Brainstorm 351: Mythical Horse Reads for the Year of the Horse

This week’s Brainstorm has some of those more mythical horse stories for the Year of the Horse I didn’t include in last week’s Brainstorm. There are tons of unicorn stories out there, but I also tried to include some lesser known horse-like mythical creatures like merhorses, night mares, kelpies, and fireborn. (The Pegasi books I know of didn’t make the cut, but there are several out there.) Like last week, if you would like to read my full reviews for any of the titles and don't have a GoodReads account, I'm pasting those full reviews including any content notes/trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.

FULL SUMMARIES/REVIEWS

Margaret's Unicorn by Briony May Smith

Margaret and her family have moved to a new house to be closer to Gran. The move is rough for Margaret, but while out exploring the hills on her first day she finds a baby unicorn that was left behind when the rest of the herd migrated. With her Gran's instructions and the rest of her family's help, Margaret cares for the unicorn throughout the fall and winter until his family returns in the spring. And he may be just what Margaret needs to help with this transition.

A sweet and whimsical story about changes and how helping others can often get us through rough personal emotional times. The illustrations are delightful. I like how the story flips the usual anticipation for spring into Margaret wanting the fall and winter to last as long as possible as she relishes the cold weather time she has with the unicorn before his family returns. Briony May Smith does such a good job of transporting readers into Margaret's slightly magical world in mountains of the UK.

Merhorses and Bubbles (Zoey & Sassafras, #3) by Asia Citro, ill. by Marion Lindsay

Zoey is excited to go look for insect nymphs in the stream, but when she goes to look she can't find any of the mayfly or caddisfly nymphs she usually sees. Then Pip, a magical frog comes to let Zoey's mom know that the merhorses are suffering from a strange affliction. They have burning eyes and skin rashes. Zoey and her mom test the water and find out it is being polluted by a kind of soap. But where is the soap coming from, and can they stop it?

The source of the pollution in this will be an eye-opening peak into a real life potential environmental hazard readers can help prevent. I like that Zoey's mom lets her help do real tests on the water to see what is going on. The illustrations found throughout the book are very cute, and help bring the story to life. They also, combined with the larger than normal font, make this a very quick read. Hand this to beginning readers who love mythical creatures and are wannabe scientists.

Of Fire and Ash (The Fireborn Epic, #1) by Gillian Bronte Adams

As war comes to Soldonia, traitors arise, unlikely heroes find courage, and those who don't feel like they deserve a second chance may see a second and a third.

Ceridwen has been disowned by her father since her ambition to capture a fireborn got her brother killed. Now she works with her fireborn, Mindar, to redeem herself by putting her life on the line as an outrider to stave off the attacks of the invading Nadaari threatening to overwhelm her father's kingdom. She's been partnered with Finnian who is a shadowrider. She can't wait to shake him, his horse, or his wolf. She works better alone.

Rafi has already died a couple times. He used to be a prince, but now he's just a fisherman living on the coast trying to forget his troubled past. But when trouble and his past are coming for him.

Jakim is a freed slave who survives a shipwreck only to find himself in shackles once again. He's the translator for the invading Nadaari's scientist/inventor who knows he can bring this invasion to a quick conquest if they will only listen to him. Jakim would think all hope is lost, if not for the prophecy his sister game him long ago that he would bring freedom to his people.

I read the first chapter of this a while ago and put it down, and now I'm kicking myself. This is my favorite YA/adult fantasy read of the year so far! I gave up way too quickly. This was marvelous! Gillian Bronte Adams has thought out a fantasy adventure that is epic in scale and scope and characters, and she's done a marvelous job with it. I like all the fantasy horses with super capabilities (some breath fire, some can melt into shadows, some basically are hard as rock, some can fly and cause storms, and some can melt into water). And I felt like all different voices were distinct and so interesting in all their different background stories. They all have different issues and challenges to face, which allows the book to explore a number of themes. By the end of this book the main characters were starting to cross paths somewhat. Jakim's story is somewhat inspired by Joseph's story in the Bible, but there are plenty of unique aspects. I didn't notice any other inspired parts other than maybe the Nadaariians being inspired by the Roman empire, and overall the book feels exceedingly imaginative and unique. And the world building is absolutely phenomenal. I can't wait to return to this world in book two! (And things end on a bit of cliffhanger so it can't come soon enough.) This is marketed a bit as YA which is probably because some of the main characters we follow around are teenagers, but the plot is definitely sophisticated enough to be marketed as adult.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content beyond a kiss. There's a lot of battles, fighting, injuries, death, and accidents. Some of the injuries and fatalities are somewhat described including an arm being cut off and a beheading (more emotionally described than physically). There is a lot of death and dying, but the author treats it with an appropriate seriousness and it isn't there just for shock factor, it drives in the seriousness of the conflict and you can feel how the characters long for peace and an end to the war.

Once upon a Unicorn by Lou Anders

In a magical land ruled by Titania the Fairy Queen, night mares and unicorns are mortal enemies. But when Midnight the night mare sees kelpies trying to drown Curious the unicorn, she decides to prove that night mares are better than unicorns by helping save him. After the unexpected rescue, the two find out they were both chasing the same wispy wood wink. Curious wants to do some experiments with the blue magic. Midnight wants to see if eating it will help her get better control of her fire. And they have a bit of a disagreement as to who gets the wispy wood wink. They need to settle their argument, get Curious back to the unicorn side of the river, and deal with a sinister fairy who has his own plans for them.

This was a very fun fantasy that introduces some lesser-seen fantasy creatures and some interesting unicorn mythology. I like the message that what makes something beautiful or good isn't how they look. I also like seeing two characters who've been told all their lives that they should be enemies realizing that maybe the borders should be brought down, their differences aren't that big, and being friends has great worth. The bad guy in this is a bit creepy if you have a good imagination (mythical creature based on a certain character in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" but WAY scarier) so know who you hand this to and whether they can handle the few scenes with the baddy. Anders employed a unique, quirky, humorous voice for the narration, and there's some really fun wordplay (this would make a great read aloud but then you'd miss some of the word play stuff). I am going to have to hunt down more of his middle grade stuff. I'm quite pleased that this is a unicorn story that isn't necessarily "girly" and should be enjoyable for all fantasy adventure fans. My favorite part was the writing.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Violence is threatened by some nasty creatures, the kelpies threaten to drown characters and others aren't very nice, but no one is permanently hurt.