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A review by fromdusktil
The Lost Stories by John Flanagan
3.0
I loved getting a peek into the lives of characters other than Will. However, there are two things that really rubbed me the wrong way.
In "Dinner for Five", when Gilan comforts Jenny, she is crying and distraught, and Gilan apparently thinks she had never been more beautiful. I just... hate this. It feels out of place. We already know Jenny is supposed to be stunning and that her and Gilan are a thing. But at this point, he should just be concerned for her. (I'm not a huge fan of the "you're beautiful when you cry" trope.)
The Wolf. What a cop out! I understand that Tug would need to be retired, but I hate everything about how Flanagan approached this situation.
Will has spent 15 years with Tug, and he just rides away on this new horse and pretty much completely forgets about him? Give the new horse a new name, let Tug stay Tug! We have been with one Tug the entire series, and I feel as though Flanagan did us dirty by just replacing him with Tug 2.0. Yes, you can retire Tug. Let us be sad alongside Will. Show us Will bonding with a new horse while missing his best friend. And let Tug live with Old Bob so that Will can visit.
I understand that this series is for younger readers and maybe Flanagan didn't want to upset anyone, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth.
As a whole, I wish Flanagan would have relaxed on stressing how beautiful his female characters were. Yes, Will is going to think Alyss is beautiful. Same with Gilan towards Jenny and Horace towards Cassandra. But I felt like it was overstressed and became their important feature, rather than their talents and personalities, which fell to the backburner, especially later in the series.
In "Dinner for Five", when Gilan comforts Jenny, she is crying and distraught, and Gilan apparently thinks she had never been more beautiful. I just... hate this. It feels out of place. We already know Jenny is supposed to be stunning and that her and Gilan are a thing. But at this point, he should just be concerned for her. (I'm not a huge fan of the "you're beautiful when you cry" trope.)
The Wolf. What a cop out! I understand that Tug would need to be retired, but I hate everything about how Flanagan approached this situation.
Will has spent 15 years with Tug, and he just rides away on this new horse and pretty much completely forgets about him? Give the new horse a new name, let Tug stay Tug! We have been with one Tug the entire series, and I feel as though Flanagan did us dirty by just replacing him with Tug 2.0. Yes, you can retire Tug. Let us be sad alongside Will. Show us Will bonding with a new horse while missing his best friend. And let Tug live with Old Bob so that Will can visit.
I understand that this series is for younger readers and maybe Flanagan didn't want to upset anyone, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth.
As a whole, I wish Flanagan would have relaxed on stressing how beautiful his female characters were. Yes, Will is going to think Alyss is beautiful. Same with Gilan towards Jenny and Horace towards Cassandra. But I felt like it was overstressed and became their important feature, rather than their talents and personalities, which fell to the backburner, especially later in the series.