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Post by cally on Dec 28, 2013 3:05:30 GMT 1
As all of you regular Pony mad book lovers probably know, when it comes to Pony Books I have 2 criteria that I look for when deciding to read or purchase a book: Firstly, it MUST be British, and secondly, preferably the older the better! Well 'The Lost Pony of Riverdale' fulfils only the first criteria but I am pleased to admit that although modern- published only as an e-book this year- it was an intriguing, well crafted and thoughtful book, and I can envisage a wonderful series of books arising from this debut which will be destined to become a classic! The plot, briefly, surrounds the main protagonist, 11 year old Poppy McKeever who naturally is pony mad and pony less. She is less than thrilled to learn her family will be moving to a new home in the country because she has already suffered upheaval after the death of her mother years earlier, and the introduction of a step mother and a half brother into her life. Without going into too much detail, her complex family situation and the dynamics between not only family members but also other people and friends of different generations, adds a great deal of texture to the story and is similar in this respect to Patricia Leitch's 'Jinny' series. This widens the appeal of the book to a range of different readers and adds a tone of realism to the story. The dynamic between Poppy, her much loved half brother, Charlie and her step mother Caroline will have you feeling almost as if you are in the same room as them, so well crafted and insightful are the characterisations of the central figures. The book has several exciting plot lines running through it and when reading it I found myself thinking ahead and doing the 'what if 'X' happens next' guessing game, and I am glad to say the end of the book was immensely satisfying in that I knew there was so much more to come for Poppy and her friends and family in the future. The author, Amanda Wills, is working on her follow up book in the series as we speak, and I can see this series being published as a 'book' book and gracing the book cases of pony book fanatics and collectors. Of Amanda Wills herself, this is her debut novel and she has worked as a journalist for some 20 years (including as a police and crime correspondent!) and the writing is as you would expect of a seasoned professional: tight, suspenseful, descriptive without being laborious, and humorous as well as sensitive in just the right balance. I won't spoil the experience of reading this book by going into anymore detail- it is available from Amazon as a Kindle e book and is WELL worth the paltry sum charged. As an indication of how enjoyable this book is, I both wanted to rush to the end AND prolong the pleasure of reading it, not wanting to leave the lives of the McKeever family and their new found friends, both human and non human. Having written this review a few weeks after reading 'The Lost Pony of Riverdale', I already feel like revisiting this immensely satisfying story- and in fact I think I will! I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars without hesitation and I can't WAIT for the next instalment, and the one after that, and the next and so on. Trust me guys- you will really enjoy this book.
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Post by Claire on Dec 28, 2013 15:35:15 GMT 1
What an excellent review Cally! Now the Christmas rush is over I must get this read. Hope you dont mind have added a pic and a poll so people can vote on how they liked it.
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Post by cally on Dec 29, 2013 1:23:37 GMT 1
No- that's great Claire, I just don't trust myself to try and do complex things with the computer at present- it's very hot, I'm house bound and a tad short tempered! Lots of old British films on today which is a bonus- they all seem to have George Cole in them! Such a great actor! DO read 'Riverdale'- bet you'll want to do it all in one go, it really is that good.
Good lord! One of the old films is called 'A Young Wives Tale' and it has Audrey Hepburn very far down the cast list! There's a really amazing actress in it whose name I can't remember, with THE plummiest voice you have EVER heard- it's delicious! I'm in heaven- Fred Astaire's 'Roberta' is on at 1pm! And there's the cricket during the ad breaks!!
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Post by darkhorse on Dec 29, 2013 12:51:00 GMT 1
I may buy this for my kindle when I've read the Ponies of Cuckoo Mill farm for the reading group.
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Post by cally on Dec 29, 2013 13:18:45 GMT 1
Do, darkhorse- I really enjoyed this book and would like to hear what other PMB lovers think!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2013 15:13:58 GMT 1
I don't normally read modern pony books like you Cally. I don't do Kindle either. I liked the sound of this book until you said it was a bit like Patricia Leitch's Jinny series which I can't stand! Sorry!
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Post by brumby on Dec 29, 2013 21:18:06 GMT 1
Thanks Cally, nice review Have just purchased and hopefully will start reading today, better check that my kindle is charged! Love the idea that it's the beginning of series, I really enjoy a good series (the smiley is me after reading one book after another in a series!) By the way, are there rather a large number of pony books where children have had their parents die?
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Post by Claire on Dec 29, 2013 22:22:44 GMT 1
By the way, are there rather a large number of pony books where children have had their parents die? Its not exclusive to pony books, it happens in many British childrens books in general, even modern ones such as Harry Potter for example! You have to get those pesky parents out of the way somehow so they don't cramp the action. In the older books they always went to India or some place to work and left the kids with relatives or friends. In later books it was either kids on their hols away from parents or the poor parents getting killed off!
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Post by cally on Dec 31, 2013 12:57:56 GMT 1
Consider being a bit more open minded, Rosie: in saying it was SIMILAR to the Jinny series in that it was multi-generational- it wasn't just about children but revealed relationships between older people and their adult children, for instance- it wasn't solely child focused and therefore more realistic. Sometimes the Jinny series irked me and it was very dated. 'Riverdale' isn't like that and doesn't go all 'hippy trippy magical' which I found annoying. Anyway- it's your decision. I apologise to anyone else I may have put off this book, because you're missing out on a great read.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 13:26:09 GMT 1
Sorry Cally, you obviously didn't like my comments. I'm sure you haven't put anyone else off. I can't read it anyway as I don't have a kindle and have no wish to get one.
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Post by brumby on Jan 1, 2014 6:17:19 GMT 1
Have finished reading The Lost Pony of Riverdale, an enjoyable read and would certainly read others in the series (when they are written). I didn't feel the same way you did about it Cally, but thought it was well written. To me it was a book that once I finished it I forgot about it rather than it staying with me, which to me is the mark of a great book. I do have a couple of small niggles, why didn't she just take Chester to help catch the pony, as was suggested on more than one occasion by Tory? The other concern (and I totally stand to be corrected on this one, maybe Claire will have some insight when she reads it) The stepmother appeared to be in the depths of depression, black cloud hanging over her, unable to show an interest in performing everyday tasks and then suddenly seems to overcome it when the stepdaughter calls her Mum. Will be very interested to get other peoples take on this. At a bit of a loss as to comparison the Jinny books, but hey thats what makes this forum fun! People see things i different ways. I'm really glad you enjoyed it soooo much Cally as some of the modern fiction is fab Have you read Sheena Wilkinson? By the way I did cry at the end, it was a most satisfactory ending! Please keep all the recommendations coming, I'll just keep buying books and reading them and remain poor
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Post by cally on Jan 2, 2014 14:40:20 GMT 1
I don't have a Kindle either, Rosie but my son does- I have NO idea how they work. They're not 'proper' books- good books smell nice. To reiterate, I see them as being similar in that both Riverdale and Jinny nod at the complexity of relationships between people of different generations. Although it doesn't have gypsies and weird horse paintings etc which I liked!
Re: the step mother feeling better when her step daughter, who if not outright rude to her, was cold and negative, called her 'mum': I can understand this because she's left alone in a new house in the country and her husband, Poppy's dad, goes away (somewhere dangerous) on assignment and she's isolated in a new situation, no friends or support. For that barrier to be broken down and to know that she's been accepted by her step daughter who is now on her side would be a huge barrier- especially since Poppy's mother died.
I get the point about why she didn't take Chester to help catch Cloud- that's what I would have done first too.
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Post by haffyfan on Feb 1, 2014 12:59:08 GMT 1
This is free on Amazon today - hoping our wireless stops playing up so i can download it on kindle later without having to download the amazon for pc software first and copy it across. I'll pop the link in the free ebooks thread
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Post by Claire on Feb 1, 2014 13:54:11 GMT 1
Thanks for the heads-up haffy. Thats good cos I was having trouble reading the review copy I had, for some reason it only had about 4 words per line and I just couldn't read it confortably! Now I can finally get it done!
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Post by kunuma on Feb 1, 2014 18:29:03 GMT 1
Just read it, only read it very fast (only way I can read the kindle books is to speed read so the finer points may have eluded me. My problem of course is that had it been set in a fictional place I could have taken it at the nice little story level, but by being set in a real area which I obviously know very well and completely glossing over the real life problems of the ponies on the moor - that was sadly all I could think about all the way through - so not really fair for me to comment on it or rate it.
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Post by Claire on Feb 2, 2014 14:05:03 GMT 1
I just read it in 2 sittings, so obviously I found it very easy to read. I have to agree its a very good well-written modern pony story. In some ways in fact its quite traditional. I like the main character. The author manages to make her realistic and not perfect but without turning her into one of those whiny modern characters who seem to be dissatisfied with everything. In fact I like all the main characters. The family dynamic is one of the strengths of the book, with the relationship between Poppy and her step-mother, an interesting sub-plot to the main story of Cloud. I agree with Cally that the wide range of characters of all ages gives the book an extra something and the adult characters are as interesting as the child ones. For a book aimed at the younger end of the market, I felt there was a lot of depth and some quite hard-hitting content. Possibly a bit too much for the younger reader, with both Poppy's mother and Tory's grand-daughter being killed and also the issue of depression. But somehow the book remains up-beat (and it does contain some humourous moments) so maybe the author has got it right. Going back to brumby's comments about the step-mother's depression. With my psychologist hat on I would say that she was suffering from a mild reactive depression caused by all the upheaval and the lack of support due to her husband being away. I feel it hadn't quite developed into a serious clinical depression which is why it seemed to improve a lot when she and Poppy started to get on. Obviously it has been simplified a little for the younger readership but it is not too hard to believe. (Its certainly more realistic than the mental illness in The Hermit's Horse that we were discussing a while back.) Re. kunuma's comments about the book glossing over the problems of the moor ponies, I don't think it completely ignores it. There is a conversation at the auction about how foals were going for peanuts and usually for meat. I don't think the book could have really dealt with that issue in depth as well as all the other elements of the book, especially as it already had quite a lot of down-beat content. I feel that adding this would have made it just too dark for younger readers. However I do agree that this is an issue which should be addressed in pony books set on Dartmoor at the present time. Possibly we could suggest to the author this as a theme for an upcoming book in the series. I do have one little niggle with the story and its something that probably only an anal retentive obsessed with the ages of characters in books would have picked up on. Poppy is 11, her step-brother Charlie is 6 and a half. Poppy was 4 when her mother was killed. This means that Charlie would have been born around 6 months after Poppy's mum died!!! That apart lol, I'd really recommend this book for all ages.
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Post by kunuma on Feb 2, 2014 17:37:04 GMT 1
F. Re. kunuma's comments about the book glossing over the problems of the moor ponies, I don't think it completely ignores it. There is a conversation at the auction about how foals were going for peanuts and usually for meat. I don't think the book could have really dealt with that issue in depth as well as all the other elements of the book, especially as it already had quite a lot of down-beat content. I feel that adding this would have made it just too dark for younger readers. However I do agree that this is an issue which should be addressed in pony books set on Dartmoor at the present time. Possibly we could suggest to the author this as a theme for an upcoming book in the series. I do have one little niggle with the story and its something that probably only an anal retentive obsessed with the ages of characters in books would have picked up on. Poppy is 11, her step-brother Charlie is 6 and a half. Poppy was 4 when her mother was killed. This means that Charlie would have been born around 6 months after Poppy's mum died!!! That apart lol, I'd really recommend this book for all ages. Now there's a good idea! It's so hard because the comments about the happy well fed ponies on the moors cut deep when I drive past the reality every morning! I didn't notice that about the ages!! Naughty husband was playing away from home!!
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Post by nzponywriter on Mar 26, 2014 6:47:39 GMT 1
I read this a couple of nights ago, and I didn't notice the age discrepancy either... oops! Though there is a section in the book that explains how and when her father met Caroline (I think that was her name?) so somewhere along the timeline I think the ages got messed up. I found it a good, easy to read and enjoyable book. Poppy was a bit of a brat without being irritatingly so, her little brother was quite tolerable (most younger siblings in books are just there to annoy) and all of the characters were well-rounded. There was no rich snobby kid who abuses her perfect pony, so that was refreshing. (Although as I list these cliches, I have to admit that I have succumbed to some in my own books - including the dead parents trope! Oops.) As for the depression, I did find it a bit too easily resolved as well. Having suffered from what I would term 'mild' depression, in that I was never treated for it clinically, managing to treat myself (so to speak) by getting a physical job (I had thought a month's holiday would be nice - turns out I need to work) and keeping myself busy. I think it would've seemed more believable to me if Caroline had found something to really occupy her time - a real purpose - rather than just feeling better because her relationship with Poppy improved, but then again, I did note that the depression seemed to set in once she was finished fixing up the house, so figured that like me, she just needs something to keep her busy to keep her happy I read it on my Kindle and while I wouldn't rush to read it again, I will read the sequel when it comes out.
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Post by Claire on Mar 26, 2014 13:28:26 GMT 1
I think its almost impossible to avoid some cliches in pony books, or indeed all children's books. Some of the best children's books of all time have them. For instance the old chestnut of a child or children sent off to live with relatives/friends of family whilst parents are away (or dead!) occurs in The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe which is surely a classic and in many other classic children's stories. I dont mind the odd cliche, its when a story is over-run with them that it begins to annoy the reader.
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