Fantasy review: Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Beka Cooper is a young woman who, at the beginning of the book, is just breaking in to the 'Dogs'-- what is essentially the police force in the Realm of Tortall.  Beka has a few strange things about her that set her apart-- her pet, a cat with purple eyes, tends to follow her around-- and she can communicate with the cat.  Pigeons tend to flock wherever she is, and the dead spirits that cling to the pigeons can communicate with her.  And Beka can talk with dust catchers, spider-like webs that catch people's thoughts.    Initially some of the writing is hard to read because one or two 'journal' entries are written by people who we can tell aren't well educated.  But there are only a few pages of that.  The story picks up once we begin to read Beka's journal entries.  Despite her 'puppy' status on the Dogs, Beka uses her contacts in the lower city to try to discover the identity of the Shadow Snake-- a mysterious person who has been terrorizing people for several years.  Part detective novel, part swashbuckling fantasy novel, Beka Cooper: Terrier will likely appeal to fantasy readers who enjoy diving into different worlds.  A glossary and other useful indexes are included in the back of the book, as there are quite a few terms used repeatedly (coves are men, gixies are unmarried women, etc).  Readers who have read other Tamora Pierce novels will be used to the style of writing about Tortall, while newcomers to Pierce-- especially those who haven't read fantasy before-- will likely struggle with the vocabulary and the pace of the story.
I read the book over the course of a couple weeks when I was constantly being interrupted, and the lack of being able to focus on the book probably affected my less than glowing sense of it.  Because I couldn't immerse myself in Beka's world, the book seemed to drag on and on.  Perhaps the narrative could've been tighter, or perhaps it was just the wrong book at the wrong time.  It was a Missouri 2008-2009 Gateway Readers Award Nominee.