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49th out of 81 books
—
27 voters
The White Horse Trick (New Policeman #3)
It is the latter part of the 21st century, and dramatic climate change has made life in Ireland almost impossible. Meanwhile, Tir na n'Og is faced with a refugee problem, and the king of the fairies is not happy about it and when it is revealed that the warlord who is behind the problem is a member of the Liddy family, JJ is sent to sort him out...Following on from The New...more
Hardcover, 416 pages
Published
August 24th 2010
by Greenwillow Books
(first published October 1st 2009)
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Really a three and a half stars. A good story, well written, with smart and funny bits that I would easily recommend. A dystopian fantasy set in a post global warming Ireland, which is complete with a parallel reality fairyland.
The downside is the heavy handed message. Greed is bad and led to global warming and environmental destruction. Art is good and farming is pure. Issues of how art would exist without other commerce and the creative aspects of science or mercantilism are not gone into. I...more
The downside is the heavy handed message. Greed is bad and led to global warming and environmental destruction. Art is good and farming is pure. Issues of how art would exist without other commerce and the creative aspects of science or mercantilism are not gone into. I...more
Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com
In the near future, the world has been destroyed by climate changes. Life is almost impossible in Ireland. The topsoil, for the most part, has been washed away by torrential rain.
Commander Aiden Liddy, last seen as a toddler in THE LAST OF THE HIGH KINGS, is now part of an elite governing army that has stockpiled the food and is in charge of distributing and controlling the population. His general, Donal, has an alternate agenda that might destroy both worl...more
In the near future, the world has been destroyed by climate changes. Life is almost impossible in Ireland. The topsoil, for the most part, has been washed away by torrential rain.
Commander Aiden Liddy, last seen as a toddler in THE LAST OF THE HIGH KINGS, is now part of an elite governing army that has stockpiled the food and is in charge of distributing and controlling the population. His general, Donal, has an alternate agenda that might destroy both worl...more
Jun 20, 2011
Miz Lizzie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
alternate-reality,
britain,
dogs,
faeries,
families,
fantasy,
folklore,
ghosts,
ireland,
leadership,
musicians,
mythology,
nature,
religion,
science-fiction,
series,
siblings,
young-adult
In the third book in the trilogy that started with The New Policeman J.J. Liddy's chldren are all grown up. It's late in the 21st century and changing weather patterns have devastated Ireland (and the rest of the world but the focus of the story remains exclusively on Ireland and specifically the area around Kinvara). There are few animals, little food, no exports or contact with the outside world. The Liddy boys, Aidan and Donal, are the local warlords, but for very different reasons. Meanwhile...more
This book is an unusual blend of traditional fantasy with elements that are more commonly found in dystopian science fiction. This is the 3rd book in the series (The New Policeman; Last of the High Kings) & the children in book 2 have now grown old. Ireland is flodded due to global warming. One of the 4 Liddy children is a warlord & his brother is his general. (Dissapointingly there is almost no mention of the 2 daughters & no one seems to care about their condition at all. Again poo...more
This last book in The Policeman trilogy was a fascinating read, especially for me, someone who had not read her previous two books in the series. The book starts at the end of the world, global warming overwhelming the Irish countryside and people are becoming tyrannical in their efforts for survival. Then there is the fairy world, that the people visit to plea for help. There are so many characters, and so much fantasy, that it began to be overwhelming, but I would like to chalk it up to not ha...more
This last installment of an Irish fantasy trilogy that includes The New Policeman and The Last of the High Kings is a bit disturbing, featuring as it does the destruction of human civilization, thanks to global warming. This is clearly a trend in YA literature - think of Carbon Diaries 2015, Raiders' Ransom, Ship Breaker, and many others. At least in The White Horse Trick, there is T'ir na n'Og to escape to. This is rather a bleak book nevertheless, although it does possess the glimmering bits o...more
I very much enjoyed listening to this trilogy on audiobook, particularly with the Irish musical interludes. However, based on the great coverage in The Horn Book, I half-expected a masterpiece to rival Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.
These books are not on that imaginative or narrative level, yet the characters and settings have lingered in my memory. Scary to think that the author might be correctly predicting the near future of our planet's climate (and without magic to save us as a speci...more
These books are not on that imaginative or narrative level, yet the characters and settings have lingered in my memory. Scary to think that the author might be correctly predicting the near future of our planet's climate (and without magic to save us as a speci...more
This book was decent, but I wouldn't really recommend it to many people. The book starts out in the future, but the world is experiencing a "revenge of mother-nature" event.(hurricanes, rainstorms, blizzards, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, etc.) The human race is nearly extinct, and struggling to live. Without giving away too much of the book, the world basically starts from the beginning like the big bang had just occurred. Seven couples are left by the end, and they are to repopulate the world...more
Mu actual rating here is 4.5, but goodreads doesn't allow for that.
I have read (or listened to) The New Policeman several times but have heard The Last of the High Kings just once. The White Horse Trick is a fit conclusion to the series. I won't go into the plot here, as that's easily available and besides... "Spoilers, sweetie!"
Having read other reviews, some of them critical, I acknowledge they have a point. JJ and Aisling do act rather oddly as parents, and although JJ being just 3/4 ploddy m...more
I have read (or listened to) The New Policeman several times but have heard The Last of the High Kings just once. The White Horse Trick is a fit conclusion to the series. I won't go into the plot here, as that's easily available and besides... "Spoilers, sweetie!"
Having read other reviews, some of them critical, I acknowledge they have a point. JJ and Aisling do act rather oddly as parents, and although JJ being just 3/4 ploddy m...more
Nov 07, 2010
Hilary
added it
I picked this up as a Harper Collins review despite not having read the previous two in the trilogy. For that reason, it took a while to get into, but once I did, I was hooked. A dystopian fantasy story (ahem, my favorite) set in Ireland, we witness a war torn land juxtaposed with a fairy utopia. The ending is clever though I was a little bit like "really? Did you have to go THERE?" but it is well written nonetheless. I've heard fantastic things about The New Policeman, which is the first instal...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Only after I finished it did I realize there was a #2 - that explained some of the "huh?" reactions I had to some of the plot, but overall I think I enjoyed that it was a sequel that left me out of some of the things that had happened since #1.
I really liked The New Policeman and was pleased to read another by Thompson. White Horse Trick carries on the silliness, though isn't quite as perfectly balanced. It provides a rather terrifying view of the world if we don't get our act together - more e...more
I really liked The New Policeman and was pleased to read another by Thompson. White Horse Trick carries on the silliness, though isn't quite as perfectly balanced. It provides a rather terrifying view of the world if we don't get our act together - more e...more
Aug 06, 2010
Clay
added it
While reading this, the third and last novel in the fine New Policeman trilogy, I thought of K Ishiguro's masterful "Never Let Me Go" which never once mentioned the word "clone". Instead, Ishiguro told his story through his characters and as a result of the author's restraint, his story grew in power and tragedy. It is one of my favorite novels to this day.
"The White Horse Trick" didn't finish as strongly for me as it began. I love its characters, fairie and ploddy alike, and recommend it for th...more
What a wonderful---and surprising---end to this Irish myth trilogy! Like the previous two books, The White Horse Trick uses 'ploddies' and fairy folk on both sides of the time skin to complicate each other's lives in interesting ways. Thompson found an inventive way to conclude this trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed all three books.
It was well written, but the massage of the book was its sole reason for existence. I kept waiting for the story to start, but couldn't get into it with the Point hanging over my head. In short, I wasted precious hours I could have spent reading something else.
YA Thompson
The third in the series. The first, "The New Policeman," is fantastic. And the second in the series is good too. This seemed like it was grafting sci fi and dystopian fiction to what had been pure fantasy. Though YA, perfectly fine for younger good readers.
The third in the series. The first, "The New Policeman," is fantastic. And the second in the series is good too. This seemed like it was grafting sci fi and dystopian fiction to what had been pure fantasy. Though YA, perfectly fine for younger good readers.
I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this one, but I think it is my favorite of the trilogy. Aengus Og was in fine form and provided quite a few humorous moments, as did the Dagda. The combination of dystopia and myth was intriguing, and I found the end to be rather clever.
This was just as good as the first two, with grander themes--the fairies meet global warming! It was heartbreaking in parts; I'll add a couple of quotes.
This is the third book,but its the first one Ive read!I really enjoyed this,but I hope the climate in the future is NOT like that of the book!
very awesome! kinda confusing because I skipped the book before because it was awful, but this one was a very good book.
Oh Aengus! Trickster Mister. Thou the ending was not what I had in mind I really do love it. Wonderful book.
This masterly storyteller let the Message get in the way of the story, alas.
Dec 06, 2011
Mary
marked it as to-read
Final book of The New Policeman Trilogy.
Shpigengog!
Jun 26, 2010
Kathy
marked it as to-read
ARC
I've loved the entire Kate Thompson "New Policeman" series. Highly recommended. Thoughtful, rich YA fiction that doesn't talk down to anyone in its audience. Deals with some pretty heavy global and human issues but has fun, too.
May 20, 2013
Muireann
added it
May 15, 2013
Kate Nelson
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Claire
is currently reading it
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults.She has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the w...more
More about Kate Thompson...
Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults.She has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the w...more
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“It was essential that someone, somewhere, even if it was only the fairy folk, should know that the human race had produced more than wars, catastrophes, and ultimately its own slow and painful self-destruction. It had produced things of exquisite and lasting beauty as well.”
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3 people liked it
“The realization had brought with it a sudden stark insight into another kind of glamour. It was quite a long time ago now, but he saw it quite clearly: how the media and the advertisers had created their own kind of glamour to seduce whole populations into a kind of insanity. Food that was bad for people, drink that turned them into mindless thugs, countless tons of useless rubbish, all dressed up by advertising glamour to appear like things people couldn't live without. And the human race had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, becoming....[c]onsumers of limitless glamour, all of it ultimately worthless.”
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1 person liked it
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Oct 08, 2010 05:50pm