Reviews with content warning for Child death - Terrier

I wasn't sure how I felt about reading this style of story but am thankful I got the audiobook because not only did I stick with it but ended up loving it. I can't wait for the next one! I have read several other books by Tamora Pierce a long time ago in Middle/High School and I absolutely loved them so I was pleasantly surprised to come across this series.

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matttruss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a nice addition to the Tortall universe. It was quite interesting to get a deeper dive into the history of this world. It's interesting that we go from this point of time with Lady Knights and slavery being a thing to future books where Alanna breaks the mold in becoming a Lady Knight and slavery is outlawed. There is a huge class discrepancy in this period of time in Tortall as well and I'm very curious to see how things change over the course of this trilogy and what answers we get as to how things evolved.

This is told through journal entries, which is a very fun way Pierce gets to bring Beka's character to life. The atmosphere is built up so well as TP really gets to use a lengthy novel to her advantage. The story is a twist on law enforcement and while many aspects are quite problematic, I have hope that Pierce will use this to show how far Tortall has come and point out these issues along the way. History is messy and it's what we learn from it that matters.

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ginameix's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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inka_z's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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rini's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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obviousthings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked reading about Beka finding her place in her new job, and the writing was good, but I was put off by the way the Dogs are glorified even though they’re corrupt and aggressive. There’s not much nuance in how the criminals are portrayed, either—they’re mostly there to be beaten up or chased after. The way it’s written implies that everything the Dogs do is justified as a way to catch criminals, and I’m not convinced. It seems like bigotry would run rampant in this system, but that’s never really addressed.

The story also lost steam a bit in the middle, and I found that section boring. The plot would have been better with more twists and turns in it.

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