Rereading: THE ISLAND STALLION’S FURY by Walter Farley

Illustrated by Harold Eldridge

Steve and his uncle Pitch are back in the secret valley hidden on Azul, an apparently barren rock island in the Caribbean, where last year they discovered many wonders. Steve’s favorite was the fiery roan stallion he named Flame, leader of a band of horses of Arabian ancestry left behind by Spanish Conquistadors centuries earlier. Pitch is focused on the artifacts also left by the Spanish, and is busy exploring the caves they used, and writing about it.

Back on the nearby island of Antago, Pitch’s brother Tom, a cruel bear-like man who owns the plantation where he and Pitch live, has grown suspicious of the time Pitch and Steve spend on Azul, and he follows them, finding a way into the cave system, where he gets lost and passes out from thirst and hunger. Pitch finds him, and then he and Steve are in a world of trouble. They can’t let Tom die, but if Tom comes into the hidden valley, everything they love there is in grave danger, especially Flame.

I didn’t enjoy rereading this as much as the previous books in the series. The fantasy wish-fulfillment of the setting is more pronounced than ever at the beginning, and Tom is rather a cartoon villain along the lines of Popeye’s Bluto. There’s action and excitement in the hidden valley, but it’s not as convincing as in earlier books. Still, worth reading for horse fans and Farley fans.

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