derekjohnston's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
nwhyte's review
3.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2879579.html
I think some readers are of an age to remember the slightly incomprehensible 1978 BBC children's TV series that this books novelises - particularly memorable for Who fans in that it stars Sarah Sutton, a year or so before she became Nyssa, and John Abineri, who was in Doctor Who four times; and the writer of course was Brian Hayles, who wrote the four Ice Warrior stories of Old Who and also The Celestial Toymaker and The Smugglers. He died, aged 47, just before the first episode was shown (and before the book had been published).
The book sticks fairly closely to the TV story as I remember it (from first watching it in 1978 and again in 2010). It suffers a bit from the inevitable traps of novelising a script - basically, the omniscient narrator sometimes comes over as kinda dumb. But it's a decent recreation of a very weird story, which provoked happy memories.
I think some readers are of an age to remember the slightly incomprehensible 1978 BBC children's TV series that this books novelises - particularly memorable for Who fans in that it stars Sarah Sutton, a year or so before she became Nyssa, and John Abineri, who was in Doctor Who four times; and the writer of course was Brian Hayles, who wrote the four Ice Warrior stories of Old Who and also The Celestial Toymaker and The Smugglers. He died, aged 47, just before the first episode was shown (and before the book had been published).
The book sticks fairly closely to the TV story as I remember it (from first watching it in 1978 and again in 2010). It suffers a bit from the inevitable traps of novelising a script - basically, the omniscient narrator sometimes comes over as kinda dumb. But it's a decent recreation of a very weird story, which provoked happy memories.
octavia_cade's review
4.0
When I was a kid, about 13 or 14 or so, I had a Sweet Valley High book. Don't ask me why. It wasn't my usual fare and I have no idea how I got it. But my school was having a book swap so I took it in and swapped it for this, which was fantasy and myth and everything I liked, and it was the best book swap I've ever done. The Moon Stallion quickly rocketed up the ranks of my favourite childhood reads, and it's stayed in the upper echelons ever since. It's not perfect, few books are, but when I did my OE, over in England, I went to visit Wayland's Smithy and the White Horse at Uffington entirely because of this book. And yes, I did the turn-around-three-times-in-the-horse's-eye, and no I didn't see anything but grass and chalk. I was delighted anyway.
Apparently it's based on a tv series (which I knew, because of the cover) and that series, decades old itself now, has been put on YouTube, so guess what I'm doing tonight. That's right, watching The Moon Stallion. I hope it's as good as the book.
Apparently it's based on a tv series (which I knew, because of the cover) and that series, decades old itself now, has been put on YouTube, so guess what I'm doing tonight. That's right, watching The Moon Stallion. I hope it's as good as the book.
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