Terrier (2006) (edit title/settings)

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• Rebakah "Beka" Cooper: Puppy of the Evening Watch in Jane Street kennel, in training with Dogs Goodwin and Turnstall. Sixteen years old and eldest child of Ilony Cooper, sister to Diona, Lorine, Nilo and Willes.
• Rosto the Piper: A rogue Beka meet on her first night as a 'Puppy.' Rosto is a young man of Scanran ancestry and questionable loyalties. He has very pale skin, white blond hair and black eyes. He also has a large amount of scars and blade wounds on his arms and face
• Clara "Clary" Goodwin: Partner of Mattias Turnstall, Corporal Dog of the Evening Watch in Jane Street kennel, seventeen-year veteran and Beka's female Dog
• Matthias "Mattes" Tunstall: Senior Dog, Beka's male Dog, fifteen year veteran
• Kebibi Ahuda: Sergeant on the Evening Watch at Jane Street kennel and combat training master of the Dogs
• Lady Sabine of Macayhill: Lady Knight of the realm, recently returned from the hills after a pardon from the king
• Ammon "Crookshank" Lofts: Rich and crooked landlord
• Aniki Forfrysning: Scanran rusher and swords woman
• Berryman: Gem mage
• Phelan: Second-year Dog, part of the Evening Watch in Jane Street kennel
• Ersken Westover: Puppy, Beka's friend, fourth son of a middle-class family
• Yates Noll: Yates Noll is the youngest son of Deirdry Noll. He is the only one of her sons who still lives in Corus.
• Kayfer Deerborn: The Rogue, king of Corus thieves
• Dawull: Rogue chief of the Waterfront District
• Gemma Noll: Daughter of Mistress Noll
• Deirdry Noll: Baker, also known as Mistress Noll. She is very friendly to Beka and her partners.
• Annis Lofts: Crookshank's daughter-in-law
• Verene: Puppy and friend of Beka's. She can sing fairly well and chose a Dog's life over becoming a fisher.
• Rolond Lofts: Rolond Lofts was Tansy's three-year old son. He was kidnapped and killed by the Shadow Snake.
• Koramin "Kora" Ingensra: Mage and friend of Rosto and Aniki
• Tansy Lofts: Crookshank's granddaughter-in-law, Herun's wife, Roland's mother, oldest friend of Beka's
• Sir Tullus of King's Reach: Sir Tullus is the magistrate responsible for those cases on Beka's watch.
• Diona Cooper: Diona is one of Beka's younger sisters.
• Gershom of Haryse: Lord Gershom is the Lord Provost. He took Beka's family in after she helped him with an important case. She learned a lot from his example.
• Gunnar Espeksra: Is a friend of Yates Noll. Like Yates he helps Deirdry Noll in kidnapping children and demanding ransom from their parents, posing as the Shadow Snake. When Ammon Lofts raids the Court of the Rogue Gunnar breaks into his house and ties the remaining inhabitants up, supposedly trying to find Crookshank's fire opals. Gunnar is arrested by Beka's training Dogs and killed by a cut throat that night in the cages. The cage Dog bribed to kill him is stabed the following morning
• Jens: Guard
• Granny Fern: Granny Fern is Beka's paternal grandmother. She lives in the Lower City and Beka visits her sometimes on her free days to help her in the household.
• Rebecca Morley: Rebecca is the main character of the book- and is the ancestor of George, the King of Thieves in the later books (Alanna the Lioness series), and is working as a provosts dog, which is pretty much like being part of the police. Her mother died when she was young, and she was taken in by the head dog of the guard- the provost himself. She gets caught up in a new killer case, along with a certain 'boy' along the way
• Mother Cantwell: Mother Cantwell is a beggar and thief in Corus. She lives around 246 HE. Her eyes are dark. Mother Cantwell is lean and weathered but is comparatively strong, considering her thinness. She is sharp-eyed and skilled at thieving.Rebakah Cooper enlists her help in bringing news to Beka about the Shadow Snake and the Opal Murders.
• Yoav: Yoav and Jewel were set on the investigation of the murder of Rolond Lofts in April of 246 HE, but as Yoav held a grudge against his great-grandfather, Crookshank, they didn't put too much work in it. The reason for her grudge against Crookshank was the suicide of her sister, who had hung herself after being sold as a slave by her husband who saw no alternative to pay his debts with Crookshank.In the following year Jewel and Yoav were part of the initial investigation concerning the false coins that had appeared in Corus.
• Rollo: Rollo is a guardsman in the Lower City of Corus in 246 HE. He has been working as a guardsman since 239 HE. He is assigned to Jane Street kennel with Otelia as his partner. Their trainee since April 1, 246 is Verene, who dies just a month later on their watch. Rollo, too, dies on Beltane of 246 HE on their watch. Both of them are killed in a fight with two Barzun sailors and three of Flash District's criminals. His burial is the day after, on May 1, 246 HE, and Lord Gershom speaks in his honour. Phelan describes him as being a fool.
• Fulk: Mage of the Jane Street kennel
• Black God: The God of Death
• Otterkin: Dog with some small magic or Gift, part of the Evening Watch at Jane Street kennel and Cape's partner
• Mya: Mya is the cook in Provost's House.
• Orva Ashmiller: Orva Ashmiller was an inhabitant of the Lower City of Corus, living at Mulberry Way. Together with her husband, Jack Ashmiller, and their three children (two girls and a toddling boy) she lived in the Cesspool, the poorest part of Corus. Orva drank a lot of alcohol and gots violent against her family as a result. On April 2, 246 HE a neighbour called for the nearest Dogs (Matthias Tunstall, Clara Goodwin and Rebakah Cooper) because Orva threatened to kill her children. When they arrived Orva hit Goodwin with a heavy budger knife thus breaking her jaw. She then fled and Rebakah set after her, chasing Orva through the whole of the Cesspool and finally arresting her.The following Monday Orva was sentenced to five years of labouring on the royal work farm in the town of Whitethorn.
• Jack Ashmiller: Jack Ashmiller is married to Orva Ashmiller and father to three children, two girls and a boy. He is beaten by his wife until she is arrested by Clara Goodwin, Matthias Tunstall and Rebakah Cooper in early April of 246 HE. After his wife has been arrested Jack struggles to supply for his children and is desperate to find work. Thus he comes across Crookshank's associates and is hired for a digging job in early May of 246 HE. He tells his children that he will come back but when he doesn't return after three days and the rent is still not paid the landlord threw them out of the house. When they come across Rebakah Cooper she learns of the new crew of diggers being hired from them and lets them live at her place until their father is found.He is only barely saved before Vrinday Kayu was to kill the third crew of opal diggers, of which Jack was one. In the mayhem that followed Jack probably helped himself to a fire opal or two. He and his children stayed with Beka only so long until he had found a new place for them to live in. After being saved from the cellar he mentions that he wants to train for a Dog, but Beka advices him against it. It is unknown if he took her advice or really did become a guardsman.
• Mithros: God of the sun, one of the chief gods in the Tortallan religion.
• King Roger of Conte II: King of Tortall
• Queen Jessamine: Roger II's second wife (unnamed in the text) and mother of his heir
• Queen Alysy: Roger II's first wife, deceased
• Sir Joreth: Knight, friend of Lady Sabine's
• Sir Tullus of King's Reach: Knight, Magistrate of the Lower City courts
• Acton of Fenrigh: Watch Commander, nobleman
• Alacia: Puppy, assigned to the Unicorn district
• Birch: Dog, Vinehall's partner
• Cape: Dog, Otterkin's partner
• Clarke: Puppy on Night Watch in Prettybone
• Evermore: Dog on the Evening Watch in the Jane Street kennel
• Hilyard: Puppy in Jane Street kennel
• Jakorn: Ex-dog and one of Lord Gershorm's private Guards, taught Beka when she came into the Lord's household
• Nyler Jewel: Corpral, Yoav's partner, part of the Evening Watch in Jane Street kennel
• Otelia: Verene's parent Dog, part of the Jane Street kennel
• Springbrook: Dog in the Evening Watch of Jane Street kennel
• Vinehall: Dog, partner to Birch, part of Jane Street kennel
• Herun Lofts: Crookshank's grandson and heir, Annis' son and Tansy's husband
• Roland Lofts: Tansy's three-year-old son, murder victim of The Shadow Snake
• Inman Poundridge: Hires guards for the slave market and Crookshank
• Otto: Footman in Crookshank's house
• Uta Norwood: Crookshank's bookkeeper
• Vrinday Kayu: Carthaki mage in Crookshank's pay and sometimes bodyguard of Tansy
• Zada: Maid in Crookshank's house
• Ulsa: Rogue chief of Prettybone District
• Bold Brian: Dawull's crew and Aniki's friend

Quotes edit see section history

• “Rosto, Aniki, and Kora awaited me wehn I came home and took me to teh Fog Lanterun. I fere I broke my rule and dranke more wine thann I shuld.”

  Beka

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• The Lower City is mine. Its people are mine—its children are mine. If I find them that’s doing all this kidnapping and murdering, they’d best pray for mercy. Because once I get my teeth in ’em, I will never let them go. And I start with the Shadow Snake.

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• You’ve white hair, you great looby!” I turned and walked off, keeping my head down so he wouldn’t see my grin. I knew what he would say. “I’m blond!” he shouted. “My hair isn’t white, it’s blond! Corn silk! Sun-colored! Gold! That Ahuda’s knocked you on the head too many times!” Rosto is vain. If he starts that nonsense with me again, I know a way to distract him now.

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• Pounce trotted past the newcomers, carrying a black kitten with a white bib and mittens in his mouth. The small creature hung in Pounce’s grip, ears flat, hindquarters and tail curled up. It seemed as dejected as a body could be at my cat’s handling.

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• He then lectured her in meows, saying, I cannot let you maul me about. Do it to him.

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• Aniki swooped on Pounce and swung him into the air. “Who needs handsome idiots when we can have kitties!” she cried, spinning around with him. Pounce glared at me as if to say, Stop her!

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• I have a temper. It is not my friends’ temper, exploding in flames. Mine is ice that numbs me all over. I know it is bad when I cannot feel my face. I am told my eyes look like death at such times.

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• Speak when you’re spoken to. Keep out of the way. Obey all orders. Get killed on your own time.

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• “You tell me nothin’ in my kennel. Here, I am Queen Bitch, and you will muzzle yourself.”

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• Ersken and Kora lingered at her door, kissing. I grabbed him as I passed. “I’m not having fun, you’re not having fun,” I told him as I towed him along. “You sound more like Goodwin every day,” he mumbled. “I begin to see how she got the way she is,” I said.

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• I was so proud. Now there was a proper god, making himself useful! Since my thought might be deemed blasphemy, I said silent prayers to the Goddess and to Mithros. I begged forgiveness and asked them not to misunderstand. Since I wasn’t blasted where I stood, I guess they forgave me, or they hadn’t heard my blasphemy.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Daymarket: The Daymarket was situated in the Lower City of Corus. It was on the Western border of Flash District and on the Northern border of Patten district. The Daymarket was the equivalent to Nightmarket, just in daytime. Deirdry Noll had a stall here as well as on Nightmarket.
• Nightmarket: Around 246 HE the Nightmarket is situated in the Lower City of Corus. It is on the south bank of the Olorun River, on its western edge the Nighmarket is flanked by the Market of Sorrows. Feasting Street marks the market's eastern edge. Stuvek Street marks its southern border. As opposed to Daymarket the Nightmarket is open in the nighttime, it opens around six of the evening, although it is still rather quiet on this early hour. As it can get more violent on later hours, there are normally several pairs of the Provost's Guard assigned to the Nightmarket. The market is divided in several rows which occupy each other sorts of merchants. One such row is the bakers' and spicer's row on which Deirdry Noll has her stall in 246 HE. On the square is a five-leveled fountain dedicated to King Jonathan the First. At the heart of the central square stands King Gareth's fountain, which consists of four shallow bowls of lesser and lesser size along the length of a carved stone pillar thirty feet in height. The Bread Riot took place on the Nightmarket.
• Mutt Piddle Lane: Mutt Piddle Lane is a street in Corus in the middle of the third century HE. It is situated in the Cesspool, the poorest part of even the Lower City. Known inhabitants of the street include Rebakah Cooper and her family, Tansy Lofts and Deirdry Noll with her family and her bakery. All of them relocated later, living in better parts of the Lower City by 246 HE.
• Scanra: Scanra is a country in the Tortallan Universe. It is to the north of Tortall with the Vassa River as border river. Its eastern neighbor is Galla with the Drell River as border river. To the west Scanra is bordered by the Emerald Ocean. It is inhabited by clans and ruled by a "Council of Ten" and any king that seizes power on what is called the Bloody Throne. Scanrans typically have blond hair and blue eyes. The land is wild, rocky and cold, and only very little of it can be farmed. Even when holding slaves was still fashionable in the Eastern Lands it wasn't a practice in Scanra, because their people couldn't feed slaves. Indeed, the food situation in the country was bad enough that Scanra's citizens had troubles feeding themselves in the third century of the Human Era. Thus some left for other countries, hoping that live there would be better, among them Rosto the Piper, Aniki Forfrysning and Koramin Ingensra.Scanrans are masters of the sea and feared pirates. They both raid by water and by land. Scanra was often a cause of trouble for its southern neighbour, Tortall. The Scanran War in the early 460s HE was one of such trouble spots. At that time Maggur Rathhausak was king with Blayce the Gallan as a mage helping his strategy by producing killing devices, which caused great losses to the Tortallan forces. After the death of Blayce the Tortallans eventually won the war.
• Mulberry Way: Mulberry Way is a street in the Lower City of Corus, the poorest part of the city. Orva and Jack Ashmiller lived there with their children. It is also unknown if the street and its name are still the same in the fifth century of the Human Era.
• North Gate
• Corus: Corus, the capital city of Tortall, ranged on the northern and southern banks of the Oloron River. It was situated in western Tortall, half a day's travel from Port Caynn. The city was made of different districts and was home to the domain of the Rogues, the crooked population of Tortall. The royal palace was situated on an hill south of the Olorun. Around the middle of the fifth century of the Human Era a new royal university was founded in Corus. In the capital people of different nationalities and professions could be found as could exotic fruits and other products. Especially on market days many people from the countryside came to the city. Then Corus looked especially bright.
• Olorun River: The Olorun River flows through the heartland of Tortall. It passes through the capital Corus as well as through Port Caynn, where it opens out into the Emerald Ocean. Between Corus and Port Caynn there is a broad open baisin called the Little Lake. Near Corus the river is about two hundred yards wide. In the middle of the third century of the Human Era the Olorun was already a well-used waterway, connecting the country's largest port with its capital. Passanger ships as well as those carrying goods trafficked the river. There were also fishing boats and even vendors of food, cloth and other goods. One of the boats sailing between both cities was the Green Mist.
• Carthak: The Carthaki Empire is an ancient and powerful slaveholding empire to the south of the Inland Sea, which was already considered such in the third century of the Human Era. A colonial empire, it's comprised of many conquered countries in the Southern Lands and up to the Roof of the World. The ruling family is the Iliniats in the 440's HE - Emperor Ozorne and then his nephew, Kaddar Iliniat, who marries Kalasin of Conté. It is known for its university; a storehouse of learning, sophistication, and culture. Carthak, like the pre-revolution Copper Isles, allows slavery. Nations conquered by Carthak include Siraj, Ekallatum, Amar, Apal, Zallara, Shusin, and Yamut.
• Lower City: The Lower City is a district of Corus, the capital of Tortall. It is situated on the south bank of the Olorun and on the Western edge of the city. At least this is true in Beka's time in the third century HE. There are no details about how this might have changed in the years until Alanna went for knighthood. Around 250 HE the Lower City is the poorest part of the city. The guard station of this district is called Jane Street kennel. The Cesspool is the worst part of this district both in poverty and violence. Important places situated in the Lower City are the Court of the Rogue, since 247 HE an inn called the Dancing Dove, the Day- and Nightmarket and the Market of Sorrows.
• Cesspool: The Cesspool is an area of the Lower City, a guard district in the Tortallan capital Corus. It is the poorest area in the whole city and the most violent. Rebakah Cooper and her friend Tansy Lofts lived there in their childhood, on Mutt Piddle Lane. Up to 247 HE the Court of the Rogue was also in this part of the city before it was relocated to a slightly better area of the Lower City. Crookshank owned about twenty houses in the Cesspool.The southeastern border of the Cesspool is Mulberry Street. No one built on the far side of it because there once was a battle between stormwings and spidren before the immortals were banished from the Mortal Realms into the Divine Realms. Word has it that two centuries later the land is still cursed.
• Mantel and Pullet: The Mantel and Pullet is a small eating house in the Lower City of Corus. It is situated on the edge of the Cesspool and is a preferred place for the members of the Provost's Guard on Evening Watch around 246 HE. Clara Goodwin and Matthias Tunstall go there regularly. Thus, they even have their own table and their own mugs
• Highfields District: One of Corus' wealthier districts in the third century of the Human Era was the Highfields District. This was the city's northernmost district, only bordered by Prettybone District in the south. In 237 and 238 HE the Bold Brass gang committed burglary in this and other districts.
• Prettybone District: The Prettybone District was both a guard district and a district of the Court of the Rogue in Corus in the middle of the third century HE. Under Kayfer Deerborn Ulsa was the chief of the Prettybone District.
• Glassman Square: Glassman Square is situated in the Lower City of Corus, on the corner of Holderman Street and Messinger Lane. Around the square there are raised stone blocks. Women not only come here to talk but also to do their laundry and get water at the pool in the center of the square. Rebakah Cooper comes here to feed her pigeons and gather news from the ghosts riding them.
• Barrel's Bottom: "My Dogs say someone ought to do the city a favor and burn the Barrel's Bottom down, there's so many fights there. The Night Watch calls it 'the Barrel of Blood.'" —Ersken Westover to the breakfast company at Beka's The Barrel's Bottom was a tavern on Rovers Street in the Lower City of Corus in the middle of the third century of the Human Era. It was located on the bank of the Olorun River and was infamous for its regular brawls and for gambling.
• Magistrate's Court: The Magistrate's Court is the place where criminals are put on trial in the middle of the third centry of the Human Era. In Corus these courts were held in the respective districts. Each of the four watches had their own day, e.g. Evening Watch of the Lower City had their Court Day on Mondays with the Magistrate being Sir Tullus of King's Reach. In Port Caynn things were handled differently. There all law-breakers were brought before the magistrate in Guards House.
• Waterfront District: Around 246 HE Waterfront District is a district of the Court of the Rogue in Tortall's capital Corus. It runs from the South Gate to the North Gate along both sides of the Olorun River. The Rogue's chief under Kayfer Deerborn in 246 HE is Dawull.
• Jane Street Kennel: Jane Street kennel was the guard station in the Lower City of Corus in the third century of the Human Era. Like Tradesmen's Kennel in Port Caynn it had a separate wing for the cells, also known as "cages", where prisoners were held until they were judged in the Magistrate's Court. Acton of Fenrigh was the kennel's Watch Commander for Evening Watch, Kebibi Ahuda a Watch Sergeant and the combat training master. Dogs reporting to Jane Street kennel included Matthias Tunstall, Clara Goodwin, Rebakah Cooper, Wulfric Birch, Osgyth Yoav and Ersken Westover. Nyler Jewel was the most senior Dog on Evening Watch in the Lower City around 246/247 HE.
• Patten District: Patten District is a district of the Provost's Guard in Corus in the third century of the Human Era. It is also a district of the Rogue. It is unknown if the district has still the same name and boundaries two hundred years later. The Patten District is situated north of Upmarket District and to the west of Unicorn District. The Flash District is to the north and the Lower City is to the west and northwest of Patten District. Inhabitants of the Patten District in 246 HE include Gershom of Haryse and his household, Matthias Tunstall and Amaya Painter.
• Sheepmire Tavern: The Sheepmire Tavern is situated in the Lower City of Corus, on Spindle Lane in the Cesspool near the North Gate. The tavern is half built of timber, half of stone. It has a chicken coop, a stable and seven sheds Some of these sheds were used by the Rogue Kayfer Deerborn for storage. Normally the sheds aren't searched by the Provost's Guard because of this.
• Court of the Rogue: The Court of the Rogue is a term used to refer to the community of thieves and small-time criminals, especially in Tortall, who are ruled by the Rogue, or King of Thieves.Members of the Court of the Rogue in Corus in the middle of the 3rd century HE:Kayfer Deerborn (King of the Rogue until May of 246 HE) Dawull (chief of Waterfront District under Deerborn) Ulsa (chief of Prettybone District under Deerborn) Rosto the Piper (succeeds Deerborn as King of the Rogue) Aniki Forfrysning (chief under Rosto) Koramin Ingensra (mage and friend of Rosto and Aniki) Bold Brian (belongs to Dawull's crew) Fiddlelad (belongs to Dawull's crew) Lady May (belongs to Dawull's crew) Reed Katie (belongs to Dawull's crew) Phelan Rapp (former Dog)

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Birdie: Provost's Guard nickname for informants
• Bugnob: a person with little brains
• Cages: Holding cells for prisoners of the kennel
• Cityman: A person who is noble
• Cove: Male
• Cracknob: A madman
• Cuddy: Slob
• Dog: Member of Provost's Guard
• Douse: To murder
• Doxie: Female prostitute
• Ducknob: A person with little intelligence
• Filcher: Small-time criminal
• Foist: Master pickpocket
• Gixie: Girl
• Hobble: To tie up or arrest
• Kennel: Prison/police station
• Mot: Female
• Puppy: Trainee of Provost's Guard, not yet a full Dog
• Rat: Provost's Guard nickname for criminals
• Spintry: Male prostitute

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Bloodhound.

Followed by Bloodhound.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Tamora Pierce (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• 2009 West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (2009: Best Book for Older Readers)
• YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2007)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.P61464 Ter 2006
• Dewey: FIC PIE

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Apparently, the recommended age range is 12+. There's a defitely violence in this book, in the form of more than a few fights, etc, and stuff like death/murder. Some minor sexual themes. However, there's not anything that would be considered "overly graphic". There's not really any profanity; though the dialogue isn't lacking in insults, etc., it's basically all slang terms which aren't used in real life. Overall, though this series contains some "mature" themes (violence, death, and some sexual references), it would be something between PG and PG-13.Hope this is helpful!

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Magic & Wizards
• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( P ) › Pierce, Tamora
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Girl Power

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history