by Tamora Pierce
Genre: Fantasy
As Tamora Pierce is my favourite author, I figure it would be appropriate to review one of her newer novels. Terrier takes us into the memorable world of Tortall, hundreds of years before Alanna, Daine, and Keladry. Beka Copper is a girl with hopes of providing for her family in the only way she can - become a part of the guard, known as Dogs. Though she starts as "Puppy" she soon makes a name for herself as a "terrier". The is Pierce's first attempt at first-person writing and the story is told in diary format.
The story concept was new and refreshing, taking us away from the nobility and into the world of common people, thieves, and the people who try to keep the peace. Beka finds herself in the middle of two mysteries and attempts to solve them with the help of her pigeons, connections with Rogues, and her sponsor supervisor Dogs.
While Pierce is my favourite author, I did not necessarily fall in love with this book as I did with her other Tortall books. I found the journal entries to be unbelievably long. If I am supposed to believe that Beka had enough time to write all this down and do what she did, there must be more than 24 hours in a day in Tortall. That and that the book (around 600 pages) took place in only 3 or so months. I'm not sure I liked the experiment of the entries, however, I quite enjoyed the different flow of the first-person speech.
Memorable characters, enjoyable character "voice", long diary entries, refreshing story concept, and no disappointing ending.
4/5 STARS
Use in the classroom:
I would not be against a student using this as an individual study, however, I would only recommend it for a student who is a fast reader. Because of the sheer size of this book I would not use it in the classroom.
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