About
All of my items are shipped as inexpensively as possible--generally First Class or Priority Mail. My passions include harajuku street fashion and vintage ugly. If I was an animal, I d be a manatee.
All feedback (169)
- marpa7964 (792)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseGreat transaction!
- bakoboy66 (1101)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseGreat Ebayer A+A+A+
- booksrun (170199)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseHope to deal with you again. Thank you.
- romipohlma0 (257)- Feedback left by buyer.Past yearVerified purchaseGreat customer and quick to pay!
- mapus-zjqudru (75)- Feedback left by buyer.Past yearVerified purchaseThank you for your purchase!
- t***c (270)- Feedback left by buyer.More than a year agoVerified purchaseCame in great shape thank you!
Reviews (1)
07 September 2016
Poor cover art, amazing content!
I've been reading Tamora Pierce since I was in middle school, and I've enjoyed the Beka Cooper series in part because it moves away from the typical fantasy focus on the nobility/upper-class. Beka came from poverty and has no title to speak of, but her adventures as a "medieval cop" are incredibly entertaining.
"Mastiff" begins after a time jump from the last book, "Bloodhound." While I didn't mind reading about a more hardened and confident Beka, it was a little jarring to find out in the first few pages that she'd been engaged and was now attending her betrothed's funeral. The adventure that follows as she chases down the kidnappers of the young prince of Tortall is quite enjoyable, as she and her companions piece together the story of how the prince became a target and who was involved in the plot. Tamora Pierce focuses more on the mechanisms and "rules" of magic in this book than in prior series through a mage named Farmer. Like her previous writings, the main character is accompanied by animal familiars: Pounce and Achoo.
Readers familiar with previous books from Tamora Pierce will enjoy references in the Beka Cooper series that explain the way things are in the Tortall of Alanna the Lionness and others, which is set some centuries after the Beka Cooper novels. The Pounce who accompanies Beka is the same familiar who later assists Alanna, and Beka herself is an ancestor of George Cooper, another character from the Lionness series. There are also a few interesting references that I hope will be expanded upon further in later works, such as the followers of the "Gentle Mother"--worshippers of one of the "faces" of the major Goddess of women in Tortall who encourage a demure femininity that greatly limits the power of women.
Anyway. "Mastiff" is a great ride. I enjoyed the pacing and the way the pieces come together. The ending surprised me, and I may need to read it over again to decide whether it sits well with me or not--one character's betrayal seems out of the blue with little foreshadowing based on prior knowledge about the character. Don't let the unfortunate cover art fool you--this book is a great read for teenagers and adults. The somewhat mature themes make this a better book for teens rather than adolescents. Adolescents should start with the Song of the Lionness Quartet, The Protector of the Small, or The Immortals Quartet.