THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy | Blog
Eclipsed by Shadow • The Golden Spark • Into the Dark
Into the Dark was featured in the June 2013 edition of Children’s Bookwatch. The concluding 3rd book of the Legend of the Great Horse trilogy was one of seven fiction titles selected.
Children’s Bookwatch is a well-respected listing by the long-time champion of independent work, the Midwest Book Review … each selection is taken from hundreds of submissions each month to highlight the best new independent titles.
» See featured review
» See Children’s Bookwatch June 2013
The final volume of the award-winning trilogy, The Legend of the Great Horse, is being released in paperback Fall 2013.
Into the Dark brings a triumphant conclusion to the adventure that has traveled the history of mankind. Hoofbeats thunder into the modern age, where love of horses preserves the partnership that made civilization.
The hardback edition can be found at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and is available through local libraries and bookstores.
The story is a well-researched and fast-paced tale following the adventures of a modern equestrienne lost in history. The trilogy books have won national awards including the Eric Hoffer Award (Book #1) and the Written Arts Award (Book #2).
New review by Into the Dark, Book #3 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, by Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer E.A. Lovitt:
E. A. Lovitt | Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer
“WORTH THE WAIT”
Book III of The Legend of the Great Horse concludes John Royce’s sweeping historical fantasy about horses and horsemanship with a display of equine fireworks that made it well worth the wait. The ending was satisfying on both a philosophical and emotional level. The author’s heroine, Meagan Roberts grows into a believable young woman, much of that growth (as with most of us) rooted in pain and sorrow. I was sorry to say good-bye to her and all of the Great Horses that accompanied her on her wild journey through time.
Much of Into the Dark takes place in Texas and Kentucky just as America’s brutal Civil War is heating up. When Royce takes time with his characters, as he did in this section, they are infused with life. When Meagan has to choose between her Great Horse and her new-found love, the reader will understand and share in that agonizing decision.
I was especially fond of the two 20th Century vignettes about horses that I already knew and loved: Man O’War and the British pony, Stroller who earned (along with his rider) a silver medal in the 1968 Olympics. The section on Man O’War reminded me very much of Walter Farley’s book about this great Thoroughbred, who was portrayed by both authors as a fiery, almost mythological beast that burned his way down the race track and into our dreams. On the other hand, the section on Stroller’s competition in the 1968 team jumping event almost broke my heart. The author draws on his own deep knowledge of equestrian sport and of the equine heart to give his readers an understanding of just what Stroller accomplished. It reminded me of the race caller’s description of the great Zenyatta as she finished first in the Breeders’ Cup Classic: “This is one we’ll never forget!”
Good-bye, Meagan. This is one we’ll never forget.
Into the Dark is the 3rd book of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, an award winning time-travel adventure through history—on horseback! The story follows the journey of a modern horsewoman lost in the distant past.
The trilogy books have won multiple national awards including the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award for best Young Adult Fiction, and the 2010 Mom’s Choice Award for best family-friendly Young Adult Fantasy.
Further information about this unique ‘creative non-fiction’ novel can be found at TheGreatHorse.com.
ECLIPSED BY SHADOW is a rollicking historical action adventure through time. Awesome, right? It’s even young adult! And it incorporates a flying horse! What more could I need in life? I’m not exactly one for fantasy, but this book is heavy on the historical, and being a history and classical studies girl, I guess this just hit my complicated array of switches, levers and buttons.—Whitebrook Farm
The following is a review of Eclipsed by Shadow, Book #1 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy by Whitebrook Farm:
Eclipsed by Shadow | Trotting through History
Eclipsed by Shadow is the first book of the historical adventure trilogy, The Legend of the Great Horse, a journey through the ages when horses were everyday companions in work, war, sport and spectacle. The story is told through the eyes of a young woman, a horse-crazy teenager traveling through time with a knowledge of 21st Century horsemanship as her only defense.
So I know what you’re thinking, and it’s probably “her horsemanship had better be fantastic.” Or maybe that was just me?
Eclipsed by Shadow is a rollicking historical action adventure through time. Awesome, right? It’s even young adult! And it incorporates a flying horse! What more could I need in life? I’m not exactly one for fantasy, but this book is heavy on the historical, and being a history and classical studies girl, I guess this just hit my complicated array of switches, levers and buttons.
