A review by thistlechaser
The Boy Who Plaited Manes by Nancy Springer

2.0

Going into The Boy Who Plaited Manes, I had thought it was a book, but instead it was just a short story. Turns out that was fine, as it didn't hook me at all. It seemed like the retelling of a fairy tale or an original one. Set in some older time, a boy showed up at a Lord's stables and braided horses' manes. He was god-like in his ability to make horses look great, but who he is or where he came from was completely unknown, as he never said a word.

The Lord's wife needed her hair braided, so she had him do it, and like the horses, she fell in love with him. That lead to the downfall of every character in the story.

I felt like I just didn't get this story. Did it have a moral I was supposed to pick up on? Something other than the completely unsubtle 'Don't cheat on your spouse'? Either way, it just didn't work for me.