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Fable's Reviews > The Wild One
The Wild One (Phantom Stallion, #1)
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Alright I decided to reread this whole series to justify it occupying one of my kitchen shelves instead of like, dishes. So far it has a secure home up there.
Sam returns to her family ranch 2 years after a freak riding accident that caused her family to send her away to resume her life of being a cowgirl. The horse Sam fell off of was her own half-mustang colt that she raised and trained, and spooked as he was he took off for the open range to join the bands of wild horses that roam the Nevada deserts. After a mysterious silver stallion visits Sam in the dead of night, she realizes that her once-black colt turned grey as he grew up, just like his sire. Unfortunately, this flashy silver stallion is the target of some bad-actors who would rather capture him and break his spirit than let him run free. This theme is present through this book and the rest of the series if I remember right.
Something that I think is cool is how this series gives representation of a group of girls who don’t get a lot of good role models in books: 13 year olds. Middle Grade fiction is for the age group of 8-12. Young Adult fiction is heavily dominated by characters that are 15 and older (and are commonly written as if they should be in college, not highschool). and the 13 & 14 year olds get the short end of the stick, for the most part they can read about characters younger than them or characters older, with issues they don’t always relate to. But Sam is 13 at the introduction of this series and she reminds me of myself at that age. Sam is very passionate about what she loves, which is mostly just horses. She understands that owning a ranch is hard work and everyone has to pitch in to get everything done. She does her part with minimal complaining, she does have gripes about chores sometimes but she mostly keeps those to her internal monologue because as much as she hates some work, someone has to do it and it all is a part of the reason she gets to ride a really cool horse every day. Sometimes she is careless, sometimes she doesn’t think about how her actions might impact others, sometimes she gets so excited focusing on one thing that she just forgets about her other responsibilities. She has a pretty good head on her shoulders but the author never lets us forget that she is 13 still and I think it is so well done.
This was one of my absolute favorite series as a kid and I'm so delighted that it is still every bit as magical now that I'm older.
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Sam returns to her family ranch 2 years after a freak riding accident that caused her family to send her away to resume her life of being a cowgirl. The horse Sam fell off of was her own half-mustang colt that she raised and trained, and spooked as he was he took off for the open range to join the bands of wild horses that roam the Nevada deserts. After a mysterious silver stallion visits Sam in the dead of night, she realizes that her once-black colt turned grey as he grew up, just like his sire. Unfortunately, this flashy silver stallion is the target of some bad-actors who would rather capture him and break his spirit than let him run free. This theme is present through this book and the rest of the series if I remember right.
Something that I think is cool is how this series gives representation of a group of girls who don’t get a lot of good role models in books: 13 year olds. Middle Grade fiction is for the age group of 8-12. Young Adult fiction is heavily dominated by characters that are 15 and older (and are commonly written as if they should be in college, not highschool). and the 13 & 14 year olds get the short end of the stick, for the most part they can read about characters younger than them or characters older, with issues they don’t always relate to. But Sam is 13 at the introduction of this series and she reminds me of myself at that age. Sam is very passionate about what she loves, which is mostly just horses. She understands that owning a ranch is hard work and everyone has to pitch in to get everything done. She does her part with minimal complaining, she does have gripes about chores sometimes but she mostly keeps those to her internal monologue because as much as she hates some work, someone has to do it and it all is a part of the reason she gets to ride a really cool horse every day. Sometimes she is careless, sometimes she doesn’t think about how her actions might impact others, sometimes she gets so excited focusing on one thing that she just forgets about her other responsibilities. She has a pretty good head on her shoulders but the author never lets us forget that she is 13 still and I think it is so well done.
This was one of my absolute favorite series as a kid and I'm so delighted that it is still every bit as magical now that I'm older.
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Reading Progress
January 14, 2014
– Shelved
July 30, 2023
–
Started Reading
July 31, 2023
–
Finished Reading
