spunk to help the people of the Lower City, where she herself spent her youngest years. As the children of the Lower City are being kidnapped and murdered when their parents can't or won't meet the kidnapper's demands, Beka (who is conveniently a rookie cop for Tortall) sets her mind to protecting those of the Lower City who can't protect themselves. "The Lower City is mine. Its people are mine --- its children are mine. If I find them that's doing all this kidnapping and murdering, they'd best pray for mercy. Because once I get my teeth in 'em, I will never let them go. And I start with the Shadow Snake." Pierce experiments with some new, exciting techniques that make TERRIER a fresh experience for fans. The novel is written in first person from Beka's point of view. Not everyone likes this perspective because the structure can be limited and frustrating, but Pierce's turn of the literary tool is compelling. Once readers get a handle on the new vocabulary (there's a good glossary in the back of the book), it's as if Beka is a real person and you're stealing a peek at her diary. It wouldn't be fair to spill the beans about Beka's connection to Alanna, but be assured that TERRIER is a perfect companion to the existing book sets and a great place to start if you aren't already a Tamora Pierce addict. --- Reviewed by Joy Held

Meet Beka Cooper, a headstrong, clever girl with determination like a terrier. She resides in Corus, the capital city of the mythical continent of Tortall. Ever since she was small, she has been unearthing terrible crimes. So it's no wonder that she joins the Provost's Dogs, a group of elite police whose goal is to patrol Tortall and enforce justice when needed. Upon joining as a Puppy, the term for a rookie Dog, Beka is pleasantly surprised to discover that she is to be taught by Goodwin and Tunstall themselves, two of the best Dogs in the guard. She is also stunned when she gets her first choice of where to work. She chooses the lower city. Goodwin and Tunstall are also taken aback at being paired up with Beka, but in an unpleasant way. The two Dogs work so well together that they have never been paired up with a Puppy. Initially the humiliation and indignity are unbearable, especially for Goodwin. However, they realize how much Beka's help is needed later on. A monster has seemed to step out of nightmares and faerie tales to stalk, murder, and ransom the citizens of the Lower City, leaving only mysterious letters with a sinister symbol as a trace. Additionally, as if that weren't enough, a mysterious mining operation seems to be causing the deaths of many people all at once. The Provost's Dogs have been able to handle the majority of crimes - until now. But Beka, with her gift to hear the voices of the dead, is out to redeem that reputation and bring the terrors of the Lower City to justice. Tamora Pierce has sculpted yet another colorful masterpiece filled with surprises, intertwined details, and bits of small humor tossed in throughout. The author's writing style is quite commendable; it never falters, and keeps the book going smoothly without tiring the reader one bit. For example: "I heard the rustle of cloth behind me and jumped away just as she thrust that knife through the gap in the fence behind me." I would recommend this book to all readers of different levels; however, those readers should enjoy reading long books over 500 pages. They should also enjoy being hooked to the extent of spending quite a few hours in one sitting and finishing the book. Overall, Terrier is a well-thought, well-organized book with an engaging plot.

Okay, I'll admit this part outright - I'm a Tamora Pierce fan. Her series are all amazing, for me at least. But even if you're not a huge (wish I could triple underline that) fan like I am, you'll STILL want to get this. I'm going to start with a mini-review for fans of Tammy in particular. New readers can scroll down and I'll give a review for you specially. ---SUPER TAMMY-FAN REVIEW--- Rebakah Cooper's story is completely new from her other stories. For the first time ever, two things have happened. First, we've moved away from the nobility's side of things in the capital. Even Daine the Wildmage didn't see much of Corus' Lower City, and she's been the only commonborn heroine so far. In Alanna, the series set 200 years after Beka Cooper's, we get a brief description of the area surrounding the Dancing Dove in the Lower City, but never before have we truly seen what it was like to be living there before. This brings a whole new perspective to Tortall, and I for one am VERY glad for this new look at one of my favorite worlds. Second, it's the first person perspective. The whole story is set out in journals, not in the narrator's eye like we're used to. It's a welcome change to switch to, something new to look at, but you can still see that bit of Tammy humor. Sure, I love the 3rd person, but 1st person is PERFECT for Beka's personality. Speaking of her personality, there's another reason why I like the first person. It gives us Beka's world, and how she sees it. You can tell just from the first day of her experiences that she's a very straight-forward person, who knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to be frank about embarassing things. She describes with minute detail, and is always very calculating. Then, to prove that she's human (or at least half human), she has some emotional outbursts when she can't write in frustration. Oh, and everybody remembers (cough LOVES cough) Faithful, right? He's back, except he's Pounce now. Pounce or Faithful, even 200 years back, he's got that prickly sense of humor and refusal to leave his mistress alone. P.S. We all love our Lady Knights, don't we? My thanks to Tammy for putting in a lady knight. She did mention that female knights had only dissapeared a hundred years ago in Alanna, and this is two-hundred years back. Give a warm welcome to the AWESOME character of Lady Sabine. You'll see. Now, I suggest you read the new-people review too. I'm going to mention the plot more, etc. ---NEW PEOPLE REVIEW--- Do you like any or all of the following? a. Action and Horror b. Suspense and Romance here and there c. Kick-butt Heroines (as Ms. Pierce says herself) d. Mysteries beyond recognition e. Secrets hidden right before your eyes If so, Terrier is 100% for you. If not, Terrier is still 90% for you, because it's simply that good. I'm NOT reciting the summary. Read it above, please. The plot is written thorougly, with no details missing, even in the first-person form. It's extremely suspenseful. You

When I learned that Tamora Pierce was going to write a new trilogy that took place 200 years before Alanna, I was intrigued. When I learned that the book was going to be entirely in journal format, I got worried. After all, Tammy had always been a third person writer, could she make the switch? Well, reading Terrier has convinced me that she can. Beka Cooper is a teenage girl who is just starting her life as a Puppy (basically an apprentice to the Dogs- the Tortallan Police force). Beka has many skills that can help her survive as a Puppy. She is good at watching and observing others. She already knows a lot about living as a Dog, a result of living with The Lord Provost for eight years, and she knows what it's like to live a the bottom of the food chain. On top of that she has magical skills: the ability to hear ghosts of recently killed people that are carried on pigeons, and the ability to communicate with the dust spinners, who carry people's conversations. It's going to take every scrap of Beka's abilities to survive her first year as a puppy. Not only does she need to learn the habits of being a dog, but she finds herself faced with not one, but two difficult cases, both connected to the richest man in town, Crookshanks. On top of that she has to deal with three new unique friends, the most dangerous being a young man with ambitions to become the new King of the Rogue. Beka is Tammy's most interesting heroine yet. As an ancestor of the much beloved George Cooper, I found myself fascinated with her early one. She is instantly likeable, due to her resourceful, no-nonsense attitude, yet her shyness makes her easy to relate to and believable. The diary format makes it that so the reader can connect to the narrator easier than even before. We feel her excitement and determination when things are going right, but also her embarrassment when she does something wrong. One of the things that I've always enjoyed about Tammy was that her heroines are never perfect. No matter their strengths they always have obstacles to come over, and we watch them struggle and push themselves to overcome these obstacles. The book may be a little light on the romance for some, but the romance that is there proves to be quite interesting. This is only the first book in the trilogy, and I'm already eagerly awaiting the next volume. Tamora Pierce has once again, blown me away with this novel. I wonder if the next volume will be just as good.

I bought this book because it was by Tamora Pierce and I read everything she writes. I opened it up to find that it was written as journal passages . . . this made me very nervous as I dislike books written in this style more times then not. However, I soon got passed this obstacle and got into the story of Beka Cooper. As a fan of all of Pierce's books I can honestly say that Beka may be very favorite heroine through all the books. I also really enjoyed the idea of the Dogs as a whole. I think fans will love this book and so will readers new to Pierce's work. I also think Terrier may hold more appeal for a male audience then some of Pierces other characters and series.