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Black Stallion Returns #1
The Young Black Stallion
Even as a young colt in the Arabian highlands, the Black was an extraordinarily strong and beautiful horse--and an alluring target for devious horse thieves. This story takes readers back to the Black's early days, chronicling the events that would alter his destiny forever.
160 pages, Paperback
First published November 29, 1989
25 people are currently reading
1391 people want to read
About the author
Walter Farley
169 books1,035 followersWalter Farley's love for horses began when he was a small boy living in Syracuse, New York, and continued as he grew up in New York City, where his family moved. Young Walter never owned a horse. But unlike most city children, he had little trouble gaining firsthand experience with horses-his uncle was a professional horseman, and Walter spent much of his time at the stables with him.
"He wasn't the most successful trainer of race horses," Mr. Farley recalled, "and in a way I profited by it. He switched from runners to jumpers to show horses to trotters and pacers, then back to runners again. Consequently, I received a good background in different kinds of horse training and the people associated with each."
Walter Farley began to write his first book, THE BLACK STALLION, while he was a student at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School and Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, and
finished it while he was an undergraduate at Columbia University. It was published by Random House when he was 26. He used his first advance to go traveling and after that hardly stopped longer than it took him to write another book. He traveled and lived in Mexico, Hawaii, the South Seas, most of the South American countries, the Caribbean Islands, and Europe.
The appearance of THE BLACK STALLION in 1941 was hailed by enthusiastic boys and girls all over the country. An avalanche of mail urged Mr. Farley to write more about Alec Ramsey and the Black. But World War II intervened. Mr. Farley went into the US Army, where he spent the next five years. Most of the time he was assigned to Yank, the army weekly magazine, and he was also trained in the Fourth Armored Division.
After the war Walter Farley resumed the adventures of Alec and the Black with THE BLACK STALLION RETURNS. This was followed by SON OF THE BLACK STALLION. Then Mr. Farley tried his hand at a story about a new boy, Steve Duncan, and a new horse, Flame, in THE ISLAND STALLION. Mr. Farley's readers were just as delighted with this book as his others.
Mr. Farley went on to write many more stories about the two stallions, and about other horses as well. Children of all ages have found Farley titles to enjoy, since many of the later stories were written for Mr. Farley's own children when they were too young to read his Stallion novels. And older readers and adults have been gripped by his fictionalized biography of America's greatest Thoroughbred, Man O'War. Walter Farley's titles reached a grand total of 34. The 21 Black Stallion and Island Stallion stories are still in print and selling steadily. His readers respond with passion, writing him thousands of letters and emails every year. In May 1949, the first Black Stallion Club was founded, in Kentucky. Mr. Farley designed a membership button for it; the button was in constant demand among his readers for years. The Black Stallion books were so popular in the late 1940s and '50s that they York Times annual list of best-selling children's books. Three nationwide Black Stallion contests were held. Walter Farley's books have been published abroad in more than 20 countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Israel, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaya, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as in the United States and Canada.
All his life Walter Farley remained a keen spectator of the racing scene, and he enjoyed nothing more than hobnobbing with horse trainers and other professional horsemen. It is thanks to these people that his books are so full of authentic details of raising and training horses. When not busy working or traveling, Mr. Farley liked to ride dressage and high school Lippizaner horses. He also sailed and sometimes raced his 35-foot auxiliary sloop "Circe."
Mr. Farley and his wife Rosemary, had four children: Pam, Alice, Steve, and Tim, whom they raised on a farm in Pennsylvania and in a beach house in Florida. In addit
"He wasn't the most successful trainer of race horses," Mr. Farley recalled, "and in a way I profited by it. He switched from runners to jumpers to show horses to trotters and pacers, then back to runners again. Consequently, I received a good background in different kinds of horse training and the people associated with each."
Walter Farley began to write his first book, THE BLACK STALLION, while he was a student at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School and Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, and
finished it while he was an undergraduate at Columbia University. It was published by Random House when he was 26. He used his first advance to go traveling and after that hardly stopped longer than it took him to write another book. He traveled and lived in Mexico, Hawaii, the South Seas, most of the South American countries, the Caribbean Islands, and Europe.
The appearance of THE BLACK STALLION in 1941 was hailed by enthusiastic boys and girls all over the country. An avalanche of mail urged Mr. Farley to write more about Alec Ramsey and the Black. But World War II intervened. Mr. Farley went into the US Army, where he spent the next five years. Most of the time he was assigned to Yank, the army weekly magazine, and he was also trained in the Fourth Armored Division.
After the war Walter Farley resumed the adventures of Alec and the Black with THE BLACK STALLION RETURNS. This was followed by SON OF THE BLACK STALLION. Then Mr. Farley tried his hand at a story about a new boy, Steve Duncan, and a new horse, Flame, in THE ISLAND STALLION. Mr. Farley's readers were just as delighted with this book as his others.
Mr. Farley went on to write many more stories about the two stallions, and about other horses as well. Children of all ages have found Farley titles to enjoy, since many of the later stories were written for Mr. Farley's own children when they were too young to read his Stallion novels. And older readers and adults have been gripped by his fictionalized biography of America's greatest Thoroughbred, Man O'War. Walter Farley's titles reached a grand total of 34. The 21 Black Stallion and Island Stallion stories are still in print and selling steadily. His readers respond with passion, writing him thousands of letters and emails every year. In May 1949, the first Black Stallion Club was founded, in Kentucky. Mr. Farley designed a membership button for it; the button was in constant demand among his readers for years. The Black Stallion books were so popular in the late 1940s and '50s that they York Times annual list of best-selling children's books. Three nationwide Black Stallion contests were held. Walter Farley's books have been published abroad in more than 20 countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Israel, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaya, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as in the United States and Canada.
All his life Walter Farley remained a keen spectator of the racing scene, and he enjoyed nothing more than hobnobbing with horse trainers and other professional horsemen. It is thanks to these people that his books are so full of authentic details of raising and training horses. When not busy working or traveling, Mr. Farley liked to ride dressage and high school Lippizaner horses. He also sailed and sometimes raced his 35-foot auxiliary sloop "Circe."
Mr. Farley and his wife Rosemary, had four children: Pam, Alice, Steve, and Tim, whom they raised on a farm in Pennsylvania and in a beach house in Florida. In addit
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
November 21, 2015
'One of these things is not like the other things, one of these things is just not right....'
This book was about a million times better than the movie, but that isn't hard, so we'll just throw that comparison out the window.
When it tries to stand on its own four legs, I have to say, this book...falls down. It just doesn't work.
First of all, Young Black Stallion suffers from that dreaded horror that all prequels suffer from, but further from the problem that Farley had already filled in many of the blanks of the Black's history in several of the sequels. So it isn't only trying to answer, 'How did we get here?', it's also attempting to retcon or avoid touching on facts already presented in the other 19 books.
The other, sort of 'behind the scenes' issue that hampered it was the fact that Walter Farley only wrote part of it. His son finished it for him, as his health was rapidly failing, and the book was finished, edited and published posthumously. Chris Farley isn't anywhere near the writer his father was, and it shows. The reading level takes a sharp fall from the previous books.
The retcon is that we find out that the Black's sire, who we spent a whole book chasing and who ended up dead anyway, wasn't actually his sire, some kind of mystical horse thing did, explaining his perfection and superpowers. Or something.
We also close the open ending of The Black Stallion Legend by showing Alec and the Black alive, and on their way home.
The Black doesn't stay with his human master long, and he goes on a series of mostly unrelated adventures, strung together only by a thief character who becomes his companion for a while. This is all adventure for the sake of adventure, and it's pretty boring. You know the Black will survive all of it (unless he dies and the aliens have to come resurrect him) because this is a prequel, and like all prequels, there's a lack of dramatic tension. We know the Black is going to make it through all right, because if he didn't, then he wouldn't be around to meet Alec and become a famous racehorse.
Also, much like with The Black Stallion and the Girl, the thief companion is just irritating. Pam was irritating in a different way, I'll grant you, but the thief was on a level with her anyway. That made our only human connection to the Black's adventures unengaging, which didn't help with the adventures being boring.
All in all, you can read this if you want to read the whole series (that's why I read it), but it really isn't interesting. It's not a good book on its own, so it's really more of a time-waster than anything.
It ends with the Black getting on the ship while Alec looks on, and the thief guy notes as that the gulls don't follow the ship out to sea.
This book was about a million times better than the movie, but that isn't hard, so we'll just throw that comparison out the window.
When it tries to stand on its own four legs, I have to say, this book...falls down. It just doesn't work.
First of all, Young Black Stallion suffers from that dreaded horror that all prequels suffer from, but further from the problem that Farley had already filled in many of the blanks of the Black's history in several of the sequels. So it isn't only trying to answer, 'How did we get here?', it's also attempting to retcon or avoid touching on facts already presented in the other 19 books.
The other, sort of 'behind the scenes' issue that hampered it was the fact that Walter Farley only wrote part of it. His son finished it for him, as his health was rapidly failing, and the book was finished, edited and published posthumously. Chris Farley isn't anywhere near the writer his father was, and it shows. The reading level takes a sharp fall from the previous books.
The retcon is that we find out that the Black's sire, who we spent a whole book chasing and who ended up dead anyway, wasn't actually his sire, some kind of mystical horse thing did, explaining his perfection and superpowers. Or something.
We also close the open ending of The Black Stallion Legend by showing Alec and the Black alive, and on their way home.
The Black doesn't stay with his human master long, and he goes on a series of mostly unrelated adventures, strung together only by a thief character who becomes his companion for a while. This is all adventure for the sake of adventure, and it's pretty boring. You know the Black will survive all of it (unless he dies and the aliens have to come resurrect him) because this is a prequel, and like all prequels, there's a lack of dramatic tension. We know the Black is going to make it through all right, because if he didn't, then he wouldn't be around to meet Alec and become a famous racehorse.
Also, much like with The Black Stallion and the Girl, the thief companion is just irritating. Pam was irritating in a different way, I'll grant you, but the thief was on a level with her anyway. That made our only human connection to the Black's adventures unengaging, which didn't help with the adventures being boring.
All in all, you can read this if you want to read the whole series (that's why I read it), but it really isn't interesting. It's not a good book on its own, so it's really more of a time-waster than anything.
It ends with the Black getting on the ship while Alec looks on, and the thief guy notes as that the gulls don't follow the ship out to sea.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2016
This was Walter Farley's swan song to the Black Stallion series. His son Steven helped him write it. The events consist of a flashback Alec has right after the cataclysmic events of The Black Stallion Legend. It's at turns poetic and then downright bizarre. A two year old colt being called a stallion? Hmmm.
Also, I liked the fact that The Black looked as if he killed someone right before he was forced onto the Drake. It made him a real bad-ass. Here this scene is rewritten to be more PC. Oh, come on. This book does however help explain why the Black didn't kill Alec while they were stranded on the island in The Black Stallion.
Also, I liked the fact that The Black looked as if he killed someone right before he was forced onto the Drake. It made him a real bad-ass. Here this scene is rewritten to be more PC. Oh, come on. This book does however help explain why the Black didn't kill Alec while they were stranded on the island in The Black Stallion.
Read
April 2, 2023I remember trying to read this when I was in sixth grade. Normally I loved books about horses, and I saw the movie, "The Young Black Stallion", loved it, and thought I would like the book version too. But the book was much different from the movie, and very early on, in early pages of the first chapter, there was a rather graphic description of a man (IIRC it was the black stallion's original owner) getting stabbed. I distinctly recall that it described the knife plunging into the man, even going so far as to describe how deep it plunged, paused on a rib, and kept going. As soon as I read that, I thought, "Nope", put the book down, and never picked it up again.
September 4, 2013
“Daring Plot to Kidnap the Black”
The father-son authors have produced an excellent story, recreating the youth of the Black until the time when Alex Ramsay witnesses him being loaded--with savage fury and hatred for all men—on board The Drake in a Middle Eastern port. The Prologue and Epilogue are set in the Arizona desert where Alec, now a young man, spends the night with his beloved stallion, grazing nearby. Contemplating the starry nocturnal sky Alec locates the Horsehead Nebula and seriously ponders the tantalyzing theory that his horse was sired by a celestial equine.
The main body of the book narrates the desperate attempts of various men who pursue ownership of Shetan—for breeding purposes. Shiekh Ishak hides the yearling in a remote mountain fastness, but a rival shiekh sends a bold band to steal him. A young hunter/tracker named Rashid, is selected to kill the venerable Old Herder, who suspects the colt’s semi divine pedigree. Abandoned to certain death by the rival sheikh Rashid spends months in the mountains, trailing Shetan and rescuing him from a ferocious leopard. But toleration of the man’s presence does not forge a true bond with the stallion. Rashid is haunted by the intermittent appearance of a trained peregrine falcon, which hovers over him like a future menace.
Rashid’s plans to capture and sell Shetan, to assure life of comfort, are foiled by the Ishak and the arrival of a resourceful English agent called The Cat. Who will ultimately triumph during this battle of wills? His breeder and rightful owner, the rival sheikh, Rashid with whom readers come to empathize, Mansoor the Cat, or the mighty stallion himself? Conflict is further enhanced from the obvious Man vs Man scenario to Man vs Nature, for the harsh mountains and
pitiless desert environments interject challenges unforeseen by mere human schemes. Characterized by minimal dialogue and elements of surrealism this book proves fascinating for readers of all ages.
(June 29, 2010. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
The father-son authors have produced an excellent story, recreating the youth of the Black until the time when Alex Ramsay witnesses him being loaded--with savage fury and hatred for all men—on board The Drake in a Middle Eastern port. The Prologue and Epilogue are set in the Arizona desert where Alec, now a young man, spends the night with his beloved stallion, grazing nearby. Contemplating the starry nocturnal sky Alec locates the Horsehead Nebula and seriously ponders the tantalyzing theory that his horse was sired by a celestial equine.
The main body of the book narrates the desperate attempts of various men who pursue ownership of Shetan—for breeding purposes. Shiekh Ishak hides the yearling in a remote mountain fastness, but a rival shiekh sends a bold band to steal him. A young hunter/tracker named Rashid, is selected to kill the venerable Old Herder, who suspects the colt’s semi divine pedigree. Abandoned to certain death by the rival sheikh Rashid spends months in the mountains, trailing Shetan and rescuing him from a ferocious leopard. But toleration of the man’s presence does not forge a true bond with the stallion. Rashid is haunted by the intermittent appearance of a trained peregrine falcon, which hovers over him like a future menace.
Rashid’s plans to capture and sell Shetan, to assure life of comfort, are foiled by the Ishak and the arrival of a resourceful English agent called The Cat. Who will ultimately triumph during this battle of wills? His breeder and rightful owner, the rival sheikh, Rashid with whom readers come to empathize, Mansoor the Cat, or the mighty stallion himself? Conflict is further enhanced from the obvious Man vs Man scenario to Man vs Nature, for the harsh mountains and
pitiless desert environments interject challenges unforeseen by mere human schemes. Characterized by minimal dialogue and elements of surrealism this book proves fascinating for readers of all ages.
(June 29, 2010. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
May 20, 2018
Despite the nice segue into the original book, this particular volume suffers from the same issues of many of the final stories of the Black Stallion.
I don't know if Walter Farley just got tired of writing the books, or if he was running out of topics, or if he suddenly got involved in the occult or apocalyptic reliogion or what, but the final books of the series included some weird stuff (ghosts, aliens, end of world mythology). This book picked right up where he left off.
The timeline also seemed a bit odd. In the first part of the book, the Black is a yearling out in a field with mares and other young horses, but by the time the book ends, he is a full grown stallion. There is never any real mention of his age when Alex first sees him, but I always assumed around 4-5. But even if his wanderings in the desert took several months, he shouldn't have been more than 2 by the end of this book.
Steven Farley may have talent as a writer (and certainly Walter Farley's early books proceed his talents as a story teller), but I feel as though picking up the Black's tale from where it left off, and then having this book as mostly a flashback, was a mistake.
I doubt I will attempt to read the remaining books. I think the Black's story should have been allowed to be ended long ago, before it got so weird.
I don't know if Walter Farley just got tired of writing the books, or if he was running out of topics, or if he suddenly got involved in the occult or apocalyptic reliogion or what, but the final books of the series included some weird stuff (ghosts, aliens, end of world mythology). This book picked right up where he left off.
The timeline also seemed a bit odd. In the first part of the book, the Black is a yearling out in a field with mares and other young horses, but by the time the book ends, he is a full grown stallion. There is never any real mention of his age when Alex first sees him, but I always assumed around 4-5. But even if his wanderings in the desert took several months, he shouldn't have been more than 2 by the end of this book.
Steven Farley may have talent as a writer (and certainly Walter Farley's early books proceed his talents as a story teller), but I feel as though picking up the Black's tale from where it left off, and then having this book as mostly a flashback, was a mistake.
I doubt I will attempt to read the remaining books. I think the Black's story should have been allowed to be ended long ago, before it got so weird.
November 16, 2025
The Young Black Stallion serves as a theoretical prequel to the renowned Black Stallion series, but it has a distinctly different feel from the original books. Though centered around the Black’s early life in the Arabian highlands, the story is surprisingly not about the horse so much as the tracker who ends up surviving alongside him in a Hatchet-like wilderness scenario.
The book blends mysticism, religion, and Middle Eastern cultural elements in a way that’s interesting but also somewhat uneven. While never outright bad, the narrative lacks a compelling emotional pull. There is curiosity about what comes next, but not enough momentum or urgency to make the book difficult to set aside. Readers might easily pause for a day—or a week—without feeling drawn back in.
The tracker and the villain are the most engaging characters, but even they fall short of creating a true investment in the outcome. There is one mild curse word, and the religious and mystical elements may be off-putting to some readers.
Overall, this book is best suited for dedicated fans of the Black Stallion universe who want to fill in every corner of the lore. For readers seeking a gripping horse story, survival tale, or coming-of-age adventure, there are stronger options available.
The book blends mysticism, religion, and Middle Eastern cultural elements in a way that’s interesting but also somewhat uneven. While never outright bad, the narrative lacks a compelling emotional pull. There is curiosity about what comes next, but not enough momentum or urgency to make the book difficult to set aside. Readers might easily pause for a day—or a week—without feeling drawn back in.
The tracker and the villain are the most engaging characters, but even they fall short of creating a true investment in the outcome. There is one mild curse word, and the religious and mystical elements may be off-putting to some readers.
Overall, this book is best suited for dedicated fans of the Black Stallion universe who want to fill in every corner of the lore. For readers seeking a gripping horse story, survival tale, or coming-of-age adventure, there are stronger options available.
January 2, 2020
A boring and uninteresting beginning... but that's all I can say.
Quite personally, there are few books that I have ever dropped without finishing. I hate leaving books unfinished -- it's like leaving a papercut un-bandaged. Or a cookie uneaten.
Even so, I found that the beginning of The Young Black Stallion was rather... unengaging. That seems to be the right word. It didn't grab my attention. So I kept reading, just to see if it picked up. It didn't.
About thirty pages in, I dropped it. I don't know if it got better past that point -- which is why I am unwilling to simply give it one star. Maybe it got better. Maybe it really was a three star book. Maybe four. Still, it didn't give me any incentive to keep reading -- and with two dozen more interesting books in my to-read pile, I didn't want to waste my valuable vacation time.
So, in the end: read at your own risk. I can only tell you that the first thirty pages merited two stars. If you're willing to give it a chance, go ahead! (And tell me what the rest is like while you are at it :) )
Quite personally, there are few books that I have ever dropped without finishing. I hate leaving books unfinished -- it's like leaving a papercut un-bandaged. Or a cookie uneaten.
Even so, I found that the beginning of The Young Black Stallion was rather... unengaging. That seems to be the right word. It didn't grab my attention. So I kept reading, just to see if it picked up. It didn't.
About thirty pages in, I dropped it. I don't know if it got better past that point -- which is why I am unwilling to simply give it one star. Maybe it got better. Maybe it really was a three star book. Maybe four. Still, it didn't give me any incentive to keep reading -- and with two dozen more interesting books in my to-read pile, I didn't want to waste my valuable vacation time.
So, in the end: read at your own risk. I can only tell you that the first thirty pages merited two stars. If you're willing to give it a chance, go ahead! (And tell me what the rest is like while you are at it :) )
December 17, 2022
What a great idea! Walter Farley, with the help of his son, Steven Farley, wrote a magnificent sequel! If I could, I woulda rated it 6 stars!
RECOMMENDED!!!!!! If you want, you could read this first and skip the prologue and epilogue!
Summary:
Shêtân was always Abu Ja'Kub Ben Ishak's best colt. Until he ran away with the help of Ibn Al Khaldun. Survival in the Saudi Arabian mountains is at stake, and he'll have to learn to get along with Rashid. When they are found, they make to the boat that will ship Shêtân off, but Rashid wasn't able to be included and get Shêtân for himself.
RECOMMENDED!!!!!! If you want, you could read this first and skip the prologue and epilogue!
Summary:
Shêtân was always Abu Ja'Kub Ben Ishak's best colt. Until he ran away with the help of Ibn Al Khaldun. Survival in the Saudi Arabian mountains is at stake, and he'll have to learn to get along with Rashid. When they are found, they make to the boat that will ship Shêtân off, but Rashid wasn't able to be included and get Shêtân for himself.
July 12, 2021
The young black Stallion
Love this! I read this when I was younger too and just had to re-read it. Horses are my favourite beings on this planet! The young black stallion is clever and wins my heart from the start.
Love this! I read this when I was younger too and just had to re-read it. Horses are my favourite beings on this planet! The young black stallion is clever and wins my heart from the start.
March 5, 2022
This book was really neat. I liked this one much better than the last couple in this series. In this book, it features a flashback to Black's days prior to becoming bonded with Alec. It was interesting to see what his life was like as a colt and young stallion. I really enjoyed this book a lot.
January 24, 2018
it was okay . I personally didn't like it that much but you might like it.
March 21, 2018
A good read for kids.
April 27, 2020
Reuniting with stories from my youth, circa 1960
It was a pleasure to come across this book, quite by accident, that brought back memories of books read long ago.
It was a pleasure to come across this book, quite by accident, that brought back memories of books read long ago.
June 21, 2021
It's Walter Farley. It's about the horse of my dreams. What more could I love.
February 22, 2023
Closest tie-in to the movies.
Read
July 26, 2023SKW to BHW
January 9, 2024
Just as good as I remembered it as a kid. The Kindle edition has a few typos.
August 18, 2024
I didn't care for it.
May 19, 2016
This book is really short (even for a young adult novel), but in some ways that's a good thing because it gets straight to the point. The basic premise of the book is that it shares the story of what happened to the Black Stallion before he was befriended by Alec Ramsey. It's set in Arabia, and the brief depiction of that culture is interesting and also better than that of Farley's other Arabian themed book, The Black Stallion Returns. The story is simple and describes how The Black gradually adapts to life in the wild, becoming less and less trusting of humans. The point of view of a Bedouin scout is added for the human perspective, but for the most part is fairly reasonable. The timeline bugs me a little bit (in this version the Black was much younger than would have been expected from the original books), but is ultimately not too controversial. Light, easy read.
November 10, 2016
In a final tribute to The Black Stallion, Walter Farley teamed up with his son to share the early life of The Black, prior to his fateful meeting with Alec Ramsey, at long last. We meet Shetan and his owner and handlers, and we learn about the hard life of the desert that was first shown to us in The Black Stallion Returns. It's fitting that Farley was able to tell this one last tale that gives us a start to finish understanding of The Black Stallion and his journey. We know he was always meant to belong to Alec, and that he was always wild at heart. This story cements that belief. I appreciated how the telling of his removal from Arabia coincides with what was shared with us in the original book. Overall this was a fitting end to the original series.
January 3, 2018
First read of 2018 in the bag! I really enjoyed this little throwback to my childhood...although I have to say, this prequel doesn't read like a kid's book, or even YA. It's pretty dark and weirdly spiritual. Even though (spoiler alert) we all know the Black is going to survive his trials, I still felt uneasy about the abuse he suffers along the way. It made me want to go back to the first book in the series and do a reread to see if perhaps it's darker than I remember. Who has time for rereads, though? Not me!
October 4, 2023
"One had to believe in legends to understand the cosmos."
I feel like I read this book as a child, but now rereading it, I'm not sure anymore. I don't remember the prologue and epilogue's with Alec at all. I don't remember Rashid. I only remember the young Black, living in the wild's of Arabia.
Be that as it may, it's an awesome conclusion to Walter Farley's Black Stallion series (the remaining four books in The Black Stallion Returns Series being written completely by his son, Steven). We end back at the beginning. As another great author once wrote: "I open at the close."
I feel like I read this book as a child, but now rereading it, I'm not sure anymore. I don't remember the prologue and epilogue's with Alec at all. I don't remember Rashid. I only remember the young Black, living in the wild's of Arabia.
Be that as it may, it's an awesome conclusion to Walter Farley's Black Stallion series (the remaining four books in The Black Stallion Returns Series being written completely by his son, Steven). We end back at the beginning. As another great author once wrote: "I open at the close."
July 27, 2014
I give this book 3.5 stars. I could not keep my attention on the story probably because this series is for much younger readers then me. Very vivid imagery which makes the stallion come alive.
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Spoiler
Note to Self: Arizona
Shetan(Aka the Black,black Arabian stallion),Alec Ramsey(), Henry(),Abu Ja'Kub ben Ishak(sheik), Rashid(young Bedouin),
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Spoiler
Note to Self: Arizona
Shetan(Aka the Black,black Arabian stallion),Alec Ramsey(), Henry(),Abu Ja'Kub ben Ishak(sheik), Rashid(young Bedouin),
December 26, 2017
Many people are familiar with Walter Farley’s series The Black Stallion. Perhaps even reading the first book in this children’s series, the question was raised: how did the Black come to be on the ship in the first place? Written with his third child Steven, Walter explores the origin of the young black stallion named Shêtan.
Read more at http://equus-blog.com/young-black-sta...
Read more at http://equus-blog.com/young-black-sta...
April 19, 2015
I picked this up at the library out of nostalgia. I loved the Black Stallion books as a fourth grader, and was excited to find a book in the series that had been written after that period. I was hoping my daughter would read it, but she wasn't interested. It didn't live up to my inflated expectations, either.
September 29, 2017
This is a prequel to the Black Stallion series, giving an account of the Black’s adventures before the advent of Alec Ramsey.
I thought it was so lame it should be on crutches. It has this main character, an Arab youth, who is very annoying, and I thought that a story about Black wandering around finding food would be more fun.
I thought it was so lame it should be on crutches. It has this main character, an Arab youth, who is very annoying, and I thought that a story about Black wandering around finding food would be more fun.
April 8, 2017
I enjoyed the characters, and their world and hope I get the chance to read the story again and/or to read more within the series.
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.
May 5, 2014
Better written than many of the later Black Stallion books, I enjoyed the backstory of Shetan, which leads right up to the loading of the great horse onto The Drake for the fateful voyage across the ocean.
February 26, 2015
I did have a problem with this book, as I did with many of the later books, in the fact that they did not stay true to information given in earlier books. That aside, this was a well written book with a good story.
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