Beka Cooper Book 1

The Legend of Beka Cooper #1

By: Tamora Pierce

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy by introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises, and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.

©2006 Tamora Pierce (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

love it

I love Tamora Pierce's novels and Bekka Cooper's story has quickly become one of my favorite. The style in Terrier is somewhat different from her other Tortallian novels but it is very refreshing, written in the style of a journal, we see everything through the shy but determined eyes of Bekka Cooper. Although Bekka has the soul of all the Tortallian heroines from the previous series, there is something decidedly different about her in comparison to Daine and Alanna. Perhaps it is because Bekka grew up in the city slums and lived a completely different life that makes her views so much different to that of the noble-born Alanna and the outcast Daine.

Although the audiobook read with a one person cast, Susan Denaker does expressions, accents and voices very well. I could almost imagine Rosto the Piper or Mathias Tunstall read by completely different people.

I love the book and am waiting eagerly for the second novel in the Bekka Cooper series, Bloodhound (both the novel and audiobook versions)

Tammy Pierce Has Done It Again

Tamora Pierce really has done it again with the Beka Cooper series. I have just about every single one of her books and I'm of the 21 and over variety of fan. She has a way of spinning a tale that totally sucks you in every time. Be warned that because Pierce is writing within the constructs of a historically accurate "medieval time period" there will be violence, killing, and more adult situations for characters younger than you might think appropriate, but she keeps it clean for the most part. I keep coming back to the Beka Cooper series and Tamora Pierce's other work over and over again simply because I enjoy it. It's good Young Adult fiction and you can't underestimate it. I highly recommend this book.

Very good

This book doesn't sound too promising at first, but it picks up as it goes on. I thought that the main character's shyness was made a bit too obvious, but it was well done other than that.
I think it's a very good book and worth the download.

If your trying something new... Check this out.

Would you listen to Beka Cooper Book 1 again? Why?

Down the road after I forget parts.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything just works together, its an easy listen.

What does Susan Denaker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I can listen to very few female narraters, Its not sexist, its simply I can't stand when they try and do male voices, Susan Denaker is a cut above the rest. I look forward to the rest of the series knowing there is a good narrater.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

One last good twist at the end.

Any additional comments?

Get it!

Best of both worlds

Any additional comments?

Susan Denaker is fabulous with voices, and her basic narration style is rich and engaged. I love the story itself as a great find for gritty female role models, with a lot of 'the world isn't a perfect place, but you still try to be a worthy person in it.' Did I mention that Susan Denaker is fabulous with the narration? Total win for young adult fiction.

Great Book

Great book, Only thing I had to over look. Is an young girl. Beating up grown men <some of whom have large swords> with nothing more than a night stick.
But even with that said. It was well written and very enjoyable.

Rich and Dramatic

An excellent book brought delightfully to life by the narrator. The setting is detailed and complex, characters are never simple, and the mysteries are not straightforward. As Beka seeks to find her way and prove herself, we are swept along into a world of crime and friendship and complicated loyalties.

The narrator's use of accents and voices is spot on - we recognize the characters that populate the world at once.

A great story about a Shero.

Tamora Pierce has written a great story about a young girl who dreams of being a Dog, essentially a police officer. This is the first book of the Beka Cooper series. This book is also prequel to the Alanna Series and deals with her husband the spymasters family history.

In this book you learn about Bekas background and why she wants to become a Dog. You are also in a journey of her early training to become a Dog and how she and her trainers solve 2 big cases. It’s an exciting book and even caught my husbands attention and my youngest daughter is beyond thrilled that I have added it to my audible library. Tamora Pierce writes for the YA age group, but I still enjoy her stories because she is such an awesome writer.

Just as I remember and even better

I read this book in high school. So when I saw the audiobook I thought I would give it a chance. I was not disappointed The narrator does an excellent job of voicing the characters. I am especially impressed by the male voices! Overall this narration does not take away from my fond memories of reading the book. Will have to read the next to see if this keeps up.

I didn't like this at all

The story is boring, shallow and poorly written. The plot is hard to follow, because it is so boring that your mind wanders somewhere else all the time. The author's decision to introduce too many new persons at a time without actual introductions didn't help it at all. The names of the characters are also weird and didn't help the understanding. It was nerving listening to the character names, they sound somehow unnatural. The narrator was OK, not bad, not great but OK. The book does not contain any proper features you are used to find in any quality fantasy book.

Provast Guard

I have always loved Tamora Pierce and Terrier has a special place in my heart. Terrier is a bit of departure for Ms Pierce as it is in a journal format. To me it works better listening to it rather than reading it. It follows the story of Beka Cooper as a brand new provost guard (Dog) in the fantastical world of Tortall. Being new she is eager to prove herself and ends up plunging into a situation that had gone unnoticed by the rest of the guard. Overall an excellent story although for me the some of the voices did jar slightly that shouldn't put you off

Brilliant - again!

I've loved Tamora Pierces books since I first discovered them years ago, now even though I'm probably getting a bit old for them they still provide me with huge enjoyment. This new series of books doesn't disappoint and I can't wait for the next.

Beka is the kind of three dimensional, well-drawn character that you'd expect from Tamora, and she has the same mix of strength and vulnerability that helped us to relate to Alanna and Daine. It's set again in Tortall but it's nice to go back and learn more about a different aspect outside of the upperclass, knights and riders. Beka is a trainee guard or 'puppy' and the book follows her through her first few weeks on duty where she deals with a few problems and solves a couple of mysteries with the help of her rather unusual 'birdies'.

The only thing I found slightly irritating was the slightly coy references to her 'peaches' etc... just come right out and talk about your breasts love!

Anyway, I thought it was excellent and eagerly await the next one.