Tag Archives: Tamora Pierce

Book Review: Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Posted on by
Reply

terrier“Rebekah Cooper. Your six-times-great-grandmother. Famed in her day for her service as a Provost’s Guard. She was fierce and law-abiding and loyal…”- An excerpt from Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Terrier, which is the first book of the Provost’s Dog series, is the fifteenth book of the many series set in the Kingdom of Tortall. Though this story starts many years before the first book, Alanna: First Adventure.

Rebakah “Beka” Cooper writes in her journal relaying the her tale of her training to become a Dog in the Provost’s Guard also known as the Provost’s Dog. In this era of Tortall, the city is divided into districts with the Provost’s Guards and the lawkeeper. She chose to train in the worst part of the city, the Lower City.  She is assigned to be Puppy(Dog in training) to the most renowned pair of Dogs in the city, Clara “Clary” Goodwin and Matthias “Mattes” Tunstall. She encounters many friends and foes in the Lower City as well as many crimes and mysteries. Beka come to discover a series of crime spread over years connected to an old bedtime tale about the Shadow Snake along with the mysterious appearance of the rare opals and the disappearance to the ones connected to it. Along with her help of her friend ghost carrying pigeons, and dust spinners, Beka pursues the answers to the mysteries.

Terrier is another wonderful tale by Tamora Pierce with a strong female protagonist. Compared to her other books this contains more of a mystery side to it. It also has less focused on what are the changes that come when growing up. Another difference is that this book is written in a journal style with different days being each chapter. Also due to the fact that it is a journal and Beka does come from a different time it has a special terminology. These terminology might be hard to understand at first but added to the character of the book. Beka is a well written character. With sharp senses and magic Gift, Beka seems to be a flawless character but she struggles with talking to others and her personality tends to lead her into sticky situations. This makes her more real to the readers.

This is only what I think of course, read it to decide for yourself.

In case you missed it, my other reviews of Tamora Pierce’s books:

First Test

Battle Magic

Alanna: The First Adventure

-Sarah J., 9th grade

Book Review: Alanna: The First Adventure By Tamora Pierce

Posted on by
2

alannaThe first book to a incredible saga of books in the mythical Kingdom of Tortall starts with a girl wanting to become a knight. 

Alanna of Trebond is determined to be a knight but her father, who doesn’t care about her goals, wants to send her to a convent to learn how to be a noble lady. Without her father’s knowing, she and her twin brother, Thom, switch places. Thom, who wants to learn magic was going to be sent to become a knight, so he gladly goes to the convent, which is where he could learn magic. That is only the beginning of Alanna’s adventures.

The First Adventure is the first book of the Song of the Lioness series written by Tamora Pierce. This is the first book that started the series of adventures in the mythical Kingdom of Tortall.

This story is about Alanna’s journey of pretending to be a boy named Alan so she can become a knight. This first book is all about her Page years. She encounters plenty of other pages during training from Raoul of Goldenlake, Gareth of Naxen the Younger, Francis of Nond, Alexander of Tirragen, and Crown Prince Jonathan of Conte– some who become her enemies, and others who become her best friends. She meets and befriends the young King of Thieves, George Cooper, who becomes a important ally. Alanna has to cope with a magical power that she doesn’t want, while her suspicions of the prince’s magic filled cousin, Duke Roger, become increasingly larger. 

The first of an amazing series,The First Adventure has a strong female protagonist who deals with life and troubles like anybody else. Filled with action and adventure as Alanna methodically- sometimes dangerously- goes through her first training years disguised as a boy. This I would recommend for older readers as well as the rest of the series. This book and series does deal with maturing of girls, due to the aging of the main characters. The book also contains some rather strange and maybe creepy creatures. There is also a touch on the subject of love and the difficulties between family.  This is what I think, but read it for yourself!

I’ve reviewed two other books written by Tamora Pierce: Battle Magic and First Test.

– Sarah J., 8th grade

Book Review: Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

Posted on by
1

battle_magicA fully qualified mage that is sixteen-years-old. His student who is twelve but has enough power to match up to many older mages. The mage mentor who is also a powerful mage. These three are an interesting pair as they travel to the fictional country of Yanjing.

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce was not a book I just picked up from the library. This is actually a book read because Mrs. Tran, who is the manager of the site, sent out a email asking kids to review some advance copies of books she had received from the publishers. I offered to review this book and so because of this I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I read this book.

The story is about sixteen-year-old Briar, his twelve-year-old student Evvy, and Briar mentor, Rosethorn. These three are visiting a mountain kingdom called Gyongxe when they are invited by the Emperor of the kingdom of Yanjing to see his gardens. During their time at the Emperor gardens, they realize the true nature of the emperor and a plot to invade Gyongxe.

When I read this book, I honestly had no clue what it was about. I have read book by this author before, such as the Protector of the Small series (see my review of the first book). This book is actually the middle of of a series as well. I was greatly surprise to find out that this book is easy enough to understand even without reading the previous books.  I loved all of the character and the story drew me in quickly.

One of my favorite parts was the characters. This was because even though most of these characters were powerful but they still have the troubles like normal person. Each character was well created and seemed to be real. Another part of the story that i like was the incorporation of Asian culture. Tamora Pierce has been one of the few authors of non-Asian descent that has parts of the Asian cultures in her story.

I don’t know if you would like it but I certainly did. Read it for yourself and find out.

-Sarah J., 8th grade

Book Review: First Test, By Tamora Pierce

Posted on by
1

firsttest_coverGirls trying to be knights are not a new idea but, in the book, First Test, Tamora Pierce brings a whole new twist to it. The book is about the first year of Keladry of Mindelan’s page years as she works to become accepted for deciding to become the 2nd female knight in the medieval and fantastic realm,Tortall.

First Test is the first book of the Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce. This series is only one of the many series that she has written.

The First Test is about Keladry of Mindelan, who is known as Kel, first year as a page. Kel tries to prove to pages’ training master, Lord Wyldon that she can do just as well as the other boys in training. Many people are against girls becoming knights and so she receives much pressure. On top of that she has to deal with the fact that she was raised in another part of the realm and has to adjust to the completely different Tortall culture. Her friend Nealan “Neal” of Queenscove helps her along the way.

First Test is a well written book. There is plenty of adventure and action in the story. The characters are well-developed and are believable. Kel, the main character, is not someone who seems unbelievably lucky or powerful. She in her own way does have fault and fears. This makes her connect more with the reader. This is the same with most of the characters. The author also incorporates things from other real life cultures and traditions.  Most authors who write in a medieval times setting usually take their ideas from Europe. Pierce actually incorporated some of the parts of the African culture and the Japanese culture into her story. This makes the story more interesting since there are more perspectives to see the story.

Overall this book is great for anyone who wants to have a strong girl protagonist as the main character. This has action and adventure as well. It might seem like a school story at first due to the very school like atmosphere of the page training but there is a whole lot more to it. The complete series itself, I would only recommend to older readers because it does deal with the maturing of girls, the changes they go through, and love. This is because of the growing age of the main character. This book is a good read for anyone, but there series is better for older readers. This is only my opinion. So read it for yourself and decide.

– Sarah J., 8th Grade