Customer Reviews

The Blue Roan Child [First American Edition]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think this book could be read by children much older than eight and they'd still enjoy it. If you like horses and adventure stories, you'll like this! Jamieson Findlay is a wonderful author!

This is a beautifully written fantasy adventure that can be enjoyed by good readers as young as ten and by adults. I would definitely not recommend it for children under the age of 8 as the vocabulary and the themes are far too advanced.

The Blue Roan Child (By Jamieson Findlay) is beautifully written, and a breath of fresh air for those of us who are tired of reading variations of the same idea in fantasy books. I don't know about you, but I sure seem to be reading a lot of books where the only thing going for them is a good action scene here and there.
The Blue Roan Child is marvelously imaginative, with a cast of unforgettable and pleasantly weird characters, which Findlay brings to life with a unique and beautiful style of writing.
Now, for those of you who aren't exactly enthusiastic about "horse books" Don't let that aspect of the story turn you off. While, yes, this book will definitely attract and be loved by horse fans, there is SO much more to the book than the relationship between horse and human. To name a few of these other aspects: Original fantasy, action, a little good vs. evil, and a coming-of-age story.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and/or animals!

The Basic Plot:

Syeira is an orphaned girl of about 11 years whose only family are the horses she cares for in the King's stables in the town of Haysele. Vague memories of her mother's love are all that connects her to her mysterious past. She lives a rather uneventful life, where her only joy is in the wild scent of the untamed and equally mysterious Arva horses that nobody but Syeira can really understand or come anywhere near to. Syeira seems destined to live out a life, not quite content or miserable, forever tending to the King's horses, when the evil Lord Ran (unbeknownst to him) interferes. He has decided to come to Haysele in search for more warhorses to fight in his endless battles waged to win himself more land. However, it's not just warhorses he is after this time, but Arva horses! Thus, Syeira and the beautiful and intelligent Arva mare embark on a journey to rescue the mare's stolen foals.
Along their way, Syeira and her companion will meet others, who, be they as lost as Syeira and the mare, or quite wise, will help them in their quest to find the foals, and help Syeira find herself.

The book, Blue Roan Child, is very interesting and provides a wide vocabulary span. Magic is also involved and animals, too. Putting facts about animals and mixing that with fantasy and magic, Jamieson Findlay, wrote my #1 book choice.

I am a 13 year old girl who is crazy for horses. This is a wonderful book especially if you love horses. Some people complain that there's no plot or anything, but that might be because they aren't interested in horses. I actally think it wasn't long enough. Although, I read books with 1000 pages so... anyway it was a great book. I couldn't put it down. I think it was wonderfully written and I hope Jamieson Finlay will write more about maybe Arwin or Arva or something. Or maybe even Sir Gemynd, he was an interesting character. I recommend this book to horse lovers, people who love fantasy books, or just want a fun read. I also though it interesting that my name is DEIRDRE and the forest is the forest of DEIRE. Funny. Wonderful book. You have to read it! I give it 30/10!

I enjoyed this book but it was a little too 'horsie' for my liking and long. I also didn't find that the main character struggled enough. She really didn't have much personality. My favourite character was the horse. I found that they met a ton of people who didn't have a thing to do with the plot later on. By the end I had to pull myself through this book.

I recomend this book if you really like horses (unlike me, I begged my mom for horse-back riding lessons when I was eight but when she refused I didn't care for horses again) and if you don't mind dull characters and tedeous plot-lines. Oh yes, and did I mention that just at the point where you thought things were getting interesting, that Siera was really a dream, you found out that it was all a trick. This book had a lot of potential but by the end I was pretty sure that the auther blew it. I only finished it because I hate to leave a book unfinished. But I don't want to be too hard on it. If you have no patience with plotless, and at times tedious books, by all means-read away!