Terrier: The Legend of Beka Cooper #1 (Beka Cooper, #1)

by Tamora Pierce

A New York Times bestseller from the fantasy author who is legend herself: TAMORA PIERCE. In this first book in the Beka Cooper Trilogy, Beka uses her unique magic and street smarts to crack the kingdom's worst cases!

Keep out of the way. Obey all orders. Get killed on your own time.

Beka Cooper is one of the newest trainees in the Provost's Guard. As a rookie—known as a Puppy—she's assigned to the realm's toughest district: the Lower City. It should be a death sentence. The Lower City is filled with pickpockets who are fast as lightning, murderers stalking the streets, and rogues who will knock your teeth out with a smile. But Beka's not your average Puppy. She grew up in the Lower City and knows what makes it tick. It's Beka who notices that there might be something more to the latest crime wave. And it's Beka who must use her street smarts and her own brand of eerie magic to chase down a killer.

This first book introduces Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who is the ancestor of one of Tamora Pierce's most popular characters: George Cooper. Here, Pierce gives fans exactly what they want—a smart, savvy heroine making a name for herself on the mean streets of Tortall's Lower City—while offering plenty to appeal to new readers as well!

"Tamora Pierce's books shaped me not only as a young writer but also as a young woman. She is a pillar, an icon, and an inspiration. Cracking open one of her marvelous novels always feels like coming home."
—SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Tamora Pierce didn't just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Her stories still lead the vanguard today. Pierce is the real lioness, and we're all just running to keep pace."
—LEIGH BARDUGO, #1 New York Times bestselling author

• ISBN10: 0375838163
• ISBN13: 9780375838163
• Publish Date: 23 October 2007 (first published 24 October 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 608
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780375838163

Reviews

[Heather]

Recently I've been seeing posts singing the praises of Tamora Pierce.  I had to admit that I had never heard of her even though she written a gazillion books.  (There are 79 distinct works listed on Goodreads.)  I decided to give her a try and Terrier was an available ebook on my library's website.

I'm not sure what I was expecting.  Fantasy?  YA?  Whatever it was, it wasn't this.

This book reads more like a crime story than typical fantasy.  There are fantasy elements.  It is set in a fictional world with its own unique idioms and cultures.  There is magic.  But those things are secondary to the story being told.

Beka is a police trainee.  Real police are known as Dogs and trainees are Puppies.  She is assigned to a rough part of the city by request and is partnered with a well known team of Dogs.  She wants to be here because she comes from these streets.  As a child she helped the Provost with a tip on a crime gang and when he went to thank her he found her living with her terminally ill mother and her younger siblings.  He took the family into his household.  Now her siblings are growing up with aspirations of a better life than Beka could have ever imagined for them but she is afraid that they are ashamed of her and where they came from.

Beka is also magical.  She can hear the ghosts that ride on the backs of pigeons.  She can hear the snippets of conversation that get caught up in wind swirls in city corners.  She has a feline companion named Pounce who may or may not be a God. He isn't saying. She uses this information to find out about two crime sprees going on under the noses of the Dogs.

She has other issues too.  Twenty percent of puppies die during training.  A charming gangster who is new in town and his entourage decide to move into her boarding house.  Her childhood best friend has married into a crime lord's family and now her son was murdered.

The policing skills she are learning are a bit questionable.  She learns the correct etiquette for taking individual bribes and how to collect the weekly bribes due to the Dogs as an organization.  She is learning the proper way to beat criminals into submission.  Bribery and police brutality are just how things are done in this world.

I enjoyed this first book in the Beka Cooper series. I will definitely be reading more. Thanks to Nori and everyone else who has recommended her recently.


Beka Cooper by CPattenon DeviantArtThis review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I liked Beka's story because it was one of Pierce's, but that was about the extent of my interest. I found some places to be tedious, as though it took Beka a very long time to find one little piece of information, but she discovered the whole plot in a moment. I understand that Pierce is working towards a trilogy, and so the things that bore me now are likely to be important later.

This book is written in the first person, and that must be expected before going into it. Traditionally Pierce writes in the third person, so the journal-reading experience is a new one for readers of hers.

There were many charming aspects. I liked Beka's friends - the rouges more than the Puppies and Dogs. You can tell from the start which are going to be important based on the way she writes about them, and I look forward to hearing all of their stories in the later books. I also loved Beka's cat, Pounce, and I remember Alanna's trusted cat-friend who turned out to be a deity and I cannot help but wonder if it is that same handing guiding Beka....

Pierce does not disappoint. I believe that Terrier is far from being her strongest work, but it is a good read nonetheless and should not be missed by any fan of her work.

((Cross posted to my blog: The Literary Phoenix.))