Read for the YA Challenge 2008.
I love Tamora Pierce. I discovered her when I was actually a member of the YA demographic, and have continued to enjoy her work ever since then. Her latest series goes back in time in Tortall, the setting for her original series (about the knight Alanna) to tell the story of Beka Cooper, the ancestor of George Cooper.
The story is told in journal form, and details Beka’s first year in the Dogs, the guardians of the capital city of Corus. It’s different than the prior Tortall books, because it’s set in the Lower City, where the nobility only comes for brief periods of time. It’s a great, fresh look at this world, and I admire the author greatly for being able to do that. I’ve experienced too many of my favorite worlds going completely downhill from over use, but I don’t see any danger of that happening in this re-imagining. It was incredibly smart to take the story to a different time and set it among different people.
Beka is a great character. She’s painfully shy, but already growing, and I’m looking forward to the rest of this series, although the next book isn’t out until next year, even though the back of my copy of Terrier says it will be out in 2008. I saw that and was hoping it was already out. Oh well. That will give me time to check out the Protector of the Small series, which is the only Tamora Pierce series I have not yet managed to read.