Silverhorse

Historien om Katriona #1-2

by Lene Kaaberbøl

In the country of Breda men are forbidden a home to call their own. They live as nomads, resting only at the mercy of the ruling women. Kat’s mother, Tess, the Maestra of Crowfoot Inn, is one of these powerful women and Kat has always known it is her destiny to follow in Tess’s footsteps. But then one rain-swept night a scarred woman comes to Crowfoot riding an extraordinary silver horse and Kat’s world is turned upside down. From that moment on it is her burning ambition to become a Bredanari – a keeper of the peace and rider of these magnificent creatures. But it isn’t easy for a girl from the Vales to fit in at the Bredanari training academy in the big city. Worse still, Kat knows something which has put her life in danger. She has accidentally discovered the whereabouts of a dangerous outlaw known as Ermine. Now there are ruthless people who will do anything to keep her from revealing this secret, including leaving her unconscious on Hellhorse Mountain, where the beautiful but deadly stallions run wild. Kat soon finds herself deeply enmeshed in the dangerous plots and politics that threaten her country, not to mention the life of someone she has come to love. This is first of two spellbinding books following Kat’s adventures.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, High Fantasy, Horses, Scandinavian Literature, Adventure

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jeg kom til verden på Rigshospitalet i København d. 24.3.1960. Overlægen var i kjole og hvidt - han var blevet afbrudt midt i en gallamiddag - men min søster siger, at det er da ikke noget, hendes fødselslæge var i islandsk nationaldragt. Nogen vil mene at det således allerede fra starten var klart at jeg var et ganske særligt barn. Andre vil sikkert påstå at min mor bare var god til at skabe pludselige gynækologiske kriser.

Jeg blev altså født i København, men det må nok betragtes som en fejl, for min forældre er jyske, min opvækst foregik i Jylland (mestendels i Malling ved Århus), og jeg betragter mig i dag som eksil-jyde på Frederiksberg, på det mine jyske venner omtaler som Djævleøen (Sjælland).

Jeg har skrevet altid, eller i hvert fald lige siden jeg nåede ud over »Ole så en so«-stadiet. Som hestetosset teenager skrev jeg bøgerne om Tina og hestene (de to første udkom da jeg var femten, den fjerde og sidste da jeg var sytten). Som 18-årig opdagede jeg Tolkien og Ringenes herre, og derefter Ursula K. LeGuins trilogi om Jordhavet, og lige siden har mit bog-hjerte banket for eventyr og drageblod og verdener, der ligger mindst tre skridt til højre for regnbuen eller Mælkevejen, og under alle omstændigheder et pænt stykke fra den asfalterede danske virkelighed.

I dag, cirka 30 bøger senere, er jeg stadig lige så håbløst vild med at skrive som jeg altid har været. Og selv om jeg har været en lille smuttur i krimi-land og skrevet en kriminalroman for voksne - læs mere på ninaborg.dk hvis du har lyst - så er jeg bestemt stadig børnebogsforfatter og har stadig hang til magiske momenter!

Personal
Name Lene Kaaberbøl
Born 1960, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Education: Århus University, degree (English, drama). Hobbies and other interests: Playing pentanque.

Addresses
Office—Phabel & Plott ApS, Laksegade 12, St.th, DK-1063 Copenhagen K, Denmark.

Career
Novelist. Formerly worked as a high school teacher, copy writer, publishing company editor, cleaning assistant, and riding teacher. Phabel & Plott ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark, owner and writer.

Honors Awards
Best Disney Novel Writer of the Year award, Disney Worldwide Artist Convention, 2001, for five "W.I.T.C.H." series novels.

Associated Names:
* Lene Kaaberbol (English)

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books ever. Loved it! Kat was a great character and loved Simon. A MUST READ!

[GSGS · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were three parts to this book:

The dark boring part, the dark annoying part and the dark confusing part.

OK, there was a part in the middle of that which was alright, when she was at the training place for Silvers, but that was relatively short.

OK, so picking up this book was a bit of a salute to my younger, horse-obsessed self. Silverhorse. The name jumped out and the small part of me that still squeals when anything horse-related comes up was awakened, and I grabbed the book without even really looking at it, then borrowed it and walked out of the library.

Ehh, big mistake.
First let me explain what I mean by 'dark'. I don't mean gruesome or whatever. I just mean the whole thing lacked any brightness or humour. You can imagine it raining the whole time, without any sunshine. There were no good moments, scenes that make you smile. So that made the whole thing not very enjoyable.

So we start off with Dark Boring Part. Kat lives in an inn with mother, siblings and stepfather (I do admit that the relationship between Kat and her step-father was somewhat interesting). Boring stuff happens. Something vague about a silver horse. Then, out of the blue Kat's mother randomly sends her away. Which brings us to Dark Annoying Part.

DAP was annoying for two main reasons. One was that it had no impact on the story, and was just not neccessary. It was a waste of my time to even read this part. The other reason was that this was where Kat's temper really came into play.
And it was the most bloody annoying thing to read.
She was moaning and complaining about how bad her life was, but it was her stupid fault for losing her temper!! Even small things that no normal person would think twice about seemed to be the greatest insult in history to Kat. It was overly done and it just annoyed me to think that the author actually thought that doing such a thing would help the story along. If the bad temper wasn't quite so bad, and if Kat had personality traits OTHER THAN temper, then maybe. But her temper defined her whole being and it annoyed me.

So in between this Annoying part and the Confusing part, there was a part which was actually OK. It was still a little pointless, but OK.

Then we reach Dark Confusing Part. This is confusing because
A) Kat gets kicked out of the Academy for no real good reason and the whole chapter where she's 'drunk' wasn't really properly explained.
B) After that, the whole thing is just random.

There are two things that would have made this better. If the whole 'World of Breda' thing was at the start, so we understood that only women could own land, and the whole 'family' thing and all that, instead of guessing for the first half and not comprehending what was going on.

And if it was more about the Silverhorses! For crying out loud, I only picked this book up for the horses part of it!! And only about five pages were dedicated to them. Either call your book something else (Kat-Is-An-Annoying-Protagonist) or actually make it about horses!!

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - the background world was well imagined, the main characters likeable and the plot enagaging. Can't wait to get the next in the series

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come :)

[Phoenix · Rating 2 out of 5]

For at være ærlig er den her bog ikke lige for mig. Heste er mere mine venners type. Men ellers var den god.

[Jas Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was fantastic! I loved it! Great Charectars!!!!!!!!

[Mie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story about a girl with a strong will

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟

[Chernyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great change from the books that I've read lately. Nothing really supernatural about this book, except that there is a little bit of magic on a few occasions. Don't worry, its not one of those books where the author/main character goes on and on about their love for horses, or incessant talk of horses. This book is written from 12 year old Katriona's point of view. I actually didn't realize she was 12 years old until I came across it about a third way through the book. Don't worry, the writing style is mature, and so is the character surprisingly. Most of the time anyway. I found Kat to be a very likeable character, though at times she could be quite rash and distrustful of those around her. However given her background, I found it to be acceptable.


The plot is moderately paced, except during a few fight/action scenes where it feels a bit rushed. And also, there was one part where Kat goes back to Vale to visit her mother, and it ends there, then continues a few days later. There are also a few other parts where I wish the author would expand/develop more on, such as the scene between Kat and Birch, Kat and Tia's friendship, and Kat and Lu's friendship.


However, despite a few minor negative points, I found this book to be quite a good read. You should definitely read it if you like supernatural/fantasy but want a change from all the vampire, werewolf, and fallen angel genre. Like I said above, nothing quite supernatural-y. The world that the story is set in is fictional as well, and you would imagine a sort of middle ages kind of world. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, and you should too.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was leant to me for my holiday. I thought it was really good. I wish I could say more but unfortunately I can't remember much of it. All I can remember is that it was a fantastic book.

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me far too long to read. It was slow-going for the majority, and when it finally picked up, it ended extremely quickly. It was different than I expected, and I would have preferred more hellhorse content.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A depressing read that I did not enjoy. It was not a feel good book and frankly I found Kat whiny, selfish and deserving of some of the challenges. The plot also didn’t really go in an interesting direction.

2/5 stars ⭐️

[J.D. Evergreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I can't wait to read more books by this author

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lore of the country of Breda is super interesting, as well as the hellhorses. I would recommend this for older children and teenagers.

[Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite well written but I was hoping for more of a fantasy and this is really more about the political intrigue in the land. I wanted more hellhorses!!!

[Dagmar Santinge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book which was easy to read and follow

[Shona Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good world building and characters. There are some good moments of suspense with Kats' character, but I wish her story developed a bit more.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a good book.

I was craving a medieval fantasy and this book fit that pretty well. The writing style is very good but I found the plot had more than a few holes in it.
Time seemed to be go by sporadically and didn't seem to fit into a 12 month time frame (which, it being a made up world, could be entirely feasible).
The world itself was mostly well developed: woman as land holders, never allowed to travel, and men as drifters, never allowed to settle. The book touched vaguely upon political squabbles that went right over the heriones head, but mostly centered on issues of gender rights and social status. Considering the book was supposed to be about a young girl becoming apart of lengendary league of horsemen, there wasn't much about horses. They mostly served the purpose of teaching Kat to control her temper.
Kat starts off as impetuous little girl with Daddy issues. She's an uppity brat and rather vindictive as well. As the book progresses though, Kat matures. My favourite part of this book was the realistic change in her character. She becomes a better person and more likable character, but change makes sense.

Would I read this book again? Maybe. But I won't be rushing to the store to buy it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day when a woman comes riding up to their inn Kat's life is changed forever for the woman is a Bredanari, a rider of a silverhorse and a protector of the land Breda. From then on Kat wants to be a Bredanari and protect the land but the road to being a Bredanari isn't easy. There are many perils that lie in her way especially when she stumbles upon the secret that can kill her.
I picked this book up because I read The Shamer Chronicles and they were really good so I wanted to find out what this series is about.
I finished this book because I was curious about who the outlaw was and because this is a really good book.
I would recommend this book to Jamie because her favourite animal are horses, ponies and anything related to that and this book is all about that.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aha! Finally a book I wanted to keep reading! I enjoyed this a lot - Kat was written really well; it's unusual to come across a protagonist so hot-tempered it ruins her relationships and makes her often unpleasant. The way the world was structured was original, though I do think it could have been explained better (the bit at the back about 'Katriona's world' made it clearer, but during the story I didn't have a good idea in my head of what the world was like, and occasionally found myself quite confused), but I'll definitely check out the rest of the books in the series!

[Pretty_princess]

wicked as book

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Girl's version of The Ranger's Apprentice series. Loved it - graded an A-.

[Traceychapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic book twists, turns, plots, killings and the best part....the hellhorses

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book from this writer and im must say i was amazed. Brilliant characters and story line. Looking forward to next book x

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember much, because I read this perhaps five years ago.

But there were horses. And I am seriously such a sucker for books with horses.

[A Colleen Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Fable · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description is rather misleading but still an excellent novel!

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very forgettable!

[Yara Hossam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll kindly review later.