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

[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!