Her anger toward her father crackles like lightning in the treetops. Drowning in mourning and enraged at the emptiness of grief, Clare is a hurricane of early-adolescent emotions. There, Clare finds herself struck by the contrast between American wealth and the relatively bare-bones existence of her new friends.

Which could be tough, since the pair just touched down in Malawi. She has vowed never to speak to him again. Melding the colors of heartache and loss with painterly strokes, Burg creates a vivid work of art about a girl grieving for her recently deceased mother against a Third World backdrop.Ĭlare is not speaking to her father. Further reflections about the power of dreams and memory will be lost on younger readers eagerly following the horse lore, which is rich and colorful, but the quest will still carry them along. After more complications and a terrifying capture, her victory is secured by the sudden appearance of winged horses only hinted at throughout the narrative. There Syeira finds the colts and plots to free them. Eventually, Syeira comes to where Ran is experimenting with hot air balloons (called warboys) and with making mechanical fighting horses. While each of these does advance the story, they tend to disappear when their part is done, occasionally returning to round out a plot line. On a long and complicated journey, they meet gypsies, hacklers (master horsemen), herbsmen, and Grulla, the fighting crone. When the evil warlord Ran steals Arwin’s colts, Syeira and Arwin go in search of them.

Arwin, an Arva horse, one of a wild and powerful breed, forms an attachment to Syeira and through scent can place images in her mind. Syeira, an orphan who is probably about ten, lives in the stables where she works all day and much of the night. Findlay’s debut is a fantasy full of horses and magic.

The Blue Roan Child by Jamieson Findlay