Terrier (Beka Cooper Series #1) [NOOK Book]

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Overview

BEKA COOPER IS a rookie with the Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat, but Beka can hear the voices of the dead on the wings of pigeons, and Beka's birds clue her in to two major murderers on the loose. The rest of the Guard is busy investigating the fire opal killer, so it's up to Beka to nab the Shadow Snake.Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, a young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. Pierce employs first-person narration, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.
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More About This Book

Overview

BEKA COOPER IS a rookie with the Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat, but Beka can hear the voices of the dead on the wings of pigeons, and Beka's birds clue her in to two major murderers on the loose. The rest of the Guard is busy investigating the fire opal killer, so it's up to Beka to nab the Shadow Snake.Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, a young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. Pierce employs first-person narration, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Pierce returns to the Tortall Realms for a new series, a kind of prequel to those of her popular "sheroes" Alanna, Kel and Aly. Her latest heroine is not a lady knight but a "Puppy," a police trainee whose talents lift her from the slums to the manor of Lord Gershom. The noble takes in Beka's impoverished family after the girl, at age eight, demonstrates near-magical abilities in law enforcement. Beka, now 16, begins her story with her first night on the job, told through journal entries. Assigned to two of the best Dogs (veteran officers) in the Jane Street kennel, Beka quickly distinguishes herself, assisted by winged informants (pigeons who carry the ghosts of murdered children and whisper only to Beka) and her aide-de-camp, Pounce, the purple-eyed cat (who will be familiar to Alanna devotees). Beka is drawn to solve two major crimes: one involving the disappearance of people hired to dig beneath the Lower City in search of precious "fire opals," and a scarier thread about the kidnapping and murder of children by a creature known only as the "Shadow Snake." Despite many action-packed scrapes with thieves and rogues, the pace lags a bit in this series opener. Fans of Pierce's previous forays into medieval fantasy, however, will likely savor every page, and Beka herself is a brave battler who shoulders an unwieldy narrative with nearly as much ease as she hobbles a cutpurse. Ages 10-13. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Pierce’s latest book takes place in Tortall some two hundred years before Alanna from the Lioness Quartet. This first-person narrative tells the story of sixteen-year-old Beka Cooper, who is a puppy--or trainee--to the Provost’s Guard, commonly known as the Provost’s Dogs. Working with two of the best guards, Matthias Tunstall and Clara Goodwin, she is given the dangerous assignment of evening shift in the Lower City. Soon she hears rumors of a nefarious criminal called the Shadow Snake, who kidnaps young children of the Lower City and holds them ransom for unique trinkets and family heirlooms. Tamora Pierce is recognized for her strong female characters, and Beka does not disappoint. She sniffs out clues with the tenacity of a terrier, from which she gets her nickname. Her descriptions of the law enforcers and the lawbreakers are both thoughtful and entertaining. Indeed, fans of Pierce’s fantasy series may be surprised to find a police procedural full of intrigue, suspense, and plenty of action. Strong characters, a suspenseful plot, and a magical setting combine in this gripping page-turner, sure to enthrall a wide variety of readers. Reviewer: Heather Christensen

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780375843150
  • Publisher: Random House Children's Books
  • Publication date: 10/23/2007
  • Sold by: Random House
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 592
  • Sales rank: 16,731
  • Age range: 12 - 16 Years
  • Series: Beka Cooper Series, #1
  • File size: 606 KB
  • Items ship to U.S, APO/FPO and U.S. Protectorate addresses.

Meet the Author

Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce lives in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, Tim, five cats, two birds, and various freeloading wildlife. Visit her online at www.tamorapierce.com.

Read an Excerpt

Being the Journal of Rebakah Cooper
dwelling at Mistress Trout's lodgings
Nipcopper Close, the Lower City
Corus, the realm of Tortall
I have this journal that I mean to use as a record of my days as a Provost's Dog. Should I survive my first year as a Puppy, it will give me good practice for writing proper reports when I am required to write them as a proper Dog. By reporting as much as I can remember word by word, especially in talk with folk about the city, I will keep my memory exercises sharp. Our trainers told us we must always try to memorize as much as we could exactly as we could. "Your memory is your record when your hands are too busy." That is one of our training sayings.
For my own details, to make a proper start, I own to five feet and eight inches in height. My build is muscled for a mot. I have worked curst hard to make it so, in the training yard and on my own. My peaches are well enough. Doubtless they would be larger if I put on more pounds, but as I have no sweetheart and am not wishful of one for now, my peaches are fine as they are.
I am told I am pretty in my face, though my sister Diona says when my fine nose and cheekbones have been broken flat several times that will no longer be so. (My sisters do not want me to be a Dog.) My eyes are light blue gray in color. Some like them. Others hold them to be unsettling. I like them, because they work for me. My teeth are good. My hair is a dark blond. Folk can see my brows and lashes without my troubling to darken them, not that I would. I wear my hair long, as my one vanity. I know it offers an opponent a grip, but I have learned to tight braid it from the crown of my head. I also have a spiked strap to braid into it, so that any who seize my braid will regret it.
I want to write down every bit of this first week of my first year above all. For eight long year I have waited for this week. Now it has come. I want a record of my first seeking, my training Dogs, my every bit of work. I know I will be made a Dog sooner than any Puppy has ever been. I will start to prove I know more than any Puppy has ever done my very first week.
It is not vanity. I lived in the Cesspool for eight year. I stole. I have studied at the knee of the Lord Provost for eight more year, and run messages for the Provost's Dogs for three year, before I ever went into training. I know every street and alley of the Lower City better than I know the faces of my sisters and brothers, better than I knew my mother's face. I will learn the rest quicker than any other Puppy. I even live in the Lower City now. I know none of the others assigned to the Jane Street Kennel do so. (They will regret it when they must walk all the way home at the end of their watch!)
So my first week is of particular importance in this journal.
Pounce says I count my fish before they're hooked. I tell Pounce that if I had to be saddled with a purple-eyed talking cat, why must I have a sour one? He is to stay home during my first week as a Puppy. I will not be distracted by this strange creature who has been my friend these last four years. And I will not have my Dogs distracted by him. Four legged cats--not even ones who talk in cat but make themselves understood in Common--have naught to do with plain, honest Dog work.
I am assigned to the Jane Street Kennel. The Watch Commander in this year of 246 is Acton of Fenrigh. I doubt I will ever have anything to do with him. Most Dogs don't. Our Watch Sergeant is Kebibi Ahuda, one of my training masters, my training master in combat, and the fiercest mot I have ever met. We have six Corporals on our Watch and twenty-five Senior Guards. That's not counting the cage Dogs and the Dogs who handle the scent hounds. We also have a mage on duty, Fulk. Fulk the Nosepicker, we mots call him. I plan to have nothing to do with him, either. The next time he puts a hand on me I will break it, mage or not.
There is the sum of it. All that remains is my training Dogs. I will write of them, and describe them properly, when I know who they are.

April 1, 246
And so this is my day at last--my evening, in truth, as I have been assigned to the Evening Watch at the Jane Street Kennel. The Watch Commander is some member of the As the sun touched the rim of the city wall, I walked into the Jane Street Kennel in uniform. I was able to get it all for free from the old clothes room at my Lord Provost's house. I wore the summer black tunic with short sleeves, black breeches, and black boots. I had a leather belt with purse, whistle, paired daggers, a proper baton, water flask, rawhide cords for prisoner taking. I was kitted up like a proper Dog and ready to bag me some rats who broke the king's law.
Some of the other Lower City trainees were already there. Like me they wore a Puppy's white trim at the hems of sleeves and tunic. None of us have figured out if the white is to mark us out so rats will spare us, or if they will kill us first. None of the veteran Dogs who were our teachers would say, either.
I sat with the other Puppies. They greeted me with gloom. None of them wanted to be here, but each district gets its allotment of the year's Puppies. My companions on this bench feel they drew the short straw. There is curst little glory here. Unless you are a veteran Dog or a friend of the Rogue, the pickings are coppers at best. And the Lower City was rough. Everyone knew that of the Puppies who started their training year in the Lower City, half give up or are killed in the first four months.
I tried to look as glum as the others. The truth was, I had asked to be sent here.
Ahuda took her place at the tall sergeant's desk. We all sat up. We'd feared her in training. She is a stocky black woman with some freckles and hair she has straightened and cut just below her ears. The story is her family is from Carthak far in the south. They say she treats trainees the way she did in vengeance for how the Carthakis treated her family as slaves. All I knew was that she'd made fast fighters of us.
She nodded to the evening watch Dogs as they came on duty, already in their pairs or meeting up in the waiting room. Some looked at our bench and grinned. Some nudged each other and whispered and laughed. My classmates hunkered down and looked miserable.
"They'll eat us alive," my friend Ersken whispered in my ear. He was the kindest of us, which worried me. "I think they sharpen their teeth."
"Going to sea wouldn'ta been so bad." Verene had come in after me and sat on my other side. "Go on, Beka--give 'em one of them ice-eye glares of yours."
I looked down. Though I am comfortable enough with my fellow Puppies, I wasn't so comfortable with the Dogs or the other folk who came in with business in the kennel. "You get seasick," I told Verene. "That's why you went for a Dog. And leave my glares out of it."
Since Ahuda was at her desk, the Watch Commander was already in his office. He'd be going over the assignments, choosing the Dog partners who would get a Puppy. I asked the Goddess to give Ersken someone who'd understand his kindness never meant he was weak. Verene needed Dogs that would talk to her straight. And me?
Goddess, Mithros, let them be good at their work, I begged.


From the Hardcover edition.

Table of Contents

Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 260 )

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  • Posted May 1, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Tamora Peirce has done it again!

    I got hooked to Tamora Peirce when I was proably in the 7th or 8th grade. I wore out the copies of Alanna and Daine's books at the library, and put a good hurting on the hardback copies of Keladry's story. Even as I got older, and the librarian started to comment on the books they had for the older age groups I now fell in, I still came back again and again to the back of the bottom shelf where they were kept. So understand that this review is written with the bias of an unwavering fan. :)

    The characters was excellent, and not at all what I expected. Beka, the ancestor of George Cooper, was not the girl I had imagined Peirce would write when I first heard about the possibility of the series, years ago. Instead she is an average girl that most can relate with.

    I thought the diary entries would throw me off, since most of the journal style books I have read do. But Peirce kept the entries even and detailed, and the plot moves quickly, so it didn't bother me as much as I thought.

    Terrier is an excellent read and I highly recommend it, especialy for preteen and early teen girls.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 9, 2009

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    I Also Recommend:

    I loved it

    Terrier started off slowly with all the different journal entries from various people, but after that, the story picked up quickly. I thought the idea of the Dogs was brilliant. Beka's strength and determination was refreshing. All the characters, especially Goodwin and Tunsall, were realistic and shared Beka's quick eagerness. I enjoyed the journal format, especially when Beka's mood or sleepiness clearly changed how she wrote. I definately recommend Terrier.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 3, 2009

    GREAT BOOK!!!

    I love all of Tamora Pierce's books and this is by far one of my favorites. The characters in the story are great and the plot is even better. This is an amazing, MUST READ book for all Pierce fans.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 28, 2012

    Awesome!

    This book arrived on time, and was in the condition described. It is also a great read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys strong heroines and a little magic!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 24, 2012

    A must read!!!!

    This book is fantastic!!! I couldn't put it down. I love the character beka the best out of all the tamora pierce characters because she is just beka. Not the kings champion or lady knight she is just beka. I can't wait to get the rest of the series!!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 1, 2012

    IF YOU ARE DISSAPOINTED WITH BLOODHOUNND AND MASTIFF READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I completely dissagry with you people :Idon't see anything wrong with Beka and her freinds, they are all lovable and fun

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 1, 2012

    ONE OF HER BEST - BUT DON'T READ FURTHER

    This was one of my favorites of Pierce's. I loved Beka and all her friends. They all had something to add to the story and were all interesting characters. None of them were flat and they added humor and aid while helping Beka out with her chases. This book is awesome and introduces another great heroine. She struggles with her shyness and being able to complete the job she was born to do. The progression of her relationships with all of her friends were believable and I loved watching them settle into their friendships.
    This book should have been a stand alone novel. Pierce destroyed Beka's character and those of all her friends in the upcoming novels. I wish I had not read the later two novels and had stopped at this one and left my unblemished image of Pierce in place. I became completely disappointed in Pierce and the story.
    I do not want to give any stories away but if you loved this book as I do, DO NOT READ FURTHER.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 29, 2011

    :)

    I have always wondered if Bekka is descendant of George and Alanna...

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  • Posted December 9, 2011

    Wonderful story - strong heroine

    I really enjoy all of Tamora Pierce books but the Beka Cooper series is my favorite. The author's imagination helps to develop unusual special magic powers. This heroine is well developed. I recommend it for readers of all ages who enjoy fantasy.

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  • Posted October 31, 2011

    Definitely Recommended

    When I first heard about Terrier, I wasn't excited about reading it. I had read almost all of Tamora Pierce's books and I grew up loving her books. Having such wonderful books that opened the imagination while having female leads that I admired made me read her books over and over. I was put off though when I heard that this series was going to be written in the style of a journal. Finally when Bloodhound came out a mutual lover of Pierce convinced me to give it a chance and I am glad to say I did. Beka Cooper is a very interesting character and I really liked the idea of crime procedure in this world. Good for new and old readers of Tortall books.

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  • Posted September 19, 2011

    C

    C

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 12, 2011

    Love it

    It is an amazing book, and while the second one is not as good, I love the whole series.

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  • Posted June 20, 2011

    Interesting

    I couldn't put this book down. It is full of action and adventure.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 23, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Love this

    I love the characters in this book. The plot also had the appealing protect the weak theme that I enjoyed in the protector of the small series. I was afraid Tammy had run out of interesting characters and ideas for books after I read the Aly Cooper series, which I didn't really like. Reading this book proved that there are still some great stories to come from Tamora Pierce.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 13, 2010

    Amazing!

    This book was incredible! I loved it. The plot is great, the characters are realistic and likable. I highly suggest it.
    Warning: The second book it horrible in comparison.

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  • Posted April 10, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Terrier deserves a Bone

    I loved this book! Terrier is the first adveture of Beka Cooper as a Puppy (a Dog-in-training, which is kind of like Tortall's version of a police force). Beka experiances a few of the cliche coming-of-age plot events but Tamora Pierce gets into her groove and creates an adventure that is as colorful and interesting as her other Tortall books. Readers get a more in depth look at the Court of the Rogue (as seen in Song of the Lioness). Readers also get to see more of the black cat Faithful (Song of the Lioness), who is now known as Pounce, Beka's guide and an honorary member of the Jane Street Kennel (the station that Beka is attached to). I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves adventure and good detective work!

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  • Posted May 1, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Ausome!

    I absolutly 100% loved this book and cant wait to read bloodhound!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 11, 2009

    One of the best books.

    I've read all of the books that tamora pierce has published, but this was one of the best books. It had so many different things and the plot waz really awesome.

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  • Posted February 9, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Great Read!

    Tamora Pierce's writing style just keeps getting better and better, and it's nice to see her experimenting with new formats. This book is comprised of journal entries, most from the title character. Rather than limiting the scope of the plot or character development, the reader is able to discover and explore the world of the novel with Beka herself, which holds the reader's interest. For those who have read the other Tortall series, the reappearance of a familiar character is welcome. This book is suitable for everyone who enjoys a good story.

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  • Posted January 16, 2009

    MRSMcintyre6thASHWIN

    This book was great. It had a great story line and awesome characters. The book was hard to get into in the beginning because it added a lot of characters. As soon as I got a hold of all the names, it turned out to be a great read. I suggest this book for any age group because any person can relate to Beka in her situation. There was a lot of action in the book right from the beginning and went on through the end making the book exciting. Pounce was definitely my favorite character. Also, I like how the author used journal entries. It gave an exciting twist on the story. All in all this book is a definite good read for anyone out there. I can¿t wait to start on the next one in the series.

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