Review ][ Mastiff

  Title ][ Mastiff

Author ][Tamora Pierce

Chapters (Summary) ][ link

Rating ][

Warning! This review does have some spoilers. I tried to keep them to a minimum but I’m tired and needed to reveal some things to share my honest opinion. I didn’t reveal anything major, though.

It’s finally here! Mastiff is the final instalment in the Beka Cooper trilogy, although I wish it wasn’t. This is probably my favourite out of the three which is a pleasant surprise since sequels don’t usually live up to the originals. However, Terrier seems like an introduction or prelude compared to Mastiff!

In this novel, Beka is back and on the trail of her most important quarry yet! With the help of some old friends (Achoo, Pounce, Tunstall, and Sabine) as well as some new ones (Farmer and Nomalla), she faces bandits, slave traders, nobles and mages to rescue a boy, on whom the fate of all of Tortall rests upon. This book is packed with non-stop action and magic, as it has a huge focus on mages (much more than the previous books). And I must say, I actually quite enjoyed the lack of dust spinners and pigeons. I’m not saying there were none, but they were used sparingly and only when needed and helped me believe that the novel was more historical fiction than fantasy (even though there were mages left, right, and center). I know it’s meant to be fantasy, but I still do love it’s historical flare and always found Beka’s powers a bit odd and unconnected, with each other and with the rest of the novel.

Mastiff introduces a bunch of new characters, but one of the most prominent is Farmer, a looby of a mage who is actually much more powerful than he first appears to be. I absolutely loved Farmer. He was funny without being outrageously so, and I found myself slowly falling in love with him as Beka did. The romance was similar to Divergent because it developed slowly and seemed really realistic (unlike all the ridiculous “love at first sight” stuff that YA seems oh-so fond of nowadays), and I was truly shocked when he kissed her. Not because I was surprised, but because that kiss revealed how he felt about her, kind of like the shock of being kissed by a guy you like and that you suspect likes you but you’re not really sure about his feelings until that point... if that makes sense. I felt he was a great addition to the cast, and I wish we could have met Farmer in Terrier so we could have spent more time with him!

Now that we’ve talked about new characters, it’s time to talk about the old ones. Since Goodwin got her turn in the spotlight in Bloodhound, Mastiff was Tunstall’s time to shine. I can’t reveal too much about Tunstall except that he shocked me at the end, but I will say that his reasons where utterly believable, which made it that much worse. That whole section of the novel in general left me feeling hollow, but that was quickly remedied by the ending.

One of my only complaints about the end of Mastiff was that it was wrapped up too neatly. Everyone was happy and life was good, a little too good. I wish that Tamora Pierce had thrown some little twist in there. However, since it is the end of a trilogy, I suppose I am happy the Beka lives happily ever after.

Why five kernals? This book was incredible fast-paced and had new dangers around every corner. However, it never seemed like it was forcing it, and all of the character’s reactions as well as the events that happened seemed perfectly believable.  Mastiff never tried to convince you of anything.  It simply said “here’s what happened, take it and make of it what you will,” and I believed every word. The characters truly endeared themselves to me, and Beka and Farmer will forever be some of my favourite fictional characters. This is my favourite novel from one of my favourite series, and is definitely a trilogy you should NOT skip over.

That said, I’m actually quite depressed that we won’t be hearing from Beka again. She’s one of my favourite heroines of all time, and I’ll definitely miss reading about her adventures as I wasn’t quite ready to let her go (I was hoping for another quartet). I feel like I`m not doing this book justice with this review. It really is quite extrodinary, and I definitly recomend it.

][ Midelaye