Terrier: Book Review

I read this book ages ago and kept meaning to do a YouTube review but never quite got around to it. I still hope to do that but thought I should probably get my thoughts down in text before I forget them.

Okay, general synopsis first with no spoilers or police brutality. But no worries, spoilers and being knocked about a bit with a baton follows (for all of you who like that sort of thing...).

First of all I loved both the Beka Cooper books books. They're at least on par with the Trickster duology as my favorite Tamora Pierce books. Although, I suppose Beka's a lot more like Keladry than Aly.

Beka Cooper, the distant ancestress of our beloved George Cooper, is saved from a life in the streets by the provost when she impresses him with her criminal hunting skills at the ripe young age of eight. As a teen Beka enters training to become one of the provost's guards, known in her time as the Dogs. But to be a true Dog, she must first survive being a puppy....

Now for the spoilers...

I have a theory that some authors choose to go back in time in their series in order to reignite enthusiasm in the older books. Prequels are a way to get fresh blood excited with a shiny new book without making them go back and read the others first.

Quite, frankly, if this was Pierce's plan, I think it was brilliantly executed. I don't know enough about the sales of the book to comment on that, but I know if I hadn't already read the other books, I'd want to read them now. Plus, I really love the cover art.

Anyway, let's focus on the story. I was interested that the book was in diary form and admittedly a little skeptical because both the books are tomes. It's hard to imagine any diary being thick enough to this story, and as far as I can recall, Beka only every mentions getting a new diary at the end, so that shoots down the possibility of multiple ones.

But aside from that, there were no major inconsistencies, and when I read the diary I found the voice to be 100% believable. This is high praise from me because, while I've liked other books in diary form, I often find points in them where I feel there's more description than belongs in a real diary. As a writer I understand the temptation, but it usually takes me out of the story if I'm faced with long passages of dialog or too much detail. Beka, however, is writing her diary for the detail. She says it's a memory exercise for her police training, so I never really felt like anything she put in was too much since she presents herself as such a keen learner and observer from the beginning. Also, there are points in the diary where it reminds me forcibly that it is a diary. If Beka's tired, her writing gets sloppy and trails off, if she's a little drunk, her writing's a little drunk.

I also appreciated all of the characterization. Even if I didn't like a character, I found them all to be believable. Beka's sister, for example, got on my nerves, but I understood why they acted like they did. I just wanted to slap them every now and then and yell at them about all that Beka did. Still, I quite liked most the characters. My favorite character is Rosto, and it is my hope that he and Beka will end up together. I understand and entirely respect the reasons she blows him off now. But I'm hoping that he eventually grows up a little and proves himself worthy. Plus how cool would it be for the past Rogue to be related to the future one? Although, I'm not entirely sure how Beka is related to George or if she has children. At first I thought she was his great great many times grandmother, but rereading the prologue, it didn't actually say that. She's known as Beka Cooper which may mean she never married. Of course, one doesn't have to marry to have kids. Also, even if she married Rosto, I don't see her changing her name to Beka the Piper. So that's another thing that might be evidence that she does get with Rosto. Hooray!

Okay, okay, enough of my fangirly romance. There was a plot, which was also a mystery and I enjoyed that. I caght onto the mystery of the Shadow Snake's identity a bit ahead of time, but I was like Beka in that I didn't quite want to believe it. Also, when Beka's friend (pretty sure it was Verene) dies, it wasn't like a random ensign on Star Trek but also wasn't an important enough character to make me too upset. So I thought that struck a good balance. Beka's magic powers are a really good fit as well. I think they're more in holding with most Pierce characters who have very limited powers, but find ways to use them to their best advantage. It's kinda like "I hear pigeons...I mean dead people." Plus, I like pigeons.

Well, guess I remembered more than I thought. I was gonna do both books today but I think I'll review Bloodhound tomorrow.