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Horses of the Moon #1
Dragons in the Earth
Dragons sleep in the earth here.
Claire is barely scraping a living on her friend’s ranch near Tucson, Arizona. She looks after the long-abandoned horse facility, makes occasional attempts to resuscitate her academic career, and pays the bills, more or less, with her skills as an animal communicator. Those skills don’t always let her say the tactful thing to the human with the checkbook. Sometimes she has to tell the truth.
After a particularly unfortunate session, Claire gets one last chance to keep her home and her livelihood. A small herd of horses needs a place to live and a person to care for them.
But these are no ordinary horses. They represent an old, old breed, the rarest in the world, and they protect an ancient and terrible secret. And something is hunting them.
The ranch is a perfect sanctuary. The powers that live on and under and above it can protect the horses—if Claire can control them. But first she has to control her own abilities, and learn to believe in herself.
Claire is barely scraping a living on her friend’s ranch near Tucson, Arizona. She looks after the long-abandoned horse facility, makes occasional attempts to resuscitate her academic career, and pays the bills, more or less, with her skills as an animal communicator. Those skills don’t always let her say the tactful thing to the human with the checkbook. Sometimes she has to tell the truth.
After a particularly unfortunate session, Claire gets one last chance to keep her home and her livelihood. A small herd of horses needs a place to live and a person to care for them.
But these are no ordinary horses. They represent an old, old breed, the rarest in the world, and they protect an ancient and terrible secret. And something is hunting them.
The ranch is a perfect sanctuary. The powers that live on and under and above it can protect the horses—if Claire can control them. But first she has to control her own abilities, and learn to believe in herself.
180 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2016
9 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Judith Tarr
120 books419 followersAKA Caitlin Brennan, Kathleen Bryan.
Judith Tarr (born 1955) is an American author, best known for her fantasy books. She received her B.A. in Latin and English from Mount Holyoke College in 1976, and has an M.A. in Classics from Cambridge University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University. She taught Latin and writing at Wesleyan University from 1988-1992, and taught at the Clarion science-fiction-writing workshops in 1996 and 1999.
She raises and trains Lipizzan horses at Dancing Horse Farm, her home in Vail, Arizona. The romantic fantasies that she writes under the name Caitlin Brennan feature dancing horses modeled on those that she raises.
Judith Tarr (born 1955) is an American author, best known for her fantasy books. She received her B.A. in Latin and English from Mount Holyoke College in 1976, and has an M.A. in Classics from Cambridge University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University. She taught Latin and writing at Wesleyan University from 1988-1992, and taught at the Clarion science-fiction-writing workshops in 1996 and 1999.
She raises and trains Lipizzan horses at Dancing Horse Farm, her home in Vail, Arizona. The romantic fantasies that she writes under the name Caitlin Brennan feature dancing horses modeled on those that she raises.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
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October 14, 2017This one drew me right in. Claire is a psychic, living the horse life caretaking a desert ranch, and her sense of place, of isolation and connection, is conjured in vivid detail in contrast to a tangential pink poodle. A rather more complicated set of animals come next into Claire's life, which brings me to the reflection that when people pay beyond generously for something, it usually means going well beyond in return.
Short, enjoyable.
Short, enjoyable.
June 5, 2025
It is really hard to classify this one, so I'm just going with fantasy. There's nothing UF about it, despite it being set in the modern day world we know - it's more mythic and lyrical.
First, let me clarify one important thing for all the dragon addicts out there: there aren't really dragons in this book. I mean, we get hints of them, in that aforementioned mythic and lyrical way, but the book isn't about them. It's kind of a slice of life following our FMC, who has an interesting gift - she can hear animals. Her gift is a little more broad than that, because walking on the land of her ranch outside Tucson, she can feel all the living things on the land with her, as well as the ghosts of things that used to live on the land. Because of that, as you can imagine, she can't stand living in cities. She's happy mostly withdrawn from the world, on her ranch on the old native land, with her animals, and doing the occasional animal whisperer job for people who hear about her.
And someone comes to her wanting her to care for a group of extremely special horses. That's the core of what the book is about - her meeting them, discovering what they are, learning to work with them, keeping them safe from what hunts them.
It's honestly lovely, and I'm sad that despite the way it sort of indicates that it is a series, there's not more. You're not left hanging - she solves the problem in this book - but I'd just like more. Oh well.
First, let me clarify one important thing for all the dragon addicts out there: there aren't really dragons in this book. I mean, we get hints of them, in that aforementioned mythic and lyrical way, but the book isn't about them. It's kind of a slice of life following our FMC, who has an interesting gift - she can hear animals. Her gift is a little more broad than that, because walking on the land of her ranch outside Tucson, she can feel all the living things on the land with her, as well as the ghosts of things that used to live on the land. Because of that, as you can imagine, she can't stand living in cities. She's happy mostly withdrawn from the world, on her ranch on the old native land, with her animals, and doing the occasional animal whisperer job for people who hear about her.
And someone comes to her wanting her to care for a group of extremely special horses. That's the core of what the book is about - her meeting them, discovering what they are, learning to work with them, keeping them safe from what hunts them.
It's honestly lovely, and I'm sad that despite the way it sort of indicates that it is a series, there's not more. You're not left hanging - she solves the problem in this book - but I'd just like more. Oh well.
Want to read
September 21, 2016This one looks likely to press some of my story buttons in the best way.
May 26, 2020
A fantasy book centering on horses. It was part of the Weird Western Storybundle I bought in 2016.
Claire Bernardi calls herself a “failed academic”; she has a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies but hasn’t gotten an academic job nor been able to write anything for a while. Instead, she lives on her friend Dorrie’s half-abandoned horse farm in Arizona with two horses, a mule, and cats. She uses her psychic ability to communicate with animals to get a small amount of money. However, even that is dwindling because the owners’ of the animals aren’t happy when she honestly tells them what their animals feel. Claire can also sense all sorts of spirits and can’t live long-term in a town.
But everything changes when Dorrie sends two clients to the ranch. They want Claire to look after their herd of six mares and a stallion. Claire is suspicious because they offer her more money for a month than she should get in a year. But she agrees. Of course, things aren’t as they seem.
This is a lovely story about horses and nature spirits with some mythology thrown in. Claire can sense spirits in the earth, water, and air, all around her. She’s a middle-aged woman which was great. She considers herself a loner but she gets along well with her best friend Dorrie (who is a TV-series writer/creator) and Emma who helps her around the ranch. Claire doesn’t have much confidence in herself or her abilities.
The horses are the stars of the book. Claire has an ancient mare Aziza and a spirited gelding Ricky but the new horses steal the show. Tarr has horses and understands them very well, which shows in the writing. Also, the gorgeous Arizonan desert is very much part of the book.
This isn’t an adventure book. The plot doesn’t really kick in until very late.
Claire Bernardi calls herself a “failed academic”; she has a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies but hasn’t gotten an academic job nor been able to write anything for a while. Instead, she lives on her friend Dorrie’s half-abandoned horse farm in Arizona with two horses, a mule, and cats. She uses her psychic ability to communicate with animals to get a small amount of money. However, even that is dwindling because the owners’ of the animals aren’t happy when she honestly tells them what their animals feel. Claire can also sense all sorts of spirits and can’t live long-term in a town.
But everything changes when Dorrie sends two clients to the ranch. They want Claire to look after their herd of six mares and a stallion. Claire is suspicious because they offer her more money for a month than she should get in a year. But she agrees. Of course, things aren’t as they seem.
This is a lovely story about horses and nature spirits with some mythology thrown in. Claire can sense spirits in the earth, water, and air, all around her. She’s a middle-aged woman which was great. She considers herself a loner but she gets along well with her best friend Dorrie (who is a TV-series writer/creator) and Emma who helps her around the ranch. Claire doesn’t have much confidence in herself or her abilities.
The horses are the stars of the book. Claire has an ancient mare Aziza and a spirited gelding Ricky but the new horses steal the show. Tarr has horses and understands them very well, which shows in the writing. Also, the gorgeous Arizonan desert is very much part of the book.
This isn’t an adventure book. The plot doesn’t really kick in until very late.
April 8, 2025
Recommended for anyone who likes horses, Odysseo by Cavalia, the beauty of the American Southwest, or 'old one' dragons who protect the mountains. A modern follow-on of Judith Tarr's 'Epona' series which tells the story of horse deities through the ages and how they interact with humans, this story very subtly brings the battle of gods & goddesses to modern times. Our reluctant protagonist is gifted (or cursed?) with the ability to see and feel spirits of all kinds who joins with her circle of friends with various gifts to defend her territory and those within it. The The author brings in spirituality of all kinds, and refers to the interesting intersection of various ways of seeing the world and it's magic.
February 21, 2021
Totally enjoyed Dragons in the Earth and read it twice, getting something different out of it each time. Claire is an interesting character, a psychic in tune with nature and can talk to animals, sense them everywhere to the extent she can sense the dragons asleep in the earth. Mix in horses, the supernatural, Gods and Goddesses, a mysterious invisible presence gliding and hunting over the land, and you have the makings for a intriguing story. I just wish there was a sequel because I enjoyed all the characters and the personalities of the horses surrounding Claire.
September 19, 2022
A girl who can communicate with animals, a herd of horses she is reasonable for, AND dragons?? It’s basically everything I could want, wrapped up in one book - I felt as though it was written just for me. The writing is GOOD too - this was my first encounter with Judith Tarr but I will be seeking out more of her books for sure.
May 18, 2024
insane nonsense. judith tarr is literally the most horsegirl to ever horsegirl in the history of the world. what if the horse that you tamed that only let you ride it was an ancient sumerian god and also turned into a sexy man???
December 29, 2025
This was a good start to a series. It never continued, but it also works as a standalone.
March 24, 2020
Claire is a down-on-her luck former academic with the ability to talk to animals that works on a horse ranch in the Arizona desert. A pair of strangers contacts her with a too-good-to-be-true proposal: watch over a herd of beautiful horses and see to their every need, in exchange for a massive salary, no strings attached. She warily accepts and subsequently falls in love with the horses, but begins to suspect that there's more to them than meets the eye. Throw in Ancient Mesopotamian mythology and a shadowy global corporation, and all bets are off.
This was a lovely, gentle read. Claire is a great protagonist: a bit cranky, not so big a fan of humans, and old enough to have aches and pains. Even better were the horses. You can tell Tarr knows and loves horses (she raises and trains Lipizzan horses herself) which is a refreshing antidote to ye fantasy horse machines that dutifully gallop for 9 hours a day and don't eat. All the horses have personalities and temperaments, and the deep and abiding love both Claire and Tarr feel for the horses really shines through. This is also a paean to rural Arizona and the desert, so if that's a setting you enjoy you'll probably like this. The plot takes back-seat to the setting; the focus of the narrative is more on the day to day rhythm of the barn, and I think it was because of this and the relative shortness of the story that the climax felt a bit rushed to me, but I found I really didn't mind.
This was a lovely, gentle read. Claire is a great protagonist: a bit cranky, not so big a fan of humans, and old enough to have aches and pains. Even better were the horses. You can tell Tarr knows and loves horses (she raises and trains Lipizzan horses herself) which is a refreshing antidote to ye fantasy horse machines that dutifully gallop for 9 hours a day and don't eat. All the horses have personalities and temperaments, and the deep and abiding love both Claire and Tarr feel for the horses really shines through. This is also a paean to rural Arizona and the desert, so if that's a setting you enjoy you'll probably like this. The plot takes back-seat to the setting; the focus of the narrative is more on the day to day rhythm of the barn, and I think it was because of this and the relative shortness of the story that the climax felt a bit rushed to me, but I found I really didn't mind.
September 21, 2016
This is one of those books where I feel like I have to say first: please don't judge it by the cover! Honestly, I would never have picked it up based on that cover if I hadn't known Tarr's work already, but I loooooove Judith Tarr's historical fantasy novels, so I backed the Kickstarter for this book and I'm so glad I did - I loooooved the advance copy that I got to read!
It's a really lovely short contemporary fantasy novel about horses and magic and a woman finding her own power. It's beautifully written, I loved the cranky heroine, and the magic itself is just fabulous. I've never been a particularly horsey person, but I LOVED the horses in this story, and I can't wait to read the next Horses of the Moon story! I really want to know what happens next.
It's a really lovely short contemporary fantasy novel about horses and magic and a woman finding her own power. It's beautifully written, I loved the cranky heroine, and the magic itself is just fabulous. I've never been a particularly horsey person, but I LOVED the horses in this story, and I can't wait to read the next Horses of the Moon story! I really want to know what happens next.
January 15, 2018
Interim four stars until I finish it. I CAN put it down when I drop my iPad and fall asleep around 6AM while trying to read the infamous "one more chapter".
"Not really a spoiler": The more you've been around horses and their humans, the more you'll recognize them and yourself in funny, maddening, or just plain weird situations. Throw in cats for that extra zest of verisimilitude. Epona will protect you, although your sanity my be too far gone even for a horse goddess. In that case, she'll send you a wise old mare to watch over you like a "special needs" youngster.
Oh, and she does not "do" swamp coolers or pickup trucks, so save those prayer for some other deity.
"Not really a spoiler": The more you've been around horses and their humans, the more you'll recognize them and yourself in funny, maddening, or just plain weird situations. Throw in cats for that extra zest of verisimilitude. Epona will protect you, although your sanity my be too far gone even for a horse goddess. In that case, she'll send you a wise old mare to watch over you like a "special needs" youngster.
Oh, and she does not "do" swamp coolers or pickup trucks, so save those prayer for some other deity.
August 29, 2021
Claire is magical but lost in this wonderful desert fantasy
I rarely find a book that I can't put down but Judith Tarr's real characters and mythical horses grounded in history, archaeology and indigenous beliefs sucked me into the protagonist's life. Claire's struggle to accept herself and her paranormal abilities to read nature is grounded in the epics of Gilgemesh and Arizona of the 21st century. It was over too soon. I was breathless and with Claire and those horses. This was written in 2016. I hope there's more because I want to grow with Claire, Emma, Caro and those horses.
I rarely find a book that I can't put down but Judith Tarr's real characters and mythical horses grounded in history, archaeology and indigenous beliefs sucked me into the protagonist's life. Claire's struggle to accept herself and her paranormal abilities to read nature is grounded in the epics of Gilgemesh and Arizona of the 21st century. It was over too soon. I was breathless and with Claire and those horses. This was written in 2016. I hope there's more because I want to grow with Claire, Emma, Caro and those horses.
September 26, 2016
I loved this book to pieces. Tarr does a brilliant job of illuminating the crazy soulessness of cookie-cutter shopping malls, highways, and cities, and puts it in sharp contrast to the deep souls of the wild places. She knows the heart of the horse, and brings an ancient conflict to life in the heart of a woman who will do everything to protect horses.
August 25, 2023
Horses, dragons, ancient myths of gods and goddesses and more than one kind of magic are at the heart of this novel. Accepting the dream job of taking care of beautiful horses in her own ranch turns into a dangerous situation for Claire and her community, but is also offers quite a few incredible opportunities.
September 22, 2016
A lovely book. Contemporary fantasy set in the desert around Tucson, Arizona, dipping back into ancient history and prehistory. Plus horses; horse-lovers will especially enjoy this book.
September 24, 2016
Really enjoyed this book. I was a Kickstarter supporter. The ideas behind it are fascinating, and the history Tarr proposes will bring me back for more.
March 7, 2020
On to the next?
Interesting. I am hoping the next book has been written!
I love Tarr and want more!
I conduct myself in patience.😊
Interesting. I am hoping the next book has been written!
I love Tarr and want more!
I conduct myself in patience.😊
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews