New YA Series for Horse and History Lovers

Title: Eclipsed by Shadow: The Legend of the Great Horse Series
Author: John Royce
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Micron Press
Publisher Website: www.micronpress.com
Pages: 288ISBN: 978-0-9724121-3-1
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: Summer 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This fascinating YA first book of a trilogy on the history of man’s relationships with the horse is particularly well done. Meagan, a young teenager, witnesses the arrival of a new colt she names Promise. She enjoys socializing the colt and caring for him until it’s time for him to grow up with other colts. Several years later, the now young adult horse returns to Meagan’s horse farm to begin saddle training. Unfortunately, a crooked horse trainer is out to steal Promise. Meagan stumbles on the plot and manages to leap onto Promises back and jumps a fence in order to escape. Suddenly Promise sprouts wings and carries Meagan back in time to caveman times. Meagan falls off, only to find herself in the middle of a caveman horse hunt for fresh food. After a short time there, she jumps on another horse and finds herself as a slave in Rome, and then she moves forward to ride with the Mongols. After more hard times, she moves forward in time to the times of the Crusades, where the book ends with the reader anxious to know what is next.

This series teaches not only the history of Man’s relationship with the horse, but the history and day to day cultures of different civilizations of the past. We rated this first book five hearts.