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Post by tintin on Nov 14, 2011 17:11:29 GMT 1
The Phantom Horse series was my first girlfriend’s favourite reading, we did n’t really get on very well and although it was a long relationship (at least on my part) it was sporadic and not very happy, harmonious or healthy. When we got on she did n’t want me reading the same books as her and when we did n’t get on I did n’t want to.
So it was with some trepidation I picked up “Phantom Horse”. I’m glad I did.
It is quite a straightforward story. A brother and sister move to Virginia from Oxfordshire when their father is transferred by the Foreign Office. Their new home is quite in the wilds. One of their father’s friends is a farmer nearby and they strike up a friendship with his children who tell them of wild horse that roams the countryside.
In an attempt to catch him they get into some real scrapes and it is quite exciting, though believable. Eventually he is caught when severe weather conditions debilitate him.
The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Phantom Horse is in his stall and is pretty poorly, will he make a full recovery? Will his new owners be able to tame and teach him? And to what standard? As there are several other volumes this is probably not that much of a cliffhanger, but we still want to know.
The illustrations are good too.
Pitched at a younger, or less literate, readership (probably a similar market to the Jackie books) than some of her other books (Impossible Horse, Day to Go Hunting, The Horse Sale or the Chill Valley trilogy for example), I still liked it. In fact I liked it enough to get the sequel…
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2011 18:51:52 GMT 1
I've read a couple, but didn't really like them.
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Post by trixiepony on Nov 15, 2011 10:49:51 GMT 1
I still have the first one Phantom Horse, There good books.
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Post by Claire on Nov 15, 2011 11:39:12 GMT 1
I like the series, although it changes in tone somewhat after the first couple, turning more into a a mystery/adventure series. As a child I found the setting interesting, not having read that many American pony books back then. CPT must have been to America, she seemed to know quite a lot about American horse shows. Riders From Afar also featured American characters altho in an opposite story line they came to the UK. I like Jean's love for Phantom, but she is a little intense (like a lot of the author's heroines).
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Post by foxglove on Nov 15, 2011 17:07:44 GMT 1
The descriptions of the Virginia countryside are very evocative and do make a dramatic change from the English shires. I remember reading a couple of the others in the series; never much liked Jean as a narrator. Phantom's lovely though!
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Post by tintin on Nov 16, 2011 17:36:28 GMT 1
"The descriptions of the Virginia countryside are very evocative"
Its interesting that three of the most recent horse stories I've read (this one, Traveller and "Cammies Challenge") have all been predominantly set in the Virginia countryside which made a great impression on three very different authors
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Post by garej on Nov 19, 2011 17:42:23 GMT 1
CPT must have been to America, she seemed to know quite a lot about American horse shows. CPT did go to America Claire, specifically Virginia. She worked as a professional rider there in the 1950s.
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Post by haffyfan on Nov 19, 2011 20:01:25 GMT 1
I really like Phantom horse and Phantom Horse comes home and always have done...the rest get a bit far fetched though and I feel she should have left it at the first two.
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Post by garej on Nov 19, 2011 20:26:12 GMT 1
I really like Phantom horse and Phantom Horse comes home and always have done...the rest get a bit far fetched though and I feel she should have left it at the first two. Agreed. Phantom Horse Comes Home is the first CPT book I read so it has a special place in my heart. I still love it over the years even though I have read many CPT books. The last Phantom Horse book was a complete farce IMO.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 7:49:57 GMT 1
I have a feeling it was the last ones I read which is probably why I didn't like them and it put me off the rest. Maybe I should give phantom Horse a try as you all like it
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Post by Claire on Nov 20, 2011 13:36:22 GMT 1
I do think you should read both the first books Rosie, they are much better than the rest of the series. They are more traditional horse stories whereas most of the others degenerate into unlikely adventure stories. There is actually 30 years between the earlier and later books so this probably explained how the style of the books changed. The fashion for rather silly adventures in pony books seemed to dominate the 1980s. Plus the award for biggest pillock ever goes to Angus when in one of the later books he decides to sell his horse in order to buy a motorbike! BTW thanks for the info garej. Was that mentioned in the sisters biog? I did read it a long time ago but found it a bit dull and skimmed over some of the stuff so might have missed it if it was.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 14:15:01 GMT 1
I will Claire, now I know its not like the later ones which were dire! Are you able to remove the vote I put on? I gave it a bad mark as I thought it was the one I'd read but clearly it wasn't!
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Post by Claire on Nov 20, 2011 14:42:07 GMT 1
Sorry rosie, it won't let me remove the vote, only voters can do that and then only if the person who has set up the poll has ticked the 'retract vote' option which in this case tintin hasn't. I did wonder who gave it the crappy vote ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 15:41:09 GMT 1
Poo! Oh well at least I've owned up to my error ;D
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Post by Claire on Nov 20, 2011 18:59:14 GMT 1
We've got the rotten tomatoes at the ready rosie ;D ;D ;D
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Post by jinglerebel on Nov 22, 2011 3:34:45 GMT 1
I think it is CPT's best - the pages are falling out of the cover of my copy which is always a good indication that I enjoyed it ! ;D
Jean and Angus are quite babyish and cotton-wooled by their parents though, esp. compared to the easygoing yanks. Culture clash! I love them freaking out about how to work the new-fangled domestic appliances.
The rest were crap though. In "Comes Home" it annoys me that Wendy always "yelled" and "shouted" and "cried", CPT makes her sound quite hysterical and aggressive - I couldn't finish my attempted re-read of that one. I found it too snobby and really disliked Jean.
I don't think that the first one was pitched at a less literate market, I find it well-written but yes the later ones were more the Jackie/adventure market.
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Post by garej on Nov 26, 2011 19:34:35 GMT 1
BTW thanks for the info garej. Was that mentioned in the sisters biog? I did read it a long time ago but found it a bit dull and skimmed over some of the stuff so might have missed it if it was. No it wasnt mentioned in Fair Girls and Fair Horses because that only takes you up to the 1940s. I found that out from a combination of the back of the J A Allen books and also CPT's obituary.
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