Review: Terrier (Book 1 of Beka Cooper) by Tamora Pierce

From the book jacket:

Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

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.

My review:

I have a love/hate relationship with Pierce's books. I've really enjoyed some of them (the Immortals) and just couldn't get through others (Circle of Magic).

This is one of the good ones. Beka Cooper is essentially a teenaged, medieval rookie cop. This book combines elements of both the mystery/crime and fantasy genres (no dragons or elves). It tells a compelling story that kept the pages turning. The characters are well thought out and enjoyable, especially our strong female lead. Beka is fierce and dogged (haha), but also touchingly real in her struggle to fit her new role. I enjoyed the use of the first person narrative in this book, as Beka really does have an entertaining voice. Her cat is an interesting force as well. Who is that cat anyway?

Though this is marketed as a young adult book, I think it is one of the most adult-friendly of Pierce's works. There is some violence and mild sexual content which make the book inappropriate for the youngest readers, but I enthusiastically recommend it to all lovers of great fantasy. The second book is due out this month, but it'll probably be fall before they get it into my (beloved, but backwoodsy) library. I'll review the sequel when I finally get my hands on it.

Publisher's website.

Author's website.

Click the book cover to purchase from Amazon.

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