3 stars
| I remember these books being very popular when I was younger, but I never actually read them. Overall, I thought the book was good. The beginning was a bit hard to get into with some weird descriptions and slow pacing. I had a hard time conceptualizing the layout of the worlds based on the descriptions given. As elements were added, things got more interesting. But the main issue with this one was that it served mostly as setup for the later series. I can definitely see this going somewhere very cool, but the first book was a bit dry as it set all the pieces into motion. Nothing very exciting happens; it all just feels like the author pushing the characters to where they need to be for the second book to take off. While the book started off with some heavy fantasy elements, I was a bit disappointed by the emphasis on the mundane day-to-day life in the real world. This would probably be more interesting to hardcore horse-lovers, but I just kept waiting for more magic to happen. Good start to the series. There were dry bits, but I am intrigued by the world setup and the promise of an interesting fantasy adventure. Will probably read the second book at some point, but most likely will check out from the library. Goodreads |