Mastiff by Tamora Pierce

[redbrunja]

Okay, I had a whole long post regarding all my problems with this book but then livejournal ate it. And I just do not have the patience to type it all up again. Basically, it was boring,
Pierce let all her darlings not only live but frolic, she only wrote about slavery so she could have a happy ending (instead of writing about the cult of the Gentle Mother, which is what we're all invested in, despite knowing it ends badly until Alanna and Kel come to kick Tortall back into shape), while the romantic lead is awesome, the romance is rushed, JUST KILL THE FUCKING DOG, etc, etc.

Comments

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

So...we reacted kind of differently, as usual. ;)

I didn't really read it as a happy ending wrt slavery. Beka is pretty upfront, even to the kid, about how this is all very nice and whatever, but it's also a beginning, and it's going to be hard to follow through on. I think she did it specifically so we could imagine The Cult of the Gentle Mother, and not have to actually live through it.

Tunstall nearly killed me, I have to say.

I definitely agree about the romance being rushed. I think between "Terrier" and "Mastiff", Pierce's house was broken into, and she decided that she would no longer be writing Heroic Thief Characters, which basically meant that Rosto got COMPLETELY ABANDONED and replaced by a dude who was, essentially, a yes-man. I mean, don't get me wrong, when he said he wanted to be called Cooper I NEARLY DIED OF GLEE, but in my head it went more like Beka has kids out of wedlock with Rosto, whom she loves but cannot marry on account of them both being REALLY GOOD AT THEIR JOBS, and then, by being awesome, she inadvertently inspires George to be the kind of Rogue he was.

Mostly, I gave it a 10 because I loved the book in spite of its faults.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I think she did it specifically so we could imagine The Cult of the Gentle Mother, and not have to actually live through it.

I agree. And while that frustrates me because I feel coddled as a reader, I feel like taking a 'smaller' plot (like she did with the first Beka novel) would have resulted in me being more invested in the story, even if the Cult wasn't the focus.

Pierce's house was broken into, and she decided that she would no longer be writing Heroic Thief Characters, which basically meant that Rosto got COMPLETELY ABANDONED and replaced by a dude who was, essentially, a yes-man.

Oh, man, really? That's... kind of frustrating. And while I can appreciate Beka choosing someone who she can build a life with and isn't going to automatically have this conflict*, I really wish they'd played out the relationship with Farmer a bit more so it felt less easy.

*I feel this is a really good place to compare and contrast with Alanna/Jon, which I thought was a good example of Alanna choosing her life over a relationship with someone she did care deeply about. Which didn't mean that her relationship with George was easy or happened right away.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, good point! I mean, we had Jon, George AND Liam all at the same time (kind of), and while I don't think Liam was ever really a front-runner (and for the life of me, I cannot understand people who think Alanna/Jon works long term), there's a WHOLE BOOK dedicated to explaining that, not just...random comments throughout.

I think what this really needed was a "third" book (which would bump Mastiff to fourth), where we learn a) why the hell Beka decided to marry that dude who died in the first place, and b) TOLD THAT STORY. Then I think a lot more of what happened in Mastiff would make sense. It could be called...Retriever, and deal with loyalty and honesty and...fetching stuff?

(Er, apparently it's MY FIRST DAY, so I fixed it.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I think what this really needed was a "third" book (which would bump Mastiff to fourth), where we learn a) why the hell Beka decided to marry that dude who died in the first place, and b) TOLD THAT STORY.

See, I was perfectly fine with jumping into Beka's failed engagement (and appreciate not having my time wasted) but I think Mastiff needed an entirely new plot and to be cut down by AT LEAST half, used to introduce Farmer, and then have a theoretical fourth book be the resolution of Farmer and Beka's romance.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

That works too!

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

JUST KILL THE FUCKING DOG

I'm sorry. I don't understand those words in the least.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

WHEN I KNOW THAT YOUR MAGIC CAT IS GOING TO MAGIC YOUR AMAZING DOG BETTER, IT'S HARD FOR ME TO FEEL ANY SUSPENSE AT ALL. YOU MIGHT AS WELL PAT ME ON THE HEAD AND TELL ME NOT TO WORRY, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE.

Seriously, it makes me want to write a dog into a story just to kill it.

Fucking dogs.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the book needed an editor, and the entire series could have used a book before this one both to set up this one and not feel like Rosto was wasted and Tunstall was tossed under a bus (although if you want to talk about a dog dying...).

And it was kinda supposed to be a happy book, I think. Pierce kind of coddled them the whole way through. I think that if she could have avoided killing Tunstall, she would have.

But animals dying in books really, deeply disturbs me; and I hate it when they kill the dog. I don't think it was a good call to kill the children, either. I'm biased, but I also think killing characters that can't defend themselves is pointless and cheap in a book like this.

I see where you're coming from from a writing standpoint, but from the part of me that says animals are not things will always be okay with Pierce's choice.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

And it was kinda supposed to be a happy book, I think. Pierce kind of coddled them the whole way through. I think that if she could have avoided killing Tunstall, she would have.

See, I feel like killing Tunstall was another example of her making life easy on the writers. Nobody had to go through a public trial and execution with Tunstall, etc.

But animals dying in books really, deeply disturbs me; and I hate it when they kill the dog. I don't think it was a good call to kill the children, either. I'm biased, but I also think killing characters that can't defend themselves is pointless and cheap in a book like this.

I believe that not killing character who would logically die (children or animals or what-have-you) and having characters die when it's easiest is weak writing and makes me frustrated with the book and the writer as a whole.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

See, I feel like killing Tunstall was another example of her making life easy on the writers. Nobody had to go through a public trial and execution with Tunstall, etc.

True. I do wish she'd gone ahead and owned that decision.

Also, I think this book put a lot of effort towards making death less scary in Tortallverse...which I'm kinda sure might be a prelude to her doing some serious cataclysmic shit when she writes about it again, so we'll see.

I believe that not killing character who would logically die (children or animals or what-have-you) and having characters die when it's easiest is weak writing and makes me frustrated with the book and the writer as a whole.

That's fair enough for adult fiction, but I also think it's important to look at the audience you're writing for and the current climate. A strong theme in Pierce's books has always been "animals have feelings and need to be taken care of", which in some sense is more important to me than technically perfect writing.

To be fair, Pounce certainly made Beka's life easier than Achoo. If you're going to talk about killing one of her pets, I'd almost think it would be the magic one.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

A strong theme in Pierce's books has always been "animals have feelings and need to be taken care of", which in some sense is more important to me than technically perfect writing.

I can see your point. However, if Pierce wasn't going to kill Achoo, I wish she'd made it less obvious, and not have the dog almost die to be magically saved.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

True. If anything, she shouldn't have drawn attention to it.

And it was definitely not one of her best written works, I'm not arguing that point at all. I did feel like there was too much fat and not enough meat. The book felt drawn out even though the plot was rushed, if that makes any sense?

I still enjoyed it, even if I can't put my finger on why, but it was lacking on plot and development. And Rosto and Aniki and Kora doing something seriously epic, which I was sort of looking forward to.