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Oct 21, 2011

Fran rated it:

The first time I read Terrier I thought it was some of Tammy's best writing in years and it quickly became one of my favourite Tortall books. I still feel that way after my latest re-read (in preparation for Bloodhound). Terrier feels fresh, and I attribute this reinvigoration of the Tortall world to several factors:
- Firstly: Terrier is written in first person, which is the first of Tammy's novels to be written thus (Note: Tammy has written short stories in first person).
- Secondly More...

2 comments like (18 people liked it)

May 26, 2008

Samantha rated it:

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2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Cara rated it:

What is one word I can use to sum up the book hmm... probably AWESOME ! Seriously there isn't a lot of books that can do that (at least for me). Beka Cooper is the most kick butt, cool heroine I've encountered in all my reading days.

The book was just as good the second time around. At first I was wary of reading it again thinking it might not be as enjoyable this time around. Obviously I was wrong. I even caught myself looking ahead to see what happened, and then I would remind myse More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Elias rated it:

I'm about a quarter of the way through this one, and I have to admit that I'm not enjoying it as much as I've enjoyed the rest of Pierce's bibliography. I don't have any specific complaints, except for the constant emphasis on the Dog/Puppy thing, which I find a little weird.

7/29 - Still trucking through. The story is good, but something about the narration is slowing me down, perhaps because it's in the form of a diary, and that seems cumbersome. Not only that, but here are the epi More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Sabrina rated it:

16 year old Beka Cooper is not like most girls. She can, in her own special way, communicate with the dead and she wants nothing more than being a cop. Growning up was hard and Beka learned early that you have to be smart and ruthless to survive. She spent her childhood in the Lower City, the most dangerous part of town, and wants to work as a cop there.
Her dreams come true when she finally starts her training as a young cop (aka a puppie). She is excited to learn all there is about being a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Michelle rated it:

Naughty Naughty Michelle, here I go to update my review of a previously read book only to find that I never reviewed it!

I am a big fan of Tamora Pierce, I love that she writes about strong female characters, and I love how her stories are NOT focused on romance and sex. (though they may contain them).

I originally read this book several years back along with it's sequel, and am now rereading both of them as the third book in the series has been released.

From th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 17, 2008

Squeemu rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2007

Caroline rated it:

This was the last "for fun" book I got to read before I started teaching last winter. Ever since I arbitrarily grabbed the first of Tamora Pierce's "Circle of Magic" books off the library shelf two years ago, I've been hooked on the ways Pierce plays around with definitions of magic, power, heroes, and humanism...all within a medieval-ish context.

This isn't great literature, but it is an imaginative world that kept me entertained for several months. Tamora Pier More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2008

Aubrey rated it:

Another installment in the mythology of Tamora Pierce's fictional land of Tortall and I am not disappointed. I am impressed with Pierce's foresight and love enough of her characters that she instead went back in time to give a base to the well-known and beloved characters of her series. Had she done otherwise we would have had to accept a few deaths of main characters. By telling an ancient legend of an ancestor the stories remain alive and Tortall's characters expand.

I greatly admir More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 01, 2008

Misti rated it:

This is the most recent of Tamora Pierce's books, and possibly the least hyped, and I think I know why. I can't say I was particularly enthralled by the plot (which was transparent and overly complex) or by the writing style which is Diary format and street slang which seems a hypocritical combination. I found out yesterday that the book is to be the first in a series of three. Oh Tammy, say it ain't so! I can't take too much of this style, and may skip the next two in the series if they're anyt More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 19, 2009

Valerie rated it:

Terrier is just another example of how great an author Tamora Pierce is. The writing is very detailed and although it is hard to believe that a girl would be so diligent in writing a journal it didn't really faze me. Beka is a great kick-butt, female protangonist. She is smart, caring, dedicated, and tough. It's because of this why Beka is called a Terrier.

The imagination of Pierce proves to be limitles as she decribes Tortall. It has knights, magic, beggars, Dogs, slaves, mages, et More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Sbuchler rated it:

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy-Mystery/crime novel mix

This book is written as a diary of a cop-in-training (in a fantasy setting), the audio version (by Susan Denaker) had a very strong vocal personality, but I got used to it very quickly - and the entry that Becca (the herioine) writes while drunk is made extra hilarious by Susan Denaker's wobbly rendition of Becca's usually strident voice.

I enjoyed the audio version very much, though I found the book itself didn't hold up a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Elisa rated it:

I have to say that I'm pretty biased when it comes to Pierce's novels. I simply love them and have loved them since I was a teenager. So when I finally found this on the library's ebook site, I snagged it and gobbled it up in about two days. Which is a slow consumption rate for a Pierce novel, haha, at least for me.

What I liked:

The main character. Beka Cooper is, next to Alianne in the Trickster's books, my favorite main character. She's shy but strong-willed, she's been More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Liyana rated it:

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Oct 16, 2011

Kit rated it:

Rebekah Cooper is a very unusual girl, and not just because of her unnerving ice-blue eyes or her toughness. She grew up in the Lower City section of Corus, the capital of Tortall. She is able to talk to the dust spinners and to hear the spirits of the dead riding on pigeons. And at eight years of age, she stalked the man who beat her mother and ran out with everything of value in their household. After finding him, who turned out to be the leader of the “Bold Brass” gang, a notorious thievery g More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Kirstie rated it:

I've loved Pierce's books since I first stumbled across Alanna the first Adventure in a book catalogue in primary school, so when I saw this in a book store I tripped over my (then) swollen pregnant feet rushing for it.
I'll confess the first few pages threw me. Pierce chose to voice them in 'common born' speech and it's tough going. The purpose is clearly to inform the reader how this story connects to the other popular characters from other Tortall tales, but the jargon and accent are rath More...

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Apr 25, 2011

Caroline rated it:

I think I've read pretty much all of Tamora Pierce's books, and she is definitely one of my favorite authors, but for some reason, I remember being very reluctant to read this book. I ended up borrowing it from a friend, and I am very glad I did.
I've never been a big fan of diary format, mainly because I don't think people can actually remember everything they've done all day in that much detail. In this book, it works, because Beka is using her journal as a memory exercise, so there's a More...

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Apr 16, 2011

Debbie rated it:

Beka Cooper is starting her first year as a trainee (a Puppy) on the city's policing force (the Dogs). When she was eight, she helped solve a mysterious case. The high-ranking official who was the only person on the force willing to listen to a child then took her and her family in, saving them from the poverty and danger of the city's slums. Beka worked as a runner for years and is now excited and nervous to start working as a Puppy. She is assigned to train with two of the best Dogs on the for More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Emma rated it:

I read a couple Tamora Pierce books as a kid and liked them well enough; I'm out of her intended age group now, but still enjoyed this book.

Terrier is the story of a teenage girl, Beka Cooper, and her first months in the City Watch (known as the "Dogs") of a medieval-ish city. Beka works in the roughest part of town and soon finds herself pursuing criminals who extort and murder its inhabitants. Although I'm not into police novels, the premise pulled me right in: I'm a suc More...

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Dec 05, 2010

Ana rated it:

Terrier Was really good. I loved the mystery, I loved the characters, I loved the setting. I loved it all. I felt that it was typical though. I REALLY likrd it. But that's all that i can say. It was a really good book, definitely, worth reading, but it's not quite amazing, or favorite book ever worthy yet. Beka Cooper, a young girl who can hear ghosts and "dust spinners" has always wanted to be a Dog her whole life. But once she starts puppy training, things start getting dangerous. More...

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Jul 15, 2010

ICPL added it

I’m a late-comer to the Tortall fantasy world created by children’s and young adult author Tamora Pierce. I admit that my initial reluctance was due to both the original cover portraits of the main characters (girls on horses) as well as the confusing number of series (which was I to start with?). I’ve also never really been into castles and knights. The odds were against Ms. Pierce here.

But then a few years ago she published the Trickster books (Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s More...

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Jul 14, 2010

Amanda rated it:

In her latest novel Tamora Pierce tells the story of Rebekah "Beka" Cooper - an ancestor of George Cooper, the City's Rogue in the time of Alanna (a setting and characters familiar to readers of her other novels). Beka is starting her first year as a trainee Dog, known as a Puppy, nicknames for the Provost's Guard, those who keep peace in the city of Corus. She is assigned to the Dog team of Tunstall and Goodwin, two of the best Dogs in the Evening Watch - and two who have never before More...

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Apr 20, 2010

lisa rated it:

i can't believe it took me so long to read this! it's because the covers are pretty boring, and i was waiting for better editions to buy, but whatever. this hit so many of the stupid little story kinks i have (calling people in training puppy, partners, criminals with hearts of gold, seeing how criminal organizations are run, etc) and george is SUCH a throwback to his great-great-great-whatever-grandpa (assuming that's where this is going) and i really love tortall, like a lot. it's almost ridic More...

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Feb 06, 2010

Sally rated it:

I found this book--the author, actually--through Angie Thompson's great lit blog, Angieville. Tamora Pierce is a great writer. Superb creativity, characterization, she tells a very exciting story in a world so complex and real it rivals JKR. Some magic, much smaller magic, and intense political and socio-economic situations. Very realistic in many non-fantasy ways, esp. her presentations of human nature and politics.

This is a prequel to the other Tortall series books (200 years befo More...

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Dec 07, 2009

Kat rated it:

Gave it four stars only because it took me awhile to get used to the format of the book--slightly awkward--and because the climax wasn't as intense as the rest of the book built up to. Other than that, I had a fun time getting to know Beka and her motley crew of friends. Given the complexity of the book and the sheer amount of characters, I think Pierce did an intensely solid job of keeping it all straight. I thought the two plots were good, though there wasn't quite enough grey in her two ma More...

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Sep 17, 2009

Ruth rated it:

I'm not sure how I missed reading Tamora Pierce's books over the years given my penchant for young adult fantasy. The recommendation by a librarian early in 2009 sent me on a quest to read most of Pierce's Tortallian texts together with my high school daughter. I find Pierce's strong female protagonists quite refreshing given their less-than-elevated standing in some of the more popular fantasy texts of recent years. In Terrier, young Beka serves as a police-in-training, a pup, in the urban area More...

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Aug 27, 2009

Alethea rated it:

My opinion on this book can probably best be summed up by the fact that, at the World Fantasy Convention after it had come out, I went up to Tamora Pierce, apologized to her in advance, jumped up and down and squeaked for about fifteen seconds about how much I'd love it, apologized again for bothering her, and wandered off.

Yes, I'm a little irrational about it. This is classic Pierce, spunky female lead with a defined personality and one Obligatory Fault, an array of interesting chara More...

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Jul 16, 2009

Sara rated it:

Plot: from Amazon.com: "Orphaned Beka Cooper, 16, is a trainee-a "Puppy"-in the Provost's Guard. Having spent the first half of her life in Tortall's slums, she is driven by the need to do what is right and see justice done. Paired with two of the best Guards, or "Dogs," in the organization and aided by her own gifts of magic, Beka learns her job, makes friends with two mages and a thief, and uncovers two serial killers who prey on the poor and unnoticed. With Terrier, P More...

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Jun 19, 2009

Heather rated it:

Not quite as cutesy as YA fantasy can get, but cute enough.

I think this sort of book is more deeply feminist than a lot of the "woman in a man's world" books aimed at girls, because in this book it's not so wholly a man's world. Sure, it's less usual for women to do the tough jobs, but they do them, and not too many people look askance at them. So the message isn't that one must go against all odds to be a strong woman, but rather that strong women are out and about, an More...

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Apr 04, 2009

Lindsay rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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