Lara and the Moon-Colored Filly

Hoofbeats: Lara and the Gray Mare #2

by Kathleen Duey

Nine-year-old Lara is the daughter of the r’-the leader of her cattle-raising clan. While she spends her days tending to the cattle, her heart lies with her beloved gray mare. When Lara goes to the highlands to set the cattle out to graze, she finds the mare in the process of a difficult birth. Lara vows to take care of the foal as a dying promise to the gray mare, and with the help of a childless milk-cow, she cares for the spindly-legged filly. But just when she is confident that the foal can survive, a rival clan captures them both, and throws Lara's life into turmoil. When the filly is eventually given to a titled baron in the castle town of Athenry, Lara, determined to stay with the horse no matter what, goes along. Together, she and her beloved horse face seemingly insurmountable challenges, but all along Lara keeps two things in mind. One day, she will manage to flee, and will set off in search of the family that she was taken from. And she will not leave without her silver mare.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Horses, Childrens, Historical, Animals, Young Readers, Middle Grade

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Kathleen Duey grew up in Colorado. She loved riding her horses, hiking, being in the mountains. Reading was always important to her. Writing became a fascination early in her life. In the fourth grade, Kathleen began writing stories and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be an author. Then she did nothing about it until she was 35 years old. Writing was her passion and her dream-come-true.

from: fantasticfiction.co.uk

Kathleen died of cardiac arrest at her home in Fallbrook, California. She was 69. She had struggled with dementia in her latter years which prevented her from completing her Skin Hunger trilogy.

https://web.archive.org/web/202101052...

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! Loved it! Her name is Larach but her people called her Lara. She is the chief's daughter. She loves this filly but gets captured by different people and they say the filly is theirs. So sad.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lara and the Moon-Colored Filly, while well-written and consistent with the first book of the series, is probably the weakest of the Hoofbeats quartet, simply because of how little actually happens. However, it’s a quick, easy read that does a great job of emphasizing the bond between Lara and Dannsair, which drives the rest of the series.

Following her capture by Conall, the leader of a horse-breeding enterprise, Lara O’Marchach finds herself as the sole protector of Dannsair, the orphaned silver filly who was born in Lara’s care. Conall has plans to sell Dannsair to the powerful Baron of Athenry, but Lara swears that she will not allow that to happen. In the meantime, Lara befriends Cormac, the son of her father’s sworn enemy, and begins training Dannsair to follow commands. In a race against time, Lara searches for a way to escape Conall’s village with Dannsair without causing another war between her father and his powerful enemies.

I had read Lara and the Gray Mare literally dozens of times before I ever had the chance to read the rest of the series, and I was less impressed with this entry than I was with the first. Kathleen Duey maintains her gentle, logical storytelling style, but her writing struggles without the presence of multiple characters and a steady plot line. The entire book recounts Lara’s day-to-day meanderings with Dannsair as she schemes of a way to escape, occasionally punctuated by the birth of a foal or a conversation with one of the three people she knows. It’s not a particularly riveting story, especially without the rich historical details of the first book.

Nevertheless, the strength of Lara and the Moon-Colored Filly is the relationship between Lara and Dannsair, which grows significantly in this book. Dannsair had only just been born at the end of the first book, so Duey spends a lot of pages building their trust, affection, and dependence on one another. Lara’s fierce devotion to Dannsair brings out the defiant, strong-willed side of her personality that was only hinted at in Lara and the Gray Mare. She spars with Conall, struggles with her opinions of Cormac, and levels out with the contemptuous Fallon at last. The ending of her adventure is abrupt, but it demonstrates how much Lara’s character has grown and what she is willing to do to keep Dannsair safe.

Overall, this is a necessary book in the quartet, but it’s not particularly interesting or exciting, especially after a much-better predecessor and the promise of better things to come.

[Pasta Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the story was interesting (at least to me), I just don’t enjoy the way this part of the series is written. It feels janky and strange to me, and I often get pulled out of the moment because of it. There were also a few typos/errors in the book, I’m not sure if it’s just the batch my copy came from or if it’s poor editing and revising, but they also ruined the vibe when they came alone.
I actually enjoyed the way Dannsair was trained though. It seemed realistic enough, and the joy of a successful training session was written quite well. It’s a feeling I’ve felt before, and I related to the writing quite a bit.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book eleven times over the last four years if that tells you anything!
Kathleen Duey does a really great job telling the story of a nine-year-old Irish daughter of her clan's ri. When Lara and some of her friends and aunt are on the patures that they use for their dairy, Lara,her aunt, Fallon, and the foal of "Lara's" gray mare, Dannsair, are kidnapped by some of the Baron of Athenry's men.
Lara must take care of Dannsair, keep Fallon from getting them killed, convince the Baron that Dannsair is her's, while she deals with her feeling for the son of her father's enemy, Cormac.
A really great book for a girl you loves horses, and probably between the ages of 8 and 12 ( though I am fourteen and I still read this series all the time.)

[Sheila Decosse · Rating 3 out of 5]

First: be honest, I am a 'senior' in age but have loved horse stories since I was a kid. As I was not familiar with the 'Hoof beats" series, I expected this book to be a pony club story. Very refreshing to find it is a story set in ancient Ireland in the world of warring "ri's", horse stealing and horse breeding.
Filled with horse care lore and Irish setting, the characters and the situation of LAra who wants desperately to stay with her filly but also wants to get home to her family after being absconded by horse raiders is a fresh, good read.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slightly better than the first book, I still felt like it was explaining the same things over and over again.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The filly was really beautiful. I liked the chase scene a lot.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok so the 4 stars are because it does what it sets out to do. very well. As charming as the first.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute stories the girls and I read when they were little... sweet memories c: