Book Review: Mastiff

TITLE: Mastiff
Book 3 in the Legend of Beka Cooper Trilogy
AUTHOR: Tamora Pierce
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: adventure, fantasy
PREMISE: Beka goes on a hunt to find the young missing heir to the throne.
MY REVIEW: Okay this review is probably going to be very biased as most of my reviews about Pierce are because her Tortall/Circle of Magic books are the books that I credit with getting me into fantasy/YA back in the day. Gosh I’ve been reading this series since the nineties! So I’m terribly fond of these books and eagerly await each installment and they never disappoint.
Now I will say a few issues I’ve come across as I’ve gotten older. Pierce has a bad habit of slightly mocking the girls/people who don’t think like her main character. That is people who aren’t liberal. While yes, I don’t always agree with the religious set, particularly the snotty ones in this book, I don’t think you should mock people for their beliefs. They are allowed to believe what they want even if you yourself don’t agree with it. That’s one aspect of these books I don’t particularly care for. That and while I love the strong girls message, she does tend to hit you over the head with it. But I’ve kind of had to let that go, it’s a personal peeve and doesn’t change the fact that these are still very good books.
The writing is still strong, she still has fabulous characters and doesn’t mind making them complicated or difficult to like. I like Beka but I’m sure there are people out there who struggle with how detached she can be. She still does fabulous world-building that is the biggest appeal of her books for me. The worlds of Tortall and the world in Circle of Magic are just so dense and just wonderful.
In short if you love Tamora Pierce, you will not be disappointed, unless you wanted Beka to end up with Rosto like I did in which case oh well. Luckily Farmer is just as fun so it’s not that big of a deal. Next up: A Circle of Magic book with Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn in Yanjing. YES! Sorry, love those three. Everyone else may prefer Tortall but for me it’s Circle of Magic all the way. I can’t wait for the one with Tris in magic school.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora Pierce fans, fantasy fans, fans of the first 2 Beka Cooper books
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five Dog uniforms