Silverhorse

by Lene Kaaberbol

published

April 4th 2008 by Macmillan Children's Books

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binding

Paperback

isbn

0330444867 (isbn13: 9780330444866)

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Russian Princess rated it:

04/25/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: younger readers, people with anger mangement issues, horse-lovers

Another trip into one of Lene Kaaberbol's refreshingly different fantastical-yet-real world.

I read this book for two reasons:
1) I love horses
2) I loved Kaaberbol's Shamer Series, so had high expectations.

Though inevitably not as good as the Shamer Series, and, I felt, slightly more inclined towards younger readers, I did enjoy this book enough to read it to the end. I did have second thoughts abouyt doing so as the plot seemed to vary throughout from gripping to vaguely interesting ...more Another trip into one of Lene Kaaberbol's refreshingly different fantastical-yet-real world.

I read this book for two reasons:
1) I love horses
2) I loved Kaaberbol's Shamer Series, so had high expectations.

Though inevitably not as good as the Shamer Series, and, I felt, slightly more inclined towards younger readers, I did enjoy this book enough to read it to the end. I did have second thoughts abouyt doing so as the plot seemed to vary throughout from gripping to vaguely interesting to dull.

In a matriarchal world where women hold the rights to all land and men are used mainly for their protection and manual labour, Kat is the first daughter of a once-beautiful inn-keeper, and destined to inherit her birthplace. Her future would be secure and sealed, were it not for her fiery temper, and the ongoing feuds with her equally violent step-father, Cornelius. It was this temper that made me identify with Kat the most and perhaps would have enjoyed this book more when I was an angry child.
After a chance encounter with more than one 'Silver', the riders of mythical silver horses- or nightmares- who serve as the justice keepers and proectors of the innocent in this story, and other home circumstances, Kat is sent on a journey which inevitably leads to an apprenticeship in the stereotypical training-school. Needless to say, our fiesty heroine makes few friends and suffers from the torment and mockery of the other Prentices, for being s lone girl with no fixed home. Needless to say a war breaks out between Kat and her enemies and the rivalry leads to some dangerous encounters and underhanded tactics.
Throughout it all, a larger storm is brewing in the adult world, one which Kat catches snippets of as she is put into various difficult situations by her peers. The menfolk are becoming unrestful at the inequality of their position, and who is the mysterious Ermine?

One thing that can be said for Kaaberbol's books is that she isn't overly concerned with creating a peaches-and-cream fantasy world where everything is ladidida fantastic and all couples live happily ever after, and where bad guys are simply bad, and good guys are simply good. This is the main reason for any young adults to persevere with her unique style as it conveys a depth of characters that is more than a mere choice between good or bad.
I found Cornelius was the best example of this, as, within the first chapter of the book I had him pegged completely as the abusive stepfatehr who makes a matyr of poor Kat, and drives her away through no fault of her own. Asd the book progressed, I found that Kaaberbol had given this character more depth than expected and that, as in real life, he was not simply 'bad' but ther were shades of grey. It is this that allows the book to maintain a greater unpredictability and is the type of book i wish there were more of on the children's bookshelf. It is Kaaberbol's originality that makes it, and is a refreshing change of persepective. My only qualm is that the plot does seem to lull slightly in places, so the less dedicated reader may lose interest before they reach the climax....less

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