Anthea Cross-Thornley is an orphan who's been passed around her extended family for as long as she can remember. Now it's time for her to move again, and the only family left are the most dismaying yet. Though she's not happy with her current situation with dutiful Uncle Daniel and his spoiled brat of a daughter, it's better than where she's being sent--to an uncle she's never met, who lives outside the wall that demarcates civilization. The wall was built to keep the sickness spread by horses, and though Anthea knows the horses all died, she's been brought up to believe that outside the wall is dangerous, and the taint of living there is certainly going to bring down her hope of being chosen to be an attendant to the royal family.
But she has no choice. And so she arrives at Uncle Andrew's house far outside...and her mind is blown. It is a ranch, with real horses. A girl cousin she's never met. Freedom to cast aside uncomfortable clothes and social niceties. Of course this all makes her tremendously uncomfortable; she doesn't want to learn to ride, and she likes the social niceties. Then memories begin to surface; she's been there, and known the horses, before. And then secrets begin to reveal themselves as well.
Anthea has a family gift--she can communicate mind to mind with the horses (which is a distressing shock for her at first). There's one horse in particular who formed a strong mind connection with her when she was just a baby, and now they are together again. So gradually she adapts to her new, horse-filled life, and never wants to leave it.
But back on the other side of the wall, the horses are still feared, and the king chaffs at the lack of control he has over the outside lands. Unwittingly Anthea, in her first days outside the wall, betrayed all she's coming to hold dear...and to save the horses, and the life she now wants for herself, she must go back inside, to somehow subvert the king's conviction that the horses must all be killed. Cue danger! Adventure! Loyalties tested, and loyal, beautiful horses ridden hard, and some injured! Cue tiny smidge of age appropriate romance!
Me being me, I actually liked all the part before the action and adventure gets going best--orphans exploring new homes and learning to ride is right up my alley! But I can generously appreciate that many readers do, in fact, enjoy Plot, and so I don't begrudge the wild ride and the political intrigue. The magic of horse/human communication is something that works better for a child reader; the larger political framework, with hints of imperialism, is more interesting to the adult reader than the love story between girl and horse, but less emphasized in the story.
short answer--if you have 10 year old me (intelligent, loving, voracious reader, learning to ride, bad at spelling but good at imaginative play*) on hand (or some similar sort of child), give her (or him) this book!
just for the record--Kirkus and I are on the same page on this one, although I'm taking it more personally....
*nothing to do with the book, but just as an autobiographical aside- that was the year I was chosen to be in a Birdseye Fish Finger commercial. We were living in the Bahamas, and I was one of several kids from my school who had to sail with Captain Birdseye around uninhabited Caribbean Islands and get excited about fish fingers. I dropped out before filming started, because I would rather have stayed home to read, didn't like the other kids much, and was revolted by fish fingers...Also we weren't getting paid, so there was no incentive. Possibly if there had been books on board the boat I'd have stuck it out....
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher
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I was not a horse loving child (my cousin had her own horse and was a bit obnoxious about it), so I didn't like this quite as well, but will certainly buy a copy. Hmmm. I think I would have stuck out the fish finger commercial, but would have no doubt thrown up the fish fingers!
ReplyDeleteNo...I bet you would have joined me back in the shady, sand free, fish finger free happiness of inside with books!
DeleteHahaha, I was just thinking that this book would have been particularly amazing to a ten-year-old that was into horses. Which wasn't me at all. But this still sounds delightful, and I really NEED to get into Jessica Day George. It's long past due.
ReplyDeleteTuesdays with the Castle. Gorgeous book. Sure it's cute, but it's just as fun for grown ups!
DeleteWe prefer the Dragon Slippers series at my house. I've never been able to pick up the Tuesdays and the Castles series upon reading the description, but I should really give it another shot.
Deletethose are good too! and I also like her fairy tale retellings...but Tuesdays will always be my favorite!
DeleteI think you need to write a children's novel about the fish finger commercial: I already love the 10-year-old you character, and would love to see her on the boat trying to avoid annoying children and fish fingers! There will probably be pirates, who will be defeated by the fish fingers in the end, I expect. Yup, there is a lot of potential here!
ReplyDeleteha! That never occurred to me. Maybe someday...it is all so clear in my mind.
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