Customer Reviews

The Road to Balinor (Unicorns of Balinor, 1)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At a bookfair at my school, I bought a few books, including the first 3 Unicorn of Balinor books. At first I thought that I had bought some baby books, with a happily ever after ending and story. I was sooo wrong! I read all the books very quickly, and I keep re-reading them, without getting bored of them. They are great books to anyone who loves horses, adventure, and plain fun in books. The first book is basically a begining to the rest of the books, and it is best to start with it. And you don't really understand anything, until the second book. And at the end of the first book, it ends like: There was a sign. And the sign said: Welcome to Balinor. She took one step forward, then another. Becuase I had the second book, I read it, and that's when I really liked the series. So my advice is: If you want to get this book, then get the second, too, or you'll miss the point in it, and you probably won't want to read on. I'm only a 12 year old girl, but as you have seen with other revies about the series, several different ages enjoy it. I hope that this revies helped you, and that you try out the book.

"The Road to Balinor," by Mary Stanton, is number 1 in the Unicorns of Balinor series. This is a fantasy tale about a race of intelligent unicorns who live in a realm apart from, but connected to, Earth. As the story opens we discover that one of the unicorns and his human companion have both been injured and are in a precarious situation in the human world.

Overall I enjoyed the story. Stanton is especially effective in her presentation of interspecies relationships in a fantasy setting. There is also an intriguing villain.

At times I found the language a little too corny and New Age-y for my tastes. I also didn't like the fact that the book really doesn't hold up as a stand-alone story; the cliffhanger ending seems to lead directly into volume 2. But the imaginative story, together with some clever touches along the way, make it a solid fantasy effort.

In this book, Ari Langley and Chase, her horse, have endured an awful accident. As Ari struggles to remember things, and overcome obstacles in her everyday life at Glacier River Farm, Atalanta, the Dreamspeaker (a Celestial Unicorn in Balinor) watches over her and gradually tries to let Ari know that Ari's not who she thinks. Ari is really Princess Arianna, and her horse is really Sunchaser, a mighty and majestic unicorn. Arianna and Sunchaser were sent to our world for protection against the Shifter, who has caused much havoc in Balinor. Now Balinor--and Arianna and Sunchaser--are in grave danger, so the two companions must travel back to Balinor to claim what is rightfully theirs and save the kingdom.

The world of Magic has long since held our fascination, as well as the mythical creatures the word evokes. Unicorns are the most magical, purest creatures ever, and it is fitting that they receive a storyline such as this. The balance between good and bad is very balanced and the characters are so wonderfully written, that one can clearly imagine the Unicorns speaking (and not at all like Mr. Ed).

I proudly admit that I'm 28 years old with two children of my own and I love these books.

This book explains a lot about how the whole series began, and has a great plot with loads of suspense, happiness, and suspicion! There are so many parts in each book of this series where I go, "Oh, NO, that person should not be trusted, they're going to take the JEWEL! Stay away from them!", etc, as it's all very suspenseful with so many twists, and I love it! Sure, some parts can be quite scary, while others can be really cool and make you wish you could have a unicorn or that the Balinor land really does exist, but this book is awesome! I, individually, am very sensative to scary things, yet the frightening scenes in here are good, not the kind of scary where I can't sleep at night, the kind of good scary where I am fearful only at the moment the scene is occuring, then I switch back to being my normal self.

This is one GREAT book any horse or unicorn lover would have a fabulous time reading!

I am a huge fan of fantasy and this book is great! It may be short, but it moves along fast and has lots of adventure. You never know what will happen next!!!!!!! This book is about a girl called Arianna, Ari for short. Ari has fallen from her world of Balinor into our world. But, after a terrible accident that broke both her legs, Ari does not remember who she is, the Princess of Balinor. Her bonded unicorn, Sunchaser, the Lord of the Animals, has also lost his horn, jewel, and memory. Can they restore all that is lost and bring peace back to Balinor? Read and find out!!!!

Other good books:
"The Dragon Chronicles"
"The Book of Night With Moon"
"Into the Land of the Unicorns"
"The Circle of Magic" series
"The Immortals" series
"The song of the Lioness" quartet
"His Dark Materials" trilogy
"The Sight" and "Firebringer"
"Growing Wings"

these are such good books that i have read them over and over. I love how the Sunchaser and Ari are bonded and how they help each other through tough times and make so many kewl freinds. I give this whole seires 5 stars cuz they are the best unicorn books i have read. if you think that unicorns are all wild and noone can ride them then i think youre mistaken because many books present unicorns as friends to humans and in certain circumstances allow humans to ride them even though they do not nessicarly like it. onc again i say these are great books for anybody ppl of all ages could read these books.

We liked The Road to Balinor because it has adventure, danger, fun, and unicorns in it. It also has a great explnation of what is happening. Our favortie part is when Airanna the princess is in a different place than where she was before. We liked this part because then Airanna is back where she is supposed to be and she realizes she is somewhere eles. We don't think that it needs to be changed because we think it is good the way it is. We read this book because it has a beautiful cover and what it said on the back of the book made us think it was an interesting book.
K.D. and C.H.

I think that this was a great book.It may not have much action because it's the first book in the series, but it sure is worth it to get to the next book. For anyone who thinks it should be rated less than a four should read the second book which is packed with adventure, action, laughter and fun.I can't wait to get the third book and continue on the adventure. I would definitely recomend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and action.

Hey! M.H. here. I loved reading these books. Mary Stanton is a great writer. Anyways, this book is great for people who have an imagination. If you don't; well, don't even bother reading this. It's a great horse book. I loved every minute of it.You should definately read this if you love horses. The end was surprising, but that's what keeps you reading. And you should never stop reading.

" The Road to Balinor" is a great book filled with descriptive writing and the power of friendship. When I read this book I really felt what Ari was going through. Ari couldn't let her horse-friend, Chase into the hands of Lori Carmicheals. Lori treats animals very cruely as if they are not living things. Ari's family is broke and really needs the money from leasing Chase to the rich Carmicheals. Though Ari isn't going to give up her good friend that easily to a person who will hurt him. This book was powerfully written and reminds people how strong friendship is. When I read this book it gave me so much inspiration I knew I could write a story and hoped it would be as wonderful as this one.