laurnoble's Reviews (180)

"Horse" was a deeply feeling and intensely researched story. The chapters about Jarret were the strongest parts of this book — Brooks, a white woman, did an admirable job trying to write from the perspective of an enslaved Black man, though it helped that his chief characteristic was a consuming love of his horse, which many white girls can relate to. She never let him become purely an object of pity, nor did she give him a fantastical life untrue to conditions in the antebellum South. In so doing she created a fiercely lovable character who pulled me easily through the book's ~400 pages.

The contemporary chapters, while masterfully woven in to reveal and hint at key points from the past, occasionally grated. I appreciate that Brooks didn't try to create a perfect ally in Jess — many of her conversations with Theo and other Black men were incredibly frustrating — but the two often felt like props for a Racism 101 lesson. And, of course, Theo was the character who suffered for that lesson. 

My heart! This series overall is now one of my all-time favorites, with gorgeous prose and devastating turns and characters who will stay with me forever. This final installment (and indeed all the sequels) wasn't as consistently as enthralling as "Eagle," but Scott still managed to conclude her epic story in a satisfying and heartbreaking way. Cannot recommend this series highly enough for lovers of history, animism, untragic queer love, and stories of redemption.