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Post by Charlotte on Nov 2, 2014 0:17:31 GMT 1
I'm really talking about pony series here, not individual books. Are there any characters, scenes, plots etc you'd like to have seen written about more by the author?
As for Monica Edwards, I think the Punchbowl books pretty much include everything you might expect, very detailed. Though suppose the mill or it's family in Frenchman's Secret don't appear again. One noticeable gap in the other series is in Dolphin Summer. Meryon's urgent drive to Portsmouth (a long way from Sussex!) is'nt described in detail. Also (posted about these before and deleted it) I'd have liked to see more of Hillocks Riding school. Lesley Frampton was an interesting discontinued character. Rissa and Meryon at home only appears a bit really. AFAIK nothing at all is ever described about Roger's home/parents. Odd actually how only Tamzin seems to have a sibling. More of the Lilycrops and Deeproses (and less of the Merrows, don't like them somehow). Jim's wife sounds like an interesting tyrant but is mostly only referenced except in The Nightbird.
No Ponies (Mary Treadgold) is excellent but ends a bit abruptly. There could have been another chapter or two describing their aunt's and the other Atherley childrens' reaction to the Nazi-related adventure and their return together to their Beaubassin villa and ponies stabled there. Wish there'd been a prequel about their prewar life there and forced exit, also something about the We Could'nt Leave Dinah children actually returning to Clerinel after the war.
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Post by Claire on Nov 2, 2014 23:01:31 GMT 1
Thats an interesting question but it will take a lot of thought as I've read so many! Maybe we could narrow it down to what we think is lacking in our fav books or series? In my case although I love the JPT Noel and Henry Pony Club series I feel after the first book the horses and ponies are a bit two dimensional and not really given much in the way of character and there isn't much in the way of a relationship between the characters and their horses. The human characters are superb as are their relationships to each other but I think at the expense of the ponies. Romany is a good pony character in Six Ponies but Noel's horses in the other books aren't given much character at all.
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Post by Charlotte on Nov 3, 2014 11:11:51 GMT 1
I've not read a huge amount, but yes narrow it down to favourites.
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Post by rallycairn on Nov 3, 2014 15:59:06 GMT 1
In Eleanor Jones' Dreams or Demons, there is the one heroine and her black Arabian, and then the friend she makes and her new pony, a reliable cob. I find all 4 so nicely drawn, but when the book opens you get a quick backstory on how the character with her Arabian are fairly new to the stable where she rides. There was enough backstory that I wondered if Dreams or Demons was a second book in a series. I looked at the author's biblio and that did not seem to be the case, but just to be sure I emailed Jones and asked her, and she confirmed that it is a stand alone book.
But I really think that a novel could have been written on how she found the hot, sensitive Arabian of her dreams, just as we see her new friend getting her steady, sensible cob in Dreams or Demons. And then D or D ends with unfinished business, and that could possibly have made a third book.
I really, really liked the setup of the two friends and their very different ponies. Much like Shantih and Jinny and Sue and Pippen, but in this case with a little more parity between the two girls in terms of the size of the roles they play in the story. I think this setup could make for a fun series, like I said.
On the flip side, I am very grateful for the many companion stories we get with Ruth, Peter, Jonathan and co. in the Peyton books. Gosh, we get Ruth's story not just through to marrying, but even past the early years of marriage and into a final marital crisis, in Marion's Angels.
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Post by Claire on Nov 3, 2014 21:31:20 GMT 1
I'm a fan of the Eleanor Jones books too and I agree Rally.
I also think that the main problems you have with series are that you either want more books (as in the JPT Pony Club series) or that they go on too long. Jackie for instance, they got a bit samey after a while but the first ones were quite good.
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