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The Horsegirl #2
The Stalking Horse
She danced to the music of magic, danger, and love … Glennys had come to the dazzling city of St. Lucien to seek her fortune. No longer under the protection of Baron Fulk, unable to return to her strict Alaminite folk, she soon found work as a Horse Skiller with the Queen's Opera. But her Heart's true desire is to appear with the Opera … performing onstage in the intricate and demanding horse-dance. And Glynnys has the gift that could make her the greatest of all dancers. But to reveal her gift is to expose her true identity, for only one of the noble blood has the power. And amid the courtly intrigues of St. Lucien, to claim her birthright could put Glennys is gravest peril …
295 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2023
After my Kindle deleted every book on it, I had to go through all my folders to try to replace them. I was over the moon happy when I spotted this one. It had been my favorite book when I was young!
Or so I had thought.
As I started reading Stalking Horse, I couldn't understand why I had liked it so much. Finally, around the 50% mark, I googled it. Turns out this is the second book of the series, and I had loved the first one.
Based on the few reviews out there, most folks felt the same about Stalking Horse: Too much uninteresting political intrigue and really bad characters/relationships.
Plot: Set on a medieval-ish fantasy world, horses are the most important thing in the culture. They even use them on stages during ballets. Most magic has faded from the world, but the main character Glennys Eve, still has it. Her magic skill is called Horse Sense which lets her see/hear/feel what horses feel and to control them on that level.
The first book was all about her power and horses, and apparently was wonderfully dark. This second book was so boring. It felt like it took me months to read, though my last post was seven days ago, so I guess it was about a week.
The political intrigue and in-fighting was just so boring, but worse than that was the male characters. Glennys Eve's first love interest was a painter named George, and though this book was published in 1990, he felt exactly like an incel. He said, paraphrasing, "Glennys Eve doesn't love the Duke, even though she has said she loves him I know she really loves me. I just have to show her she doesn't understand". It was set up as this whole romantic thing, it was just so distasteful. The second relationship, with a musician, was no better.
I wish I could get my hands on the first book, The Horsegirl, but it seems not to exist in ebook form. I could buy a copy off eBay, but without being able to see how big the text is, it might be a waste.
Stalking Horse was a scan of a physical book, so it had a multitude of errors in it. Every page had multiple errors, some very large ones, but that's to be expected in this case.
Or so I had thought.
As I started reading Stalking Horse, I couldn't understand why I had liked it so much. Finally, around the 50% mark, I googled it. Turns out this is the second book of the series, and I had loved the first one.
Based on the few reviews out there, most folks felt the same about Stalking Horse: Too much uninteresting political intrigue and really bad characters/relationships.
Plot: Set on a medieval-ish fantasy world, horses are the most important thing in the culture. They even use them on stages during ballets. Most magic has faded from the world, but the main character Glennys Eve, still has it. Her magic skill is called Horse Sense which lets her see/hear/feel what horses feel and to control them on that level.
The first book was all about her power and horses, and apparently was wonderfully dark. This second book was so boring. It felt like it took me months to read, though my last post was seven days ago, so I guess it was about a week.
The political intrigue and in-fighting was just so boring, but worse than that was the male characters. Glennys Eve's first love interest was a painter named George, and though this book was published in 1990, he felt exactly like an incel. He said, paraphrasing, "Glennys Eve doesn't love the Duke, even though she has said she loves him I know she really loves me. I just have to show her she doesn't understand". It was set up as this whole romantic thing, it was just so distasteful. The second relationship, with a musician, was no better.
I wish I could get my hands on the first book, The Horsegirl, but it seems not to exist in ebook form. I could buy a copy off eBay, but without being able to see how big the text is, it might be a waste.
Stalking Horse was a scan of a physical book, so it had a multitude of errors in it. Every page had multiple errors, some very large ones, but that's to be expected in this case.
January 3, 2020
I liked the main character better in the first book because she was happy working with horses. This book begins with the main character training to be a ballet dancer.....seriously?! But don't worry it only takes a little bit into the book for everyone to discover she knows how to train horses and put her to work training the ballet horses for the stage (though yes she is still training to be a dancer as well). She develops an on again off again romance with an arrogant artist in training; which I disliked him. She is tested most severely by an ancient aristocrat who wanted to see if she had the ancient gift, she passes, so he offers to be her patron. The patron I liked and hated, both equal measure; he is good to her but completely ruthless in getting what he wants (like the test). Many things happen in this book, many things out of our main characters hands; which is probably why I didn't enjoy this one as much. Even more backstory is told and more revelations as to who our main character really is or where she comes from and what it means. Also there was more focusing on the crazy religious cult people of her mothers side; again the whole religious crazies could have been completely removed for all I cared since I hated them.
Overall it was a good book, but too much political maneuvers and intrigue for my taste. So it took me forever to finish even though once reading it was hard to put down. I liked the first book more than this one, but it was a good enough book I will try to finish this trilogy and read the 3rd book sometime soon.
Overall it was a good book, but too much political maneuvers and intrigue for my taste. So it took me forever to finish even though once reading it was hard to put down. I liked the first book more than this one, but it was a good enough book I will try to finish this trilogy and read the 3rd book sometime soon.
February 6, 2016
Book two in the Horse Girl Saga. Glennys has left the county she grew up in and gone to the city where she dreams of becoming a ballerina, but her ability with horses and a kings death may keep that from happening.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews