The Blue Roan Child

Syeira is a stable orphan in the kingdom of Haysele. Her mother died when she was young and she never knew her father. She is uncertain of her age she works in the King’s stables and seems to enjoy her life, especially working with the horses. Syeira is particularly fond of an Arva mare and her two colts. Arva is known for its wild horses and these were only captured because some of the King’s men managed to capture the colts. These horse were found to be too wild to be handled and are kept to themselves.

One day Ran of Stormsythe, a cruel lord, arrives to take more horses for his stable, the price of peace. When Ran leaves Syeira discovers that Ran has taken the two Arva colts. Syeira decides to free the mare and joins with her on a quest to rescue the colts. They begin their voyage hoping to intercept the ship on which the horses are being carried but that soon becomes impossible. Syeira is helped by a hackler, a roaming master horseman, who gives her balms to sooth the mare and directions of how to get to Thruckport, the capital of Stormsythe. He also helps her select a name for the mare, Arwin, after the mother of all horses.

Syeira then voyages north. She first meets Zephyra an old gypsy who knew Arwin when she was young. Next, when traveling through the great wood Syeira meets an old botanist who lives almost entirely in the past. Syeira almost falls prey to the lure of living in the past, when her mother still lived. She continues her journey to Thruckport. The city is highly defended and Syeira must leave Arwin in order to swim into the city. Syeira finds her way to the military stables but cannot find the colts.

Syeira must learn to trust the peope she meets in the cruel city in order to find a rescue the colts.

I enjoyed reading this book, even though I am not a great lover of horses. I think that if someone were really horse-mad they would love this book. I have included this book as a fantasy mainly because of how the horses communicate with Syeira using sent-images. Also the inclusion of flying horses, which are just a legend till the end of the story, plays on the fantasy elements. Overall this world is fairly recognizable for readers as a non-descripted undeveloped world. This book can be seen as choppy as some of the adventures do not play into the overarching storyline of Syeira’s quest. I, however, enjoyed the way in which the book was written. The voyage that Syeira takes did not seem overly long and plodding.

Age Range: 12 plus

Ranking: Quality – 3/5 Popularity – 3/5