Post by Cass on Dec 16, 2011 15:14:25 GMT 10
Why I Love Provost's Dog
by Greenie
by Greenie
Don’t worry; no Mastiff spoilers in here! This article is 100% Mastiff-free, and set to shower love on Terrier and Bloodhound, the first two Provost’s Dog books.
The Provost’s Dog books are written in a diary format from the point of view of Beka Cooper, a member of the Jane Street kennel Provost’s Dogs. The diary format makes the books very different to Pierce’s earlier books, and while it does take a while to adjust to the new style of writing, reading through Beka’s own words gives us an insight to her character that we’ve never had with any of Pierce’s other heroines. I find it fascinating to read Beka’s own thoughts on the world around her and what she encounters, and I think it’s especially endearing to see how she looks up to her training partners, Clary Goodwin and Mattes Tunstall.
PD offers us a whole new insight into the way of life in Tortall. Set 200 years earlier, we can still recognise the Tortall we know despite the differences, such as the presence of lady knights. Instead of the books being set in the palace as with the other Tortall books based in Corus, they are set in the city of Corus itself (and Port Caynn for much of Bloodhound), which allows us to see how ordinary Tortallan citizens live.
One of my favourite things about the detail of everyday life in PD that we don’t get to see in the other books is the description of the food they eat; Beka’s descriptions of stopping for a raisin patty or an apple pasty is certainly enough to get your mouth watering! I certainly can’t forget about the use of slang words in PD, either. Although it takes a little while to get used to them, a lot of the meanings are either obvious from the context, or able to be looked up in the handy glossary at the back. It only takes a few rereads of the books before you’re fluent with words like ‘sarden’, ‘mumper’, and ‘bugnob’, and you’ll be able to string together sentences of insults nearly as well as Tunstall himself!
For me, the biggest reason why I love PD is the characters. The Provost’s Dog books have a huge range of supporting characters, all the way from the Lord Provost to Beka’s friends caught up in the world of the Rogue, and including everyone in between! As a reader, I’m caught up enough in what’s happening with the other characters that I’m as interested in their storylines as I am in Beka’s own! My favourites are Beka’s training Dogs, Goodwin and Tunstall, and I love to see them all interacting throughout Terrier as they work together to solve the crime and mysteries. Although the three of them aren’t solving Bloodhound’s mystery together, we get interesting glimpses at new facets of their characters, which I find just as rewarding. Although the PD series is now finished, the depth to the characters Pierce has created means that we’ll be able to find joy in rereading the books, and possibly reading or writing our own fanfictions about them, and we’ll be able to continue loving Provost’s Dog for a long time to come.
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!