Picked up browsing library shelves, on a whim. My first impression was this must be based off a television cartoon or something, but I could be wrong. I think I had that idea because the horse’s style looks so much like My Little Pony- the small noses, bulgy foreheads and huge eyes, overly large feet. The drawings are very bright and the faces so expressive, but a few times the anatomy seemed weird, even for made-up creatures. Because these aren’t really horses. There’s four groups, in herds that are constantly at odds with each other. Each group embodies an element- so the fire horses have flames for manes and tails, the air or wind ones have misty see-through something for hair, the forest ones it looks like gatherings of leaves. The water one has big dramatic fins. But they all have jewelry, some bits of clothing like cloaks or crowns, and horns as well- the wind horses have thin antler-like horns, the fire ones a single scimitar horn, the forest ones goat-like horns. And of course the air one has wings. I was confused by all that, but went along with it. They just didn’t look much like horses to me, with all that extra stuff.
So the story is somewhat reminiscent of Wings of Fire– a group of young representatives of each race are supposed to fulfill a prophecy and bring peace between all the herds. In this case, the four young horses need to find an unknown yearling, who supposedly has some special magic. (They all talked about this like magic was a new thing to them, but they did some things that seemed magical to me, and acted as if it was totally ordinary. More confusion from the reader). Their goal is openly announced by their parents- who then send them off on the quest without further ado. It seemed quite abrupt. Most of the story is about the four young ones trying to learn to get along- who’s going to carry the special map, who decides where they’re going to look next, and so on. The fire horse has a hot temper, the water one is kind of proud, the flying one a bit standoffish. The earth/nature horse is a goofball who often seems he doesn’t know what he’s doing or talking about, but has the best personality, is really kind at heart and easygoing. It’s actually a good story, just one that felt quite repetitive to me. I bet there’s certain kids who love this though.
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 7/6/24.
