Book Review: Terrier
Apr. 3rd, 2008 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerThe short version: I think this is Tamora Pierce's best book to date.
I adored Tamora Pierce books when I was younger, and I’ve read every book she’s written, even though I’ve been underwhelmed by them for the past few years. The heroines became more annoyingly perfect. The plots and character development were shoddy. Tortall, the high-medieval setting of most of her novels, started edging toward a modern-day liberal utopia, albeit with knights and magic. I wasn’t planning to read Terrier, because I figured things would only get worse.
I’m glad I changed my mind, because I think Terrier is Pierce’s best book to date. Once I slogged through the first few pages, which are execrable (and totally useless; I could have skipped them and not missed anything in the book) I got sucked right into the story. I got so involved in the story that one scene nearly made me cry, which is rare.
Terrieris set two hundred years before the other Tortall books, and Tortall’s past is much grittier and more corrupt than the squeaky-clean “modern” Tortall. (Bear in mind the point of comparison; Terrier may be grittier than the other Tortall books but it’s certainly not grim.) The main character, Beka, is a trainee in Tortall’s young police force, where the officers range from stalwart crime-fighters to incompetent drunkards. Even the stalwarts take bribes.
Beka’s a teenager, like most of Pierce’s heroines, but unlike Pierce’s other heroines (who tend to sound about a decade older than their supposed age, especially when they’re young) Beka actually sounds like a teenager. A very mature teenager, which makes sense given her difficult childhood and her police training, but still a teenager, who blows small embarrassments out of proportion and gets attracted to sketchy guys.
These flaws, along with some others—Beka’s shy, she’s easily embarrassed, she cares perhaps a little more than she should what other people think—actually affect her work, which is a relief. Moreover, Beka has a very engaging voice, which is important given that the story is told in a diary format. Occasionally the slang she uses gets excessive. It sets the tone nicely, but sometimes there’s so much of it that the meaning gets lost.
The other characters are more thinly sketched. There’s no one as memorable as, say, Lord Wyldon in the Protector of the Small Quartet, but most of the characters are solid and none of them vary to suit the needs of the plot.
I adored Tamora Pierce books when I was younger, and I’ve read every book she’s written, even though I’ve been underwhelmed by them for the past few years. The heroines became more annoyingly perfect. The plots and character development were shoddy. Tortall, the high-medieval setting of most of her novels, started edging toward a modern-day liberal utopia, albeit with knights and magic. I wasn’t planning to read Terrier, because I figured things would only get worse.
I’m glad I changed my mind, because I think Terrier is Pierce’s best book to date. Once I slogged through the first few pages, which are execrable (and totally useless; I could have skipped them and not missed anything in the book) I got sucked right into the story. I got so involved in the story that one scene nearly made me cry, which is rare.
Terrieris set two hundred years before the other Tortall books, and Tortall’s past is much grittier and more corrupt than the squeaky-clean “modern” Tortall. (Bear in mind the point of comparison; Terrier may be grittier than the other Tortall books but it’s certainly not grim.) The main character, Beka, is a trainee in Tortall’s young police force, where the officers range from stalwart crime-fighters to incompetent drunkards. Even the stalwarts take bribes.
Beka’s a teenager, like most of Pierce’s heroines, but unlike Pierce’s other heroines (who tend to sound about a decade older than their supposed age, especially when they’re young) Beka actually sounds like a teenager. A very mature teenager, which makes sense given her difficult childhood and her police training, but still a teenager, who blows small embarrassments out of proportion and gets attracted to sketchy guys.
These flaws, along with some others—Beka’s shy, she’s easily embarrassed, she cares perhaps a little more than she should what other people think—actually affect her work, which is a relief. Moreover, Beka has a very engaging voice, which is important given that the story is told in a diary format. Occasionally the slang she uses gets excessive. It sets the tone nicely, but sometimes there’s so much of it that the meaning gets lost.
The other characters are more thinly sketched. There’s no one as memorable as, say, Lord Wyldon in the Protector of the Small Quartet, but most of the characters are solid and none of them vary to suit the needs of the plot.
