Provost's Dog
Encyclopedia
The Provost's Dog trilogy
is a series of young adult
fantasy
novel
s by best-selling author Tamora Pierce
. The series is a prequel
to Pierce's first quartet, The Song of the Lioness
, and is set in the fictional kingdom
of Tortall two hundred years earlier. It details the adventures of Beka Cooper, a sixteen-year-old recruit of the Lord Provost
, originally from a lower city
family and now in service to the Provost's Guard.
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
is a series of young adult
Young adult literature
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s by best-selling author Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce is an author of fantasy literature for young adults. She is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania. Best known for writing stories involving young heroines, she made a name for herself with her first quartet The Song of the Lioness, which followed the main character Alanna...
. The series is a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
to Pierce's first quartet, The Song of the Lioness
The Song of the Lioness
The Song of the Lioness is a series of young adult fantasy novels published in the 1980s by Tamora Pierce. The series consists of four books: Alanna: The First Adventure , In the Hand of the Goddess , The Woman Who Rides Like a Man and Lioness Rampant .-Plot Summary:Alanna of Trebond wants to be a...
, and is set in the fictional kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
of Tortall two hundred years earlier. It details the adventures of Beka Cooper, a sixteen-year-old recruit of the Lord Provost
Lord Provost
A Lord Provost is the figurative and ceremonial head of one of the principal cities of Scotland. Four cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, have the right to appoint a Lord Provost instead of a provost...
, originally from a lower city
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
family and now in service to the Provost's Guard.
Series
- TerrierTerrier (novel)Terrier is a young adult fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce, the first book in the Provost's Dog trilogy and the fifteenth book set in the Tortall Universe. It tells the story of Rebakah "Beka" Cooper, the ancestor of George Cooper from Song of the Lioness and Alianne from Trickster's Choice and...
(October 2006) - BloodhoundBloodhound (novel)Bloodhound, by Tamora Pierce, is the second novel in a fictional trilogy, Provost's Dog, about a young Provost guard-woman in a fantasy kingdom called Tortall...
(April 2009) - Mastiff, previous working title Elkhound (October 2011)
Major characters
- Rebakah "Beka" Cooper – A young, up-and-coming member of the Provost's Guard and protegée to the Lord Provost. Ancestor of George Cooper. Beka has magic that allows her to hear restless spirits on the backs of pigeons and dust spinners (beings of air that catch sounds and conversations on breezes). She is sometimes referred to as Fishpuppy, a reference to her first night as a "Puppy", when she was tripped while chasing a cutpurse and landed in a pile of fish guts. She is also sometimes referred to as "Terrier", because she "sticks her teeth in and never lets go", a reference to how she never stops until she has brought criminals to justice, shown by her tedious pursuit of a drunk mot through the entire length of the Lower City. Later she is also referred to as "Bloodhound", due to her searching out and bringing down Pearl Skinner, the Rogue of Port Caynn and counterfeiter. She is also the object of Rosto's flirtations; although she discourages him and for a brief period of time even has another lover, Dale Rowan.
- Pounce – A black catCatThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
with purple eyes, Beka's foundling pet, who can choose if humans or other creatures can hear him. It has been suggested by some characters that Pounce is a constellation (called the Cat) that has come to live on Earth. This is actually the same cat known as Faithful from the Song of the Lioness Quartet.
- Matthias (Mattes) Tunstall and Clara (Clary) Goodwin – Veteran guards assigned to train Beka during her puppy year or years.
- Rosto the Piper – Potential romantic interest to Beka and occasional comic relief, Rosto also moves the plot along first as a Scanran Rusher and later, as "the Rogue" (king of the lower city). As the Rogue, he maintains order among the lower city "Rats," and doles out justice on matters in which the Provost's Dogs can't or won't become involved. Rosto moves into Beka's boarding house with Kora and Aniki, and they become slow friends. As the Shadowsnake case becomes more serious, their relationship grows. With the book's progression, his appearances in the book and importance to the plot increase as well. Rosto is described as a 22-year-old who stands at five feet and ten inches. He is skinny but well muscled. Extremely pale with nearly white hair but black eyes. On his left eyebrow he has a sideways forked scar.
- Sabine of Macayhill – A lady knight, and Tunstall's love interest.
Minor characters
- Lord Gershom of Haryse – The Lord Provost, in command of Corus's city guard, and Beka's benefactor.
- Acton of Fenrigh – Watch CommanderCommanderCommander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
of the Jane Street Kennel, where Beka is posted.
- Kebibi Ahuda – A constantly beleaguered Watch Sergeant that is said to have a soft spot for Beka.
- Ersken Westover and Verene – Trainee guards from Beka's year.
- Aniki Forfrysning – Scanran rusher and swordswoman, friend of Kora, Beka and Rosto.
- Koramin (Kora) Ingensra – A rogue and mageMagician (fantasy)A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
. Ersken's lover, as of Terrier.
- Phelan – A second year Dog, friend of Ersken and Beka, Verene's lover.
- Tansy Lofts – Crookshank's grandson's wife and Beka's childhood friend. Tansy's son, Rolond, was killed by a mysterious "Shadow Snake".