Customer Reviews

Mastiff: The Legend of Beka Cooper #3

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Terrier" is one of my favorite Pierce books, quite an upset considering the lens of middle-school nostalgia through which I see the Alanna quartet. With "Bloodhound" I was less thrilled, but since I got to spend more time with the amazing, admirable Beka, I wrote it off as a sophomore slump.

With "Mastiff," I realized Pierce is no longer writing the kind of story I like to read.

Kirkus nailed it when they compared Pierce's approach to a police procedural, and it's this approach which either raises or damns Beka's story depending on the audience. If you enjoy Issue stories, wherein Bad Things are given an unflinching and immediate portrayal, and there are at least one or two Shocking Twists before the wrap, "Bloodhound" and "Mastiff" are for you. If you want a story that tackles internal issues as well the external -- such as identity and ideology, and the conflict between idealism and realism -- then you're better off reading "Terrier" and leaving it at that. I'm sure some people will vehemently insist "Mastiff" contains these issues as well. I disagree, or at least, I disagree that it tackles them with the same immediacy and deeply personal stakes introduced in "Terrier." That book was a young woman's struggle to find her place in a corrupt-yet-beloved community, where her attempts to find a solid moral ground to stand on were further complicated by complex friendships. The last two in the trilogy are a bit of Beka the Super-Dog: capable of toppling insidious political/economic/cultural corruption in a single book, along with Appropriate Sidekicks.

It's obvious my own preference colors my review. But I have to say my disappointment with "Mastiff" isn't limited to the constraints of its ambition. There were narrative jumps, especially when it came to character motivations, which I simply did not buy. I can't get specific without spoilers. But I'm not saying I refuse to believe the characters would act a certain way because they're Good (i.e. I love them) or Bad (i.e. I hate them). I'm saying Pierce failed to make it feel real to me, and it's a sad ending to a writer-reader relationship that once had me deeply emotionally invested in a cross-dressing, goddess-touched knight trainee and her magical cat companion. Or, more recently, in an underdog slum girl who communicated with whirling clouds of dust and ghost-ridden pigeons. If I could say "I buy it" to things like that, but not to motivations based in emotional logic and realistic relationships, something crucial has gone missing.

I can't give "Mastiff" less than three stars, because it's still a competently-written, solid book. And it addresses a worthwhile issue and unorthodox material for a fantasy romp. (Whether the awareness of said issue translates at all to our world, considering its specific fantasy context, is a bit more questionable.) But the end of this trilogy feels massively divorced from its beginning in terms of focus and relationships. If The Legend of Beka Cooper had started the way it finished, I would have been content to say "not for me" and let bygones be. But I think such a swerve is telling, and can't help but view "Mastiff" through my wish of what might have been.

**Mild Spoilers**

Along with several other reviewers, I pre-ordered _Mastiff_, expecting a well-written and intelligently plotted detective story rooted in familiar Tortallan soil. Previous entries in the series had been both meticulous and genuine in their execution: _Bloodhound_ brought the threat of counterfeit and fiscal inflation vividly to life; _Terrier_ built characters and relationships that challenged Pierce's traditional conflation of order, authority, and good.

_Mastiff_ doesn't duplicate these achievements. To give Pierce credit, in _Mastiff_ she tries to explore the implications of slavery and the difficulty of uprooting entrenched privileges. But she doesn't carry it off: bad or inconsistent characterization turns an essentially gripping story into a didactic exercise.

Very early in the book, we see Beka confronted with a young mother who has lost her only child. She pleads with Beka to bring him back to her, but her pleas--her whole character--is one breathless desolate cliche. We know Pierce is a better writer than this: in _Emperor Mage_, Daine confronts the mage Varice and recognizes something of her own mother in the woman's protest that she never wanted to be powerful, only to make people happy. Varice and Daine's dialogue is fraught, illuminating, and earns them both our sympathy. But neither we nor Beka see anything to respect in Jessamine. She's pretty, desolate, and forgettable.

The more serious problems begin at the two-thirds turn of the story, as we start to collect evidence that someone in Beka's band has turned traitor. With only four in the party, there's scant detecting required to identify the turncoat. Pierce could have played this for tension, shown us Beka aware of the betrayal and gambling on a last minute about-face. Instead, Beka hardly seems concerned: the traitor will out themselves in time--but not before assassinations, arson, and magical nastiness have totally compromised her team's effectiveness.

Still, the biggest problem with Pierce's traitor is that their demeanor, mannerisms, and dialogue change noticeably when they defect. If anyone in the story had remarked on this, or if we'd seen the changes lamp-shaded as a guilty conscience, I might have been able to overlook the shift. Instead, these wobbles feel like the strains of authorial fiat. When we finally learn what motivated the traitor, we find that Pierce has altered the status quo of a relationship established in an earlier book, changed someone's deepest desires and fears--but she never shown _us_ that change. Beka could and should have caught that moment: the blindness and disasters that followed would then have been tragedy, instead of unintended farce.

There are other problems: though we've encountered plenty of likeable mages in her other books, in _Mastiff_ it seems there's only one. Then too, the epilogues feel a bit like a purple neon finger pointing at the Alanna quartet. [No one reading this series will have missed the connection, trust me.]

But in all this whinging, I have to stress that Pierce did some (_many_) things well. This is an intelligent book, though the characters don't always live up to the story. The detective magics are interesting and employed to good effect. As with all the series, there's real textural detail to the setting, and Beka herself has a fascinating view of Tortall.

In sum: _Mastiff_ is worth reading--but not too closely.

I've enjoyed the Beka books so far, though it took a while for me to get over the bizarre jargon surrounding the career of "dog" and all of the "hunts" and "puppies" that go along with it.

Having patiently waited for the third book, I bought it on my kindle the morning it came out. I had read the sneak peak and was eager to see Beka engaging with royalty. (A side note, it has always interested me to see the non-royal side of Tortall, which is all we get with Alanna, Daine, and Kel. And also kind of wtih Aly : . However, I found myself very disappointed.

First, I thought the huge fuss of the dead fiance was out of place. I don't know Holborne. I know Rosto, and I like Rosto. I liked Dale, Kora, et al. I was disappointed that Pierce sort of dropped those characters (more so than in Bloodhound) and instead presented a new cast. I understand that the nature of Beka's job is to work in new environments, but, as a reader, it is so frustrating to get attached to characters only to see them abandoned.

I understand the use of Holborne as a figure who forced Beka to grow in many ways, preparing her for her ten-second love affair with Farmer (which seemed entirely un-Beka.), but I think it would have been more effective if Pierce had planned for this and used Dale, or introduced Holborne previously so that we had some active scenes with him, because all we as readers know of him is his past-tense character flaws.

In terms of the plot, I found it lackluster in several places, dwelling on in ways that were probably meant to be tense and frustrating (the marsh, the final dungeon, Port Caynn) but for me it came off as "this book needs to be longer. Chapter four, in which Beka and Tunstall spend a few days in Port Caynn waiting for their orders." Yuck.

I was also entirely shocked and annoyed by the final "twist". I didn't think that Pierce's characterization in any way prepared us for that. The inconsistency--and the motivation for the traitor's decision--felt ingenuine and thrown together. I was waiting for Pounce to comment about it, since he is the 3rd person voice of reason (I love Pounce! I want a Pounce trilogy!) and he never commented! No, "sorry Beka, but you know how it goes. I can't betray traitors" or anything! I was happy about Pounce's handling of Achoo, and glad to see a reason for his absence until Alanna.

I felt that this book was repurposed to give a happily-ever-after, but also explain some of the history of Tortall. I just wish that it had been staged better, because in many places there was no foreground for an event, it just jumped out and left me shrugging and mumbling "well, I guess that's happened then..."

A second read in a couple of months may change my mind, but my initial reaction is a frown.

I really hope that Pierce writes the Numair and Maura books. And Pounce. Always Pounce.

I could read Tamora Pierce's Beka books for years to come. The language is so rich, the characters so lively, and the stories so full of complex intrigue and a great deal of heart. Mastiff, the third in Pierce's Beka Cooper books, brings a glorious end to the series. As a long-time fan who first read Alanna's books as a young girl, I can easily say that Beka's books show Pierce at her best. And Mastiff is no failure in this.

There are flaws ... or maybe less flaws than disappointments. The issue with her betrothed seemed largely unnecessary. It starts off the book and is mentioned a few times. It was mentioned in the summery of the book if I remember correctly, but it has little to nothing to do with the plot. For me every word concerning him was a word wasted. Like Bloodhound, the majority (VAST majority) of this book is spent away from Corus, meaning most of the characters I (and I'm assuming a few others) would like to catch up with are only mentioned in passing. Basically if you're interested in reading for someone other than her partner Tunstall ... well, don't. Most of the supporting cast in this book is new. (Or newly involved. Some of the royalty is dealt with, and while they existed in the other books, they were hardly a PART of the other books).

The climax, I believe, would be for every individual to come to terms with. I'm still not sure if I buy it. If I like it. If I can live with it. But it happened and that's all there is to it.

Still, I loved it. I loved the ending. I love how it was brought around, all over again, to George. Nicely done. I believe her next Tortall books take us back to Numair? This book leaves me plenty excited for her next!

I was disappointed in this finale in several ways. It opens with Beka burying a fiance, but we've never heard of this guy. Why is this even here? Pick one of the characters we've at least met before. Or make her disillusionment with someone else. I get the idea that she's disillusioned, etc. but why introduce a whole new character who is dead from the get-go?

Then the whole "romance" with Farmer doesn't feel real. Friendship, yes. But I didn't get a sense of chemistry there at all. And with Beka's trust issues, just off a marginally abusive relationship, it developed entirely too suddenly.

Finally, the whole traitor amongst us thing. I didn't buy the identity of the traitor at all. So inconsistent with the portrayal of that character in previous novels. Grossly disappointing, and not believable at all.

OTOH, I did like the explanation for Pounce's absence between Beka and Alanna. And I liked the development of Pounce's character and his interactions with the various characters (including Achoo).

All right, so here goes...

The plot wasn't half bad. There was an epic Hunt to solve, with equally epic characters. In fact, I'd say the "police procedural" approach that the Beka Cooper books utilize is actually very enjoyable. Unfortunately, that style of writing ended up hampering Tamora Pierce in the long run.

Here's where our beloved Tamora Pierce went wrong: she attempted to draw out some psychological flaws in multiple characters throughout Mastiff. Normally, the added emotional tension would be a delightful flavor to add to the plot. But since these particular, situational flaws had not been present for Terrier or Bloodhound, the psychological drama flopped. Hard.

Beka, as we all know, is a reserved person who stuffs her emotions. You'd expect that a catastrophic event would add extreme vulnerability. However, she barely flinches when faced with the death of her fiance. Tamora Pierce attempted to apply that reaction to Beka's nature, but when the issue is repeatedly sprinkled throughout the book with little variation in Beka's behavior, the reader suffers from boredom. There was no grief cycle whatsoever - granted, it's made immediately apparent that Beka's fiance was borderline abusive, but still. She had, at one point loved him enough to marry him...and the memory of that former love should have carried through somehow.

As you have heard, there is a major plot twist in store - and it's actually quite a shocker! The most shocking part, however, is that Tamora Pierce unraveled a character's personality to provide the surprise twist. Yes, you will be surprised. But I think you'll agree that the surprise feels wrong. False. A sham. It was at this point that I suffered great disappointment in Tamora Pierce's abilities. She is a better writer than that; I don't think changing a character's nature so abruptly aided the story one bit.

And for my final qualm: the swearing. Up until now, Tamora Pierce had been sticking to curses that were fitting for her world (and kind of disturbingly imaginative ^_^). In this book, she pushes into the Four Letter Word realm. I found it disgustingly inappropriate. Inappropriate for the setting and for reading. While the quaint, colloquial curses of Tortall can be easily passed over with a wry laugh, I find nothing funny or enojyable about her usage of today's common cusses. It felt as though she had thrown out creativity and was writing the rotten stuff simply to make her plot more shocking. Bad for the sake of bad.

Yuck.

So, all in all, it's a flop. I expected better. And I hope she'll revert back to her original style when she next tackles the Numair books.

*spoiler alert*

I've looked forward to this book for so long, and I must say that I was left feeling very troubled at the conclusion.

I agree with other reviewers that Rosto, Kora, Aniki and the gang were sorely missed, as was the original charm that was brought forth in Terrier. The first two books pointed toward tension between Rosto and Beka, an intermingling of their feelings towards one another, and yet after so much suspense and buildup, the entire situation was simply ignored and never spoken of again. Readers aren't even given the satisfaction of an explanation, some form of closure.

Though I hate to say it, being a lifelong Pierce fan, the book seemed a bit contrived. The characters were not deep, Beka's entries seemed unemotional and businesslike. Though Beka accomplishes her greatest deeds in this book, I, as a reader, did not feel that I was sharing in the experience with her but rather like I was reading about the story in a newspaper. Though Pierce constructed a good story, I was not taken along for the ride. This is surprising and disappointing from a reader who has brought readers along for the adventure in so many other series, and even in the other books in the Legend of Beka Cooper series. The book makes obvious ploys for sentimentality in the epilogues, but overall the book does not feel the same. We find Beka at the beginning of the book two years after the close of Bloodhound, and it is like we are getting acquainted with a completely different person. A person who has changed since we last saw her, and is now not only someone we don't know, but someone who is very difficult to get to know.

Overall, I would say I feel discontentedly ambivalent about a book that I've been eagerly awaiting for so long. I wouldn't have thought it'd be possible for Pierce to end this story in a way that would leave me discontent, but she managed to do so.

This series may have begun as a YA novel, with some of the related themes and issues, but with Mastiff, I see the series stepping up to a slightly more adult level, and for this series, I believe it works beautifully. This series is not the Alanna: The First Adventure (The Song of the Lioness) In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lioness) The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness) Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness) quartet, but related. It's a return to that delightful world that works very well for me. I admit, the last scene before returning to George Cooper made me a little teary eyed - and I like that in the ending to a series.

It's not a perfect book - there's a plot twist that seemed to blindside me, but thinking about it, I wonder if there was a foreshadowing in one of the earlier books - that just makes re-reading them a requirement now.

I found this finale to be quite lackluster. There was so much potentional with Rosto the Rogue and his court. He seemed to be so obviously set up to be an ancestor of our dear George, what with him founding the Dancing Dove, and the chemistry between him and Beka. As opposed to the never before mentioned Holburne. The story could have been five times more interesting with Beka, say, trying to hide that she's pregnant by a now-dead Rogue, or him being instrumental against the rebellion, working on the inside with the mages would have been perfect for our Rogues.

The twist at the end was very disappointing. We'd had two solid books of getting to know Goodwin and Tunstall, how they're so trustworthy, etc, and it would have been a much more interesting twist to have it be Sabine, who we know less well and who's betrayal would have rung less hollow. I was half-expecting it to come out Tunstall had been bewitched by the pretty mage in pink whose name I can't be bothered to remember. The false lead of it being Farmer was painfully transparent, as was the sincerity of their feelings for each other. Again, it flies in the face of Beka's characterization- she is slow to warm to new people. Also, can we not have a traditional monarch once in a while? Do they all have to be spunky, "oh please don't bother getting up" types? The peculiar, friendly monarch pastiche is growing old.

I did like her role as a priestess of the Black God becoming more fleshed out. Achoo could have almost died two less times and it would have been more compelling, however.

Basically the best thing about this book is Pounce. But then, he's nearly always the best thing about any book in which he features.

Masftiff included many of the best elements of the novels of Tamora Pierce. It has a strong female heroine, plenty of interesting supporting characters, moments of humor, adventure, and a satisfying romance, all of which takes place in a world of kings, swordfights, and magic.
However, in the last quarter of this book the two main protaganists act inconsistantly with the characters that Pierce had spent the first two books developing. Beka, despite being described again and again as a having a personality reticeant to opening up or to trusting, falls head over heals in love without a second thought. If Beka really had the personality that had been previously been developed this would have been near impossible. Finally, towards the end of the plot their is a "unexpected" twist which seems contrived and unlikely. It reads as if Pierce needed to figure out a way to wrap up everything and this was all she could think of. These two events combined with a picture perfect ending belittle a series which spend so much of its time highlighing the nitty gritty of hard work and the flaws of any society.