Customer Reviews

The Black Stallion's Shadow

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Black and Alec face several different challenges in this book, the main one is the fact that Alec is away from home on a ranch. After his horse gets a fear of shadows, Alec realizes that he cannot race again until the Black overcomes this fear. He asks for the help of his trainer, Henry's friend. He meets many new people, some good, some not so good. A good story with a great plot.

I do not totally agree with the other reviews, because I love the Black Stallion and no matter what book he's in, he will still be the Black Stallion. This book is different, because it deals more with "other" activities than racing, horse grooming, breeding, etc. I think that this book deserves it's spot on the charts not as a book like the others in the series, but as a book by itself. Do not expect the expected when you read this book, if you have read others in the series. Writers truly do have their own way of writing and that is something we must accept.

Like other reviewers, I am an adult returning to the ongoing Black Stallion series that I loved as a child. I'm sure Steven Farley is a good writer, but his style is not his father's and his efforts to continue the Black Stallion stories from his father should be put to rest. The violent deaths of three horses in this book are enough to halt any fan of Walter Farley's. The relationship between the Black and Alec is missing the depth and understanding that readers of the series are used to. Time to go back to the originals and leave these new stories to others less familiar with Walter Farley's work.

I haven't finished this book yet, but I can already tell it's not gonna be good. First, Steven Farley just can't write like his father. Second, he doesn't know anything about horse racing! In a big race, the America Cup, the Black's main challenger is a two-year-old colt named Ruskin. The race is a mile and a half.

Already, two problems.

1. Two year olds don't race against older horses here in America. Duh!
2. A two year old in a mile and a half race? YEAH RIGHT!

The writing was poor, and the author didn't write enough details in the race.

I'm already nearly done with the book, but I won't say any more, because all I need to say is that this book isn't worth buying.

Walter Farley's writing progressed during the course of his original Black Stallion series. The richness and variety of language provided vivid word-pictures of the characters, surroundings, and circumstances in his books. From the racetracks of New York to the scorching Arabian sands, Farley senior took the reader with him on dangerous adventures and breathtaking race rides. His writing progressed, richened, and refined with each novel. With Alec Ramsay, the readers grew up on the back of the Black Stallion.

Then came Steven Farley. His cooperation in the Young Black Stallion with Walter indicates that the erstwhile author passed the torch to his son with blessings. Farley senior may have bequeathed the series to Steven, but he was unable to include the same literary flavor. Alec and the Black progressed from a pair of unknowns to a respected force in the racing community during the original series. "Shadow" very quickly kicks Alec back to square one in the racing community, still being called a 'kid' and angrily defending himself. Books tend to set a tone right away, and I wasn't impressed. It is impossible to separate the continuation from the original series, and therefore it is not possible to avoid comparing them. Stick with Farley senior's books. They are superior.

I grew up reading Walter Farley's Black Stallion series. Although Steven is trying, he will never write the Black like his father did. I like how this book took Alec and the Black off of the race track and into new territory, and how the Black had to deal with his fear, making him more "real", and mortal, but it just wasn't the same. And the timing doesn't make sense. The Black is only 8 years old? I don't think so. It was exciting in spots, but the writing is too different; it doesn't feel like a "real" Black Stallion book. Maybe Steven should have just left the series alone.

Being an avid equestrienne, when I was a child I always loved reading The Black Stallion books. I loved the way Farley developed the relationship between Alec and the Black, loved the dramatic plots and loved the exciting races.

Steven Farley isn't his dad. One thing I always had a problem with in this series was the way the characters never seemed to really grow older, except maybe when Alec meets Pam. But in this book, Steven claims that Black is 8 years old. WHAT?? The Black must've been between 4 and 6 years old when he and Alec were deserted on the island in the first book, and since then he's sired at least three horses, all of whom are are adult racers now. Satan won the Triple Crown, and the only horses who race in at the Belmont, Preakness and Kentucky Derby are 3-year olds. When Satan's a little older, his sister turns three and races in the Kentucky Derby. Black should have been long retired by then, and I always found it troubling that time and again Farley Sr. pulled him out to race this horse and that horse when he's about 10 or 11 years old. Maybe older.

Steven Farley goes even further, pitting the black stallion against a two-year old. A two-year old!! Not only is that absolutely ridiculous, but even racehorses don't start racing at two, although they do undergo vigorous training at that age (which is actually wrong - a horse's body is still developing until it turns four, but racehorses start training and racing early). However, two-year olds do not race aged stallions (coughNOT8-years-oldcough) Steven Farley doesn't bother to really describe the race with the sort of vivid imagery and suspense-building language that his father used, and it's quite clear that he's rather ignorant of the rules of horse racing.

And whatever aging and development we could have at least imagined in the original series concerning Alec Ramsey is gone in this book, with Steven specifically referring to Alec as a "kid". I mean, do these people have absolutely no sense of logic whatsoever? The Black has three offspring, two colts and a filly, who grow up over several years, race, and have their own foals. And all this time Alec remains a young boy, and the Black a stallion in his prime? I think NOT. I can't believe that such a major flaw was so carelessly overlooked.

And at the end of the day, a series needs to have some closure. It would have been better if the original series showed the boy and his horse grow up together, and for the legacy of the black stallion to be carried on in his heirs. End of story. These new books lack the tone and the depth of the original stories. Alec's and the Black's bond doesn't have that profound depth that Farley Sr. so subtly portrayed. In any case, real fans of the books don't consider Steven Farley's books canon, even if Farley Sr. chose him to continue the stories. We simply cannot have the story of this horse carried on forever until the spirit of the series is ruined and becomes nothing but a nostalgic curiousity, like what happened with the Animorphs.

Steven Farley doesn't write with the vivid imagery and powerful language of his father, nor does he seem to capture the essence of the series. It's not really his fault I guess - a book or a series of books belong to the person who wrote them. It's always a bad idea for someone new to carry on a classic story - look what happened when Alexandra Ripley decided that she could write a sequel to 'Gone With the Wind'. If Steven Farley had completely left the stories of the Black Stallion alone (and I'm including 'The Young Black Stallion' spin-off series here too) and struck out on his own, he may have met with more success.

I'm sorry, I just didn't like the book. I think all writers have a style of their own, and I don't like Steven's way of writing. He doesn't seem to put as much feeling into the description of Alec during the race, and in other parts too. As a matter of fact, I wish he would just leave his father's series the way it is and not add on to it. And I don't like the way he portrays Alec in the other series about the colt, Raven. What I'm trying to say is that I don't like any of his books.

This book isn't absolutly in the same "line" than the other Black's Stallion's, but it's a good book anyway. I do not agree the comment from the review wich says that Steven Farley forgot the age of his readers.

Steven is not the same as Walter. He writes the characters in a different perspective. I like his other series, "The Yound Black Stallion" series, that is well done except for Alec's personality. When I tried to read this book, it took alot longer than Walter's.

I think that Steven Farley is doing a superb job carrying on his father's tradition. The book, about a hopeless situation caused by on accident on the racetrack, is a mystery also. A great one for young horse lovers.