The Unicorn's Secret Series, Kathleen Duey, Omar Rayyan

The Unicorn's Secret Series, Kathleen, Duey, illustrated by Omar Rayyan

1) Moonsilver, ISBN: 0689842694
2) The Silver Thread, ISBN: 0689842708
3) The SIlver Bracelet, ISBN: 0689850581
4) The Mountains of the Moon, ISBN: 0689851375
5) The Sunset Gates, ISBN: 0689853475
6) True Heart, ISBN: 0689853718

7) Castle Avamir, ISBN: 0689853734
8) The Journey Home, ISBN: 0689853750

Read November 15, 2013

 

This is the third series of beginner-chapter horse books I've read from this author, and like the other two, the books are entirely unsuited to reading as stand-alone works.  However, that is about the only serious criticism I have of them.  (Other than the name of the character (Heart) which does cause some uncontrolled eye-rolling.)

Minor criticisms I have a-plenty: pacing issues (caused by the serial nature, mostly unavoidable, but still a bit irritating), characters appearing and disappearing from the story or being introduced and then left as plot-movers or ciphers, unrealistic story elements (our girl, somewhere between 6 and 10 years old, it isn't specified, is often shown girding or ungirding heavy equine plate and barding onto the yearling unicorn "in minutes," which is a little eyebrow-raising in more ways than one... ) and a bland overarching protagonist who is often shown as physically menacing, but his actual evil actions (burning books, killing unicorns, starving and jailing his serfs) are left mostly alluded to in the background of the story - despite being an important motivating factor to the heroine!

However, all of those are minor niggles, and for mass-market serial books, these are pretty close to solid gold.  The girl is strong and smart and brave and persistent.  There are older women who are kind and helpful, and secondary male characters who are also friends or allies.  Like in the Mustang series, a bully is given a chance to redeem himself and find a better place in life (in actual fact, those two characters and story arcs are so similar as to be identical except for the choice of vocation at the end).

Unreservedly recommended for anyone horse (or unicorn) mad; just make sure you have all of them on-hand before you get started, because there's no good place to pause the story until the very end.  Also excellent for younger ears as bedtime or regular storytime to be read to them, even before they're able to read it on their own.