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Thoroughbred #36
Without Wonder
Is history repeating itself? Christina Reese has heard the story many times--Wonder was a tiny, sickly foal no one thought was worth saving. No one but Christina's mother, Ashleigh. With Ashleigh's love and hard work, Wonder went on the win the Kentucky Derby. Now, when Wonder's last foal is born under tragic circumstances, there's little hope for her baby colt. Only Christina can see that the colt is special, just like his mother was. But will she get a chance to prove it? Read the Wonder's Legacy trilogy from Thoroughbred and experience the powerful bond between a determined girl and a very special colt. If you love horses, then you'll love these books!
176 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 4, 2013
This book was one that I read when I was 9 and was trying not to cry while doing so. I do agree that the first books were the best, and undoubtedly they are because Joanna Campbell wrote those. With a few exceptions, I feel like the different author changes in the series didn't help it, but I still enjoyed their writing. All the different authors contributing to it made the characters have complete personality changes and at one point there is a book completely outside of Ashleigh, Samantha, and the people you came to the series to learn about. I totally went off on a tangent there... oh well. Back to this book.
I don't think this is one you should skip. Now, I will say that after reading it at 9 I didn't reread it until I was 12 because it was so sad, but it is needed. I mean, the horse we've watched Ashleigh raise since the day she was born is going away... for good... *sniffle*.
A few things I never understood about this book:
I can understand Ashleigh feeling slightly or even somewhat upset about breeding Wonder again, but quite honestly Wonder has been since book 5 a broodmare. It also mentioned in another book when she miscarries a foal that Wonder is happiest with a foal at her side. Ashleigh shouldn't be inwardly killing herself because she was "selfish" and "abusing her best friend" by breeding Wonder again.
Since when did Ashleigh become so caught up with herself that she'd make Star leave Whitebrook?! WHY!? Just... WHHHYYYYYYY!? The REAL Ashleigh would've been upset, but she'd live with it. What gets me even more, is that in future books she Here you can witness firsthand one of Ashleigh's personality changes.
Something to note for later books:
If you haven't read past this point, I will let you know that the rest of the series pretty much revolves around Star. I mean... seriously. Half the series is about Star's life as a racehorse. I don't mind that, but I do wish the first horse we started with *cough* Wonder *cough* was in there longer.
So, yes, I absolutely recommend this book. And while I've said everything I don't like about it, everything I do is a sad, muddled mess. This is a book where I go into it knowing it'll be sad and I love it because it is sad and reminiscent and I want to feel that. So, to sum this all up:
Go. Read. It.
I don't think this is one you should skip. Now, I will say that after reading it at 9 I didn't reread it until I was 12 because it was so sad, but it is needed. I mean, the horse we've watched Ashleigh raise since the day she was born is going away... for good... *sniffle*.
A few things I never understood about this book:
I can understand Ashleigh feeling slightly or even somewhat upset about breeding Wonder again, but quite honestly Wonder has been since book 5 a broodmare. It also mentioned in another book when she miscarries a foal that Wonder is happiest with a foal at her side. Ashleigh shouldn't be inwardly killing herself because she was "selfish" and "abusing her best friend" by breeding Wonder again.
Since when did Ashleigh become so caught up with herself that she'd make Star leave Whitebrook?! WHY!? Just... WHHHYYYYYYY!? The REAL Ashleigh would've been upset, but she'd live with it. What gets me even more, is that in future books she Here you can witness firsthand one of Ashleigh's personality changes.
Something to note for later books:
If you haven't read past this point, I will let you know that the rest of the series pretty much revolves around Star. I mean... seriously. Half the series is about Star's life as a racehorse. I don't mind that, but I do wish the first horse we started with *cough* Wonder *cough* was in there longer.
So, yes, I absolutely recommend this book. And while I've said everything I don't like about it, everything I do is a sad, muddled mess. This is a book where I go into it knowing it'll be sad and I love it because it is sad and reminiscent and I want to feel that. So, to sum this all up:
Go. Read. It.
June 2, 2008
I thought I'd be more emotional at the loss of Wonder (since she was the horse that started the entire Thoroughbred series). But I think because the series has been ghostwritten so poorly in the later books, this did not satisfy me. I might have been better off skipping books 24-35.
November 21, 2024
This isn't a book review. It's an obituary.
Out of the 75 or so books in the Thoroughbred series, only three are vital. You only need to read these three to get the whole series:
* Book 1, A Horse Called Wonder
* Book 24, The Horse of Her Dreams
* Book 36, Without Wonder
All of the other books in the series are either superfluous or just commentary on these three books.
Now, there is an unspoken rule in kids' series featuring horses -- never kill off the star horse. Just imagine Walter Farley's The Black Stallion series where the Black is killed off halfway through. Not a happy thought experiment, is it?
And yet, that's exactly what HarperCollins decided to do to the star of their internationally bestselling series. They decided Wonder had to die at either age 27 or 28 due to complications from foaling. There was absolutely no need to kill her off. Thoroughbred mares have been known to successfully foal at that age. Their average age is 30, with the oldest Thoroughbred reaching 42. Wonder had already been relegated to the background since book 5.
According to Wikipedia, HarperCollins decided to shift the series' focus back to racing, but then there was the "citation needed" note at the end of that unhelpful sentence. The series had never completely departed racing. Melanie's books were focused on racing, with Christina on eventing. With Christina now focused on Star (and thus, racing), her hair color also magically changed from blond to brunette.
In book 24, we entered an alternate universe from the one established in the previous books. In this book, we enter an alternative universe to the alternative universe of books 24 - 35.
With Wonder's death, the series effectively died. The rest of the books are the decaying of the corpse. The series changes its bizarre white running horse silhouette to that of the Breyer model Cigar -- and getting that copyright must've cost HarperCollins a fortune. Money that could've better gone to hiring better ghostwriters or perhaps an editor that gave a damn.
Speaking of ghostwriters, Wikipedia notes that the author of Wonder's murder, Brooke James, is a pen name. Well, no kidding. Almost all of the Thoroughbred writers used pen names, with the only known exception of Lois Szymanski. This would be the only book credited by "Brooke James." The book is very much in the style as almost all of the other writers, but I've got a feeling she was Karle Dickerson. I say that because she wrote a non-Thoroughbred book called The Forgotten Filly, which has a suspiciously similar plot to this one.
Star, the supposedly killer foal, is born with a white marking that is described as looking like a rough heart. So, of course, Christina names him Star. Because stars and hearts look exactly alike. I think that's supposed to be Star on the cover, but who the mare is, who knows? Star never got a foster mother, so the cover image never happens in the book.
This is the first in a trilogy called Wonder's Legacy. That also just happens to be the name of Wonder's previous foal, given away in book 24. The horse is not mentioned in the three books. He's not mentioned again for another 20 books or so. Yet another sign that we've entered The Lack of Wonder Zone.
With a book on the most significant death in the series, you think this would be a good time to discuss the topic of grief. You'd think wrong. Ashleigh's profound guilt and grief is not addressed other than everyone being bothered by it ... but ignoring it.
Ashleigh to Ashleigh, dust to dust.
Out of the 75 or so books in the Thoroughbred series, only three are vital. You only need to read these three to get the whole series:
* Book 1, A Horse Called Wonder
* Book 24, The Horse of Her Dreams
* Book 36, Without Wonder
All of the other books in the series are either superfluous or just commentary on these three books.
Now, there is an unspoken rule in kids' series featuring horses -- never kill off the star horse. Just imagine Walter Farley's The Black Stallion series where the Black is killed off halfway through. Not a happy thought experiment, is it?
And yet, that's exactly what HarperCollins decided to do to the star of their internationally bestselling series. They decided Wonder had to die at either age 27 or 28 due to complications from foaling. There was absolutely no need to kill her off. Thoroughbred mares have been known to successfully foal at that age. Their average age is 30, with the oldest Thoroughbred reaching 42. Wonder had already been relegated to the background since book 5.
According to Wikipedia, HarperCollins decided to shift the series' focus back to racing, but then there was the "citation needed" note at the end of that unhelpful sentence. The series had never completely departed racing. Melanie's books were focused on racing, with Christina on eventing. With Christina now focused on Star (and thus, racing), her hair color also magically changed from blond to brunette.
In book 24, we entered an alternate universe from the one established in the previous books. In this book, we enter an alternative universe to the alternative universe of books 24 - 35.
With Wonder's death, the series effectively died. The rest of the books are the decaying of the corpse. The series changes its bizarre white running horse silhouette to that of the Breyer model Cigar -- and getting that copyright must've cost HarperCollins a fortune. Money that could've better gone to hiring better ghostwriters or perhaps an editor that gave a damn.
Speaking of ghostwriters, Wikipedia notes that the author of Wonder's murder, Brooke James, is a pen name. Well, no kidding. Almost all of the Thoroughbred writers used pen names, with the only known exception of Lois Szymanski. This would be the only book credited by "Brooke James." The book is very much in the style as almost all of the other writers, but I've got a feeling she was Karle Dickerson. I say that because she wrote a non-Thoroughbred book called The Forgotten Filly, which has a suspiciously similar plot to this one.
Star, the supposedly killer foal, is born with a white marking that is described as looking like a rough heart. So, of course, Christina names him Star. Because stars and hearts look exactly alike. I think that's supposed to be Star on the cover, but who the mare is, who knows? Star never got a foster mother, so the cover image never happens in the book.
This is the first in a trilogy called Wonder's Legacy. That also just happens to be the name of Wonder's previous foal, given away in book 24. The horse is not mentioned in the three books. He's not mentioned again for another 20 books or so. Yet another sign that we've entered The Lack of Wonder Zone.
With a book on the most significant death in the series, you think this would be a good time to discuss the topic of grief. You'd think wrong. Ashleigh's profound guilt and grief is not addressed other than everyone being bothered by it ... but ignoring it.
Ashleigh to Ashleigh, dust to dust.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2019
I enjoyed reading about Christina's relationship with Wonders Star. I have been reading these books in no particular order because I'm missing books. So knowing how the rest of the series turns out I was really interested in learning about the beginning of there relationship.
Since I know about Ashleigh's relationship with Wonder I loved how Christina gets to have a bond with Wonder's last foal.
Though it is sad that Wonder had to die in this book. I really felt for Ashleigh and understood why she didn't like Star. It was a sad book, but still very good.
Since I know about Ashleigh's relationship with Wonder I loved how Christina gets to have a bond with Wonder's last foal.
Though it is sad that Wonder had to die in this book. I really felt for Ashleigh and understood why she didn't like Star. It was a sad book, but still very good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2023
if you don't cry you are a psychopath
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February 14, 2025The saddest in the series, as though the title didn’t already give it away.
October 24, 2025
Childhood favourite series, giving all four stars unless it was a favourite. This one made me cry.
June 28, 2010
It would have gotten 4 or more if it hadn't made me cry. It was good, but lost points for the sad factor. Also, lost points for the fact that Wonder has not been mentioned for quite some time and suddenly appears again just to get killed off. She started the series!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews