Terrier review

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, epistolary narrative, mystery, adventure

It’s been a while since I’ve done a full read through of this series, I forgot how much I liked it! Usually I only read the third book, Mastiff, since it’s my favorite, but I’m glad I decided to read the whole trilogy this time.

Beka is someone with justice in the blood. As a child she successfully brought down a crime ring and brought her family good fortune. As an adult (teen), she’s ready to join the Dogs and protect the people of the Lower City. She knows that she’s officially new to this world, but part of her is still a little arrogant that she’ll immediately be the best. I liked seeing these two things side-by-side because Beka respects the law and the process of becoming a full Dog, but at the same time we still get a hint of that teenage confidence. She does become more aware and more careful over the course of the book, but it happened gradually and felt realistic.

Her main feature, though, is her relentless desire for justice and willingness to pursue it. Having grown up in the slums, Beka knows better than most how often the people living there are ignored, and one of her goals is to do better. This shows up in how Beka is willing to follow a story everyone else dismissed, chase down leads in her spare time, and recruit her friends, both Dog and not, to try and figure out what’s going on.

Since I’m used to reading the third book, where Beka’s well-established, it was interesting to read about the bits of magic she uses to help her solve her cases. She isn’t a mage, but she can hear the talk of dust spinners and the dead, both of which can be useful. One thing that struck me is that Beka started training on this with her grandmother when she was fairly young, but doesn’t seem to have a ton of knowledge or control over this magic. I’d expect after 8 years for her to have figured a little bit more out, but part of this could be because Beka does explore her magic a little bit over the course of the trilogy, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to know everything coming in.

I enjoy the side characters in this book as well. It was good to see Goodwin, one of Beka’s training agents, again and I’d forgotten how snarky she can be. Goodwin is very no-nonsense and has a sense of tough love, but she also provides guidance and compliments when warranted. Tunstall is more mild-mannered than when he’s older and is happy to have Beka along. The two of them quickly strike up a nice camaraderie. Ersken is a friend from training and the two of them commiserate over the tribulations of being new Dogs. He’s also more than willing to help Beka on her case and is a good shoulder to lean on.

On the less legal side, Rosto comes in pretty early on and it was interesting to see how things developed there, both interpersonally and on a grander scale. He’s got a good eye on the criminal element and is able to use that to his advantage to move through the ranks, but at the same time he respects Beka’s position and keeps a mderate stance when she’s around. Kora, a mage friend of Rosto’s, and Aniki, another one of Rosto’s friends, become quick friends with Beka as well. The three of them are good companions to one another and I liked seeing them help each other out.

There are two mysteries in this book: murder and kidnapping. The murders were of primary importance to the Dogs, who gradually escalated the investigation until there were multiple teams working on it. While I understand why the murder was the most important to them, it was the kidnapping that was close to Beka’s heart and the mystery that I too thought was more important. I vaguely remembered the resolution from the mysteries from when I read it years ago, so it wasn’t too surprising, but I think the setup is done well and could provide a nice twist.

Overall, I really enjoyed my reread of this book and getting to know young Beka again. The two mysteries were also well done and I enjoyed following along with the cast to figure out who did it/them.