Post by Claire on Jul 19, 2011 13:08:57 GMT 1
MYLOR by MICHAEL MAGUIRE
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Roger & Angel Young – teenage brother and sister
Boff – their brainy friend
Professor Parkway – Boff’s Grandfather, an eccentric inventor
Mylor – the special horse
Paul – a jockey
Grogan – villainous head lad
Dr. Von Sternberg – a rival inventor
SUMMARY
Angel and Roger are invited to Parkway Grange, the home of Professor Parkway who is the grandfather of Roger’s school friend Boff. The Professor is a rather eccentric inventor and lives in a house surrounded by a maze. The children soon find out that they have been invited for their special talents – Roger for his experience as a pilot and Angel for her affinity with horses. But why? The Professor reveals his secret: Mylor – a huge beautiful chestnut robotic horse whom he has created! Roger is to pilot the animal from a compartment inside its chest and Angel is to make sure the horse seems real and to ride him. Angel can’t believe Mylor is not real, and because he has instinct chips built into him, he also acts just like a real horse. She immediately falls in love with him. The prof explains that Mylor is part of a competition in which a group of inventors have been set the task of building a horse capable of winning the Grand National, the winning inventor securing entry into an exclusive club. But first they have to enter Mylor in the National and win it!
The children soon overcome their misgivings and set about the task of training the horse, also securing the talented jockey Paul to ride Mylor (though Paul does not know Mylor is not real!) As the big day approaches it soon becomes clear that a rival German professor Dr. Von Stenberg and his accomplice Grogan, an unpleasant head lad at a nearby stable, are out to nobble the opposition so Von Stenberg’s horse Alaric can win. Can the children get Mylor to the race safely and can he win the prize for the Professor? In a dangerous climax, Mylor must prove he has the instincts of a real horse and not a machine in order to save the day!
REVIEW
A thoroughly preposterous but thoroughly enjoyable tale. This is an extremely original take on the horse racing story and is in fact one of a very small handful of sci-fi horse stories and perhaps the only one to feature an electronic horse! Of course, the whole idea must be taken with a huge pinch of salt. The science and practicalities of the thing should not be scrutinised too closely, questions abound: such as how do 2 kids and a dog manage to get inside a contraption the size of a horse, and why on earth a genius such as the professor has inadvertantly invented a chest hatch which cannot be opened when the girth is on, thus trapping its pilots inside! Any doubts however should be quickly dispelled, because once your suspension of disbelief is engaged, you can sit back and enjoy the fast and thrilling ride.
This is a no-holds-barred children's adventure romp with all the right ingredients: enterprising kids, dastardly villains, kidnaps, chases and an exciting race to top it all off. The characters are fairly stock (horse-mad teen, absent minded-professor, school swot), but for all that are believable and the main ones are three dimensional and sympathetic. It is well written in a simplistic, very readable style. If you like exciting adventure stories, then this one is definitely for you. It is also a good story for horse loving boys as well as girls, as the tale is narrated in the first person by our hero, Roger.
Because Mylor is not a real horse, the question must be asked: is this really a horse story? Ironically, Mylor is rather more believable a horse than the cardboard cut-out mounts of some so-called pony stories where the ponies do not even have colours or sometimes even names! He is described in loving detail and his beauty and strength emphasised. And those instinct circuits of his are pretty darn good as he certainly has his own personality. He instinctively knows who the goodies and baddies are and is not above aiming a well placed hoof at his enemies! Perhaps this realism is due to the fact that he was based on a real life horse (also called Mylor) whom the author knew.
The relationship between Angel and Mylor is quite touching; even though she knows he is a machine she loves him as much as a real horse. And in the end he repays this love and shows, despite his mechanical origins, he is truly a real animal, when he saves her from danger. This element of the story not only gives it the status of a true pony story but also provides a little bit of extra depth and emotion, as it very briefly touches upon a question that has been explored greatly in many classic sci-fi works: can created machines have their own reality and consciousness? Mylor certainly does.
As a great example of a rollicking adventure story with a nice horsy hero I award the book 4 horseshoes and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone tired of the usual run-of the-mill horse stories and wanting to try something different.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Roger & Angel Young – teenage brother and sister
Boff – their brainy friend
Professor Parkway – Boff’s Grandfather, an eccentric inventor
Mylor – the special horse
Paul – a jockey
Grogan – villainous head lad
Dr. Von Sternberg – a rival inventor
SUMMARY
Angel and Roger are invited to Parkway Grange, the home of Professor Parkway who is the grandfather of Roger’s school friend Boff. The Professor is a rather eccentric inventor and lives in a house surrounded by a maze. The children soon find out that they have been invited for their special talents – Roger for his experience as a pilot and Angel for her affinity with horses. But why? The Professor reveals his secret: Mylor – a huge beautiful chestnut robotic horse whom he has created! Roger is to pilot the animal from a compartment inside its chest and Angel is to make sure the horse seems real and to ride him. Angel can’t believe Mylor is not real, and because he has instinct chips built into him, he also acts just like a real horse. She immediately falls in love with him. The prof explains that Mylor is part of a competition in which a group of inventors have been set the task of building a horse capable of winning the Grand National, the winning inventor securing entry into an exclusive club. But first they have to enter Mylor in the National and win it!
The children soon overcome their misgivings and set about the task of training the horse, also securing the talented jockey Paul to ride Mylor (though Paul does not know Mylor is not real!) As the big day approaches it soon becomes clear that a rival German professor Dr. Von Stenberg and his accomplice Grogan, an unpleasant head lad at a nearby stable, are out to nobble the opposition so Von Stenberg’s horse Alaric can win. Can the children get Mylor to the race safely and can he win the prize for the Professor? In a dangerous climax, Mylor must prove he has the instincts of a real horse and not a machine in order to save the day!
REVIEW
A thoroughly preposterous but thoroughly enjoyable tale. This is an extremely original take on the horse racing story and is in fact one of a very small handful of sci-fi horse stories and perhaps the only one to feature an electronic horse! Of course, the whole idea must be taken with a huge pinch of salt. The science and practicalities of the thing should not be scrutinised too closely, questions abound: such as how do 2 kids and a dog manage to get inside a contraption the size of a horse, and why on earth a genius such as the professor has inadvertantly invented a chest hatch which cannot be opened when the girth is on, thus trapping its pilots inside! Any doubts however should be quickly dispelled, because once your suspension of disbelief is engaged, you can sit back and enjoy the fast and thrilling ride.
This is a no-holds-barred children's adventure romp with all the right ingredients: enterprising kids, dastardly villains, kidnaps, chases and an exciting race to top it all off. The characters are fairly stock (horse-mad teen, absent minded-professor, school swot), but for all that are believable and the main ones are three dimensional and sympathetic. It is well written in a simplistic, very readable style. If you like exciting adventure stories, then this one is definitely for you. It is also a good story for horse loving boys as well as girls, as the tale is narrated in the first person by our hero, Roger.
Because Mylor is not a real horse, the question must be asked: is this really a horse story? Ironically, Mylor is rather more believable a horse than the cardboard cut-out mounts of some so-called pony stories where the ponies do not even have colours or sometimes even names! He is described in loving detail and his beauty and strength emphasised. And those instinct circuits of his are pretty darn good as he certainly has his own personality. He instinctively knows who the goodies and baddies are and is not above aiming a well placed hoof at his enemies! Perhaps this realism is due to the fact that he was based on a real life horse (also called Mylor) whom the author knew.
The relationship between Angel and Mylor is quite touching; even though she knows he is a machine she loves him as much as a real horse. And in the end he repays this love and shows, despite his mechanical origins, he is truly a real animal, when he saves her from danger. This element of the story not only gives it the status of a true pony story but also provides a little bit of extra depth and emotion, as it very briefly touches upon a question that has been explored greatly in many classic sci-fi works: can created machines have their own reality and consciousness? Mylor certainly does.
As a great example of a rollicking adventure story with a nice horsy hero I award the book 4 horseshoes and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone tired of the usual run-of the-mill horse stories and wanting to try something different.
