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zenithharpink's review
1.0
I hated this book. I don't even understand what the hell happened in this book. I honestly feel like I was punished as a reader for sticking with this series to the end. This book was a slap in my face.
I understand that Farley's daughter died a tragic death, and these last two books in the series are an ode to her (Pam's) life. As such, I strongly believe that the last book was stage one of grief: denial. Pam was still alive, she was falling in love, everything was fine.
This book is all about stage 2, anger, and WOW is there rage in this book. It's absolutely all over the place, doesn't properly end and doesn't really have a coherent narrative. This book should have stayed unpublished and instead functioned as a coping, and private mechanism for Farley's coping with his personal tragedy. A book ready for his dedicated viewers to experience, absolutely not.
I don't recommend reading this book, and I especially don't recommend reading this if you've read and enjoyed the series. I recommend only books 1-3, 5 9 and 12, and if you're really adventurous, book 13. The rest are not worth the time.
I understand that Farley's daughter died a tragic death, and these last two books in the series are an ode to her (Pam's) life. As such, I strongly believe that the last book was stage one of grief: denial. Pam was still alive, she was falling in love, everything was fine.
This book is all about stage 2, anger, and WOW is there rage in this book. It's absolutely all over the place, doesn't properly end and doesn't really have a coherent narrative. This book should have stayed unpublished and instead functioned as a coping, and private mechanism for Farley's coping with his personal tragedy. A book ready for his dedicated viewers to experience, absolutely not.
I don't recommend reading this book, and I especially don't recommend reading this if you've read and enjoyed the series. I recommend only books 1-3, 5 9 and 12, and if you're really adventurous, book 13. The rest are not worth the time.
birdkeeperklink's review against another edition
1.0
This, too, was terrible. , and while that doesn't bother me at all, Alec is crushed. So what do you do when something like that happens?
Well, I don't know what you would do, but I know that I would not pack my horse onto a trailer and drive off without telling anyone and without any clear idea of where I was headed.
Which is what Alec did. Because he's crazy, apparently.
Oh, and then they meet up with Native Americans who, improbably, believe Mighty Whitey is their one and only savior from the end of the world because of the fact that he brought his horse with him. Or something.
The ending is left open, which was the only semi-cool part, but then it's closed in Young Black Stallion, so it has no redeeming features.
Spoiler
Pam diesWell, I don't know what you would do, but I know that I would not pack my horse onto a trailer and drive off without telling anyone and without any clear idea of where I was headed.
Which is what Alec did. Because he's crazy, apparently.
Oh, and then they meet up with Native Americans who, improbably, believe Mighty Whitey is their one and only savior from the end of the world because of the fact that he brought his horse with him. Or something.
The ending is left open, which was the only semi-cool part, but then it's closed in Young Black Stallion, so it has no redeeming features.
kairosdreaming's review
3.0
Anyone growing up in the eighties, nineties, or even before has heard of the Black Stallion. It was such a popular book series that everyone had at least one of the books. This book, The Black Stallion Legend, is actually the last book in the series (there was one written after but it's a prequel) and it was written over forty years after the first book was. Which may account for why it's such a drastic change from the original tone of the series. And while you don't necessarily have to read the rest of the series to understand this book, it does help for character background.
Alec has been a bit distracted lately because of all the pressures of home. Sure he's a well known jockey. He's ready for a vacation and the distraction of his girlfriend, but when he learns that she has been killed in an auto accident, he loses it. Headed West, with his horse The Black Stallion in a trailer, he keeps driving and driving until he comes to a desert. There he stops and turns himself and The Black free only to discover that among the Native Americans in the area, they are the stuff of legend.
Alec is very very dark in this book. He ranges between grief, and rage, and hopelessness and it's sad and disturbing all at the same time. And it's actually pretty realistic of real grief and the range of emotions a person will experience when losing someone important in their lives. He has his horse, but even that is sporadic, especially out in the wild. His trainer, who features at the beginning of the book, is gruff and none to nice and I couldn't bring myself to like him in this book. Same with his dad, who seemed very indecisive and ineffective. Even the Native Americans weren't described that well. We had no sense of what kind of people they were, only that in their limited interaction with Alec they thought he was the person from their legend.
The plot was reaching a bit. It moved way too fast and there needed to be more detail for what Farley was trying to pull off with this novel. All the events and the way things happened just didn't seem quite right and the only way I could make them line up in my head was to imagine that Alec had gone into shock and was actually dreaming everything that happened. Otherwise, it just didn't make sense. This book, as said before, was decidedly gruesome and sad compared to the hopeful tone the other books seemed to carry. But it did contain a good lesson grief.
For an avid lover of the Black Stallion series, this book is going to be a shock and perhaps even a disappointment. It was almost as if Farley's personal grief was too much for him, and he poured it all out into his writing.
The Black Stallion Legend
Copyright 1983
177 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Alec has been a bit distracted lately because of all the pressures of home. Sure he's a well known jockey. He's ready for a vacation and the distraction of his girlfriend, but when he learns that she has been killed in an auto accident, he loses it. Headed West, with his horse The Black Stallion in a trailer, he keeps driving and driving until he comes to a desert. There he stops and turns himself and The Black free only to discover that among the Native Americans in the area, they are the stuff of legend.
Alec is very very dark in this book. He ranges between grief, and rage, and hopelessness and it's sad and disturbing all at the same time. And it's actually pretty realistic of real grief and the range of emotions a person will experience when losing someone important in their lives. He has his horse, but even that is sporadic, especially out in the wild. His trainer, who features at the beginning of the book, is gruff and none to nice and I couldn't bring myself to like him in this book. Same with his dad, who seemed very indecisive and ineffective. Even the Native Americans weren't described that well. We had no sense of what kind of people they were, only that in their limited interaction with Alec they thought he was the person from their legend.
The plot was reaching a bit. It moved way too fast and there needed to be more detail for what Farley was trying to pull off with this novel. All the events and the way things happened just didn't seem quite right and the only way I could make them line up in my head was to imagine that Alec had gone into shock and was actually dreaming everything that happened. Otherwise, it just didn't make sense. This book, as said before, was decidedly gruesome and sad compared to the hopeful tone the other books seemed to carry. But it did contain a good lesson grief.
For an avid lover of the Black Stallion series, this book is going to be a shock and perhaps even a disappointment. It was almost as if Farley's personal grief was too much for him, and he poured it all out into his writing.
The Black Stallion Legend
Copyright 1983
177 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
lauren_shilling's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
This series is a childhood favorite, and I reread it every year! Love it! This one both has a special place in my heart and is pretty flawed as well, though.
annascottcross's review
2.0
WEIRD!!!!!!!!! In the beginning, after heaaring about Pam's death, Alec goes into a weird, state. Almost like he was asleep. He loads the Black into a trailer with hay, bedding, etc. and gets into a truck without even knowing it, regaines "conciousness" at the steering wheel, and drives away without even knowing he has a trailer behind him.
He drives, and drives, and drives and ends up in the middle of no whare. He rides the Black away, lets him go and pretends he's a horse thinking that sinc he is going to die anyway it didn't matter how he spent the last few of his hours. He ends up meetig this indian and learns that this is the "fourth world" and the end is coming soon, and the sign that it is coming is a black horse. He ends up thinking it is the Black. He leaves the next morning leaving Alec to find his way to the village himself. He gets there and in the midle o the night he wakes up to find Pam there. He "hears her" say that he needs to leave now for there is danger. Later he wakes up and the earth is shaking, the sky is changing colors, and the Black is freaking out! Turns out the whole earth is in this weird "holocaust" as he called it. WEIRD book!!!
He drives, and drives, and drives and ends up in the middle of no whare. He rides the Black away, lets him go and pretends he's a horse thinking that sinc he is going to die anyway it didn't matter how he spent the last few of his hours. He ends up meetig this indian and learns that this is the "fourth world" and the end is coming soon, and the sign that it is coming is a black horse. He ends up thinking it is the Black. He leaves the next morning leaving Alec to find his way to the village himself. He gets there and in the midle o the night he wakes up to find Pam there. He "hears her" say that he needs to leave now for there is danger. Later he wakes up and the earth is shaking, the sky is changing colors, and the Black is freaking out! Turns out the whole earth is in this weird "holocaust" as he called it. WEIRD book!!!
satyridae's review
3.0
As a book in a series about a horse, this is lousy. As a father's meditation on what the world looks like after he's lost his daughter, this is powerful. The story, as story, isn't much- it's implausible and goofy and nonsensical in the extreme. But the central theme, how to go on living after the death of someone deeply beloved, redeems this in my eyes, at least. This last of the Black Stallion books has no races, no Henry to speak of, but most of all, it has Pam's ghost in every word. I can't recommend it, but neither can I recommend against it.
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