dannylreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
beautifulandfullofmonsters's review against another edition
4.75
Basically Harry Potter for horse girls! (Though there could have been more of the horses!) Instead of, “the wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter,” it’s “the horse chooses the Herald, Talia.” I liked the collaborative nature of the school, especially in contrast to Harry Potter where all the meals are prepared by slave labor. 😬 I can see how this book could have been an influence on Rowling who took it and made it worse.
Overall, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this! The beginning was a bit weak and the writing was plain. It was definitely an easy, quick read but the bildungsroman arc was well done and covered such topics as overcoming verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, self-doubt, self-imposed loneliness, and internalized misogyny. The feminism and queer rep are surprisingly contemporary for a book written in the ‘80s. It’s not flawless but I didn’t have any major problems with it or the way sex was handled.
Much like the Green Rider series though that was tropey in an eye-roll-inducing way while this was tropey in a sweet, wholesome way. Also reminds me of The Goblin Emperor because of the type of plot, the fantasy the people largely have good intentions, and the uplifting tone without being sappy.
susanlyn's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
seanml's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It's a fantasy book for young girls about a magic girl and her magic horse in a magic school. That's all you need to know, and you shouldn't expect anything more. Our main girl? She's nice. Our horse? It's magic. The other characters? They're there. The plot? It does what it wants, and then it sort of just ends. So what? Like I said, it's a book with a girl and her horse. It doesn't need anything more critical than that. 6.5/10.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Grief
Minor: Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, and Lesbophobia
paintfairy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Homophobia
whiptostic's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
The kind of middle-of-the-road fantasy that's not unique enough to make you love it or hate it (unless what you love is bland, middle of the road fiction, since numerous readers surely do love this series).
I was keen at the beginning. I thought the family situation was vividly drawn, and the first chapter(s)? (I was reading through an audibook) crackled with energy. And then she found the Companion (or it found her) and downhill it went, and all the zest of the opening was gone, and it was a dreary slog to the middle of the book. Then I checked reviews, and it would get no better from here (I'd likely like it even worse, so I stopped).
Among my many issues with it (besides its dull genericness: poor teenager, magically special, taken to magic school, increasingly special, yada yada) is that the character of our protagonist is so inconsistently drawn. Is she an astonishingly quiet, shy, reserved youngster who won't say boo, or is she an assertive, take-no-prisoners truth teller who won't put up with nonsense? She's the first most of the time, and the second when confronting her family, or the Brat, and it maketh no sense to me.
I was glad that the book wasn't too horsey (the book covers in their original run, which scared me off trying, made it look like My Little Pony for grown-ups), at least not for its first half.
But mostly it's just dull, and a bit clunky. One example: the author wants to be able to surprise us (and her main character) about exactly what Heralds are and how they're chosen etc. so she establishes that Holder-folk, shockingly, don't tell their children about the process and meaning, and everyone's horrified about this omission, just so she can preserve some suspense and then unload a chapter's worth of exposition in a classroom setting. Except, since she established that usually people are chosen from those already in herald-training or at court or nearby, why in God's name would every small village have to make a point of explaining to their children something that had a 0.00000000% likelihood of ever occurring? It's like being shocked we didn't build "if you win an Oscar for acting" into the Grade 7 curriculum, just in case.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s.)
I was keen at the beginning. I thought the family situation was vividly drawn, and the first chapter(s)? (I was reading through an audibook) crackled with energy. And then she found the Companion (or it found her) and downhill it went, and all the zest of the opening was gone, and it was a dreary slog to the middle of the book. Then I checked reviews, and it would get no better from here (I'd likely like it even worse, so I stopped).
Among my many issues with it (besides its dull genericness: poor teenager, magically special, taken to magic school, increasingly special, yada yada) is that the character of our protagonist is so inconsistently drawn. Is she an astonishingly quiet, shy, reserved youngster who won't say boo, or is she an assertive, take-no-prisoners truth teller who won't put up with nonsense? She's the first most of the time, and the second when confronting her family, or the Brat, and it maketh no sense to me.
I was glad that the book wasn't too horsey (the book covers in their original run, which scared me off trying, made it look like My Little Pony for grown-ups), at least not for its first half.
But mostly it's just dull, and a bit clunky. One example: the author wants to be able to surprise us (and her main character) about exactly what Heralds are and how they're chosen etc. so she establishes that Holder-folk, shockingly, don't tell their children about the process and meaning, and everyone's horrified about this omission, just so she can preserve some suspense and then unload a chapter's worth of exposition in a classroom setting. Except, since she established that usually people are chosen from those already in herald-training or at court or nearby, why in God's name would every small village have to make a point of explaining to their children something that had a 0.00000000% likelihood of ever occurring? It's like being shocked we didn't build "if you win an Oscar for acting" into the Grade 7 curriculum, just in case.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s.)
evieintheshire's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
craftingrama's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome book and the narrator only lost me a few times when using those dumb character voices but thankfully refrained from letting it be too often.