Title: Terrier (The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1)
Author: Tamora Pierce
Year: 2007
Genre: Fantasy
Age: Middle School up
Summary: Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character.
Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.
Review: It’s been a while since a YA high fantasy book really hooked me, so I was surprised when I bought into this one. Beka is a wonderful heroine at work: smart, skilled, sure of herself. Off the beat, she’s shy and inexperienced. It makes for a delightful combination any girl can connect with. Especially great, --and from what I’ve read, very characteristic of Pierce’s work-- is how men and women are completely equal in this society. I’ve read many a fantasy where women are treated the same way they were in the Middle Ages so equality came as a delightful surprise. I also liked how Pierce trusts the reader to keep up with her world building, rather than throwing a giant info-dump at the beginning of the book.
I just loved this book all around. The fight scenes are interesting. The characters are clever and their actions flow naturally rather than as mechanization's of the plot. The central mystery unravels with just enough information to keep you guessing.
I recommend this book to girls who like fantasy but are sick of the boys getting all the main character roles.
Author: Tamora Pierce
Year: 2007
Genre: Fantasy
Age: Middle School up
Summary: Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character.
Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.
Review: It’s been a while since a YA high fantasy book really hooked me, so I was surprised when I bought into this one. Beka is a wonderful heroine at work: smart, skilled, sure of herself. Off the beat, she’s shy and inexperienced. It makes for a delightful combination any girl can connect with. Especially great, --and from what I’ve read, very characteristic of Pierce’s work-- is how men and women are completely equal in this society. I’ve read many a fantasy where women are treated the same way they were in the Middle Ages so equality came as a delightful surprise. I also liked how Pierce trusts the reader to keep up with her world building, rather than throwing a giant info-dump at the beginning of the book.
I just loved this book all around. The fight scenes are interesting. The characters are clever and their actions flow naturally rather than as mechanization's of the plot. The central mystery unravels with just enough information to keep you guessing.
I recommend this book to girls who like fantasy but are sick of the boys getting all the main character roles.
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