This is a really fun book, and I really enjoyed reading it. I'm also glad that this is a series, so that I can read more stories about Sabaska and Anna and whomever else they pull into their future adventures. But, man. I really miss my horse now. ( )

An entertaining and imaginative read. More at http://equus-blog.com/sabaskas-tale-by-j-a-campbell/ ( )

IF YOU were ever a fan of horses, get this story. You'll enjoy it.

Premise - Anna had this grandma who she was always very close with (already this reverberates with me, because I like to think that my granddaughter and I are pretty close - of course she's six years old, plenty of time), and has spent many summers with said gramma, riding horses and being with gramma. Gramma had a horse ranch - many horses, complete with a pretty sweet stable, and plenty of land for the horses. Unfortunately, Gramma has been in a fatal ....accident.... and now Anna is spending the summer at her house, selling off some of the horses and grieving for her lost grandmother.

This is where the trouble starts...

So - at first the book seems like it's going to be about a girl, and her growth over the summer; having to deal with her gramma's horses, her death, her estate, etc. Seems like the book is going to be about her coming of age....and it is...Kind of.

She's meeting prospective buyers, some of them nice, one not so nice. She has been working with Cody, a young man that her gramma had previously hired to help with the stable. She's exercising the horses and beginning to notice some of the odd things her gramma has left behind when suddenly...

BAMMMMMM! She's on Sabaska's back, after escaping the house and the intruders...travelling between different worlds and meeting different people. She has some amazing adventures, some more heart ache, and lots of danger. She's not just learning some life lessons....she's learning some LIFE lessons.

See - Sabaska isn't just a horse....if you can say that about any horse. Sabaska is from a line of horses who have evolved on a different world into a species of intelligent (look, all horses are more than most people think....but Sabaska's fellow horses are Travelers) horses who can travel between worlds, and bond with a human, forming a partnership to help keep danger at bay. Anna learns this in an abrupt and on-the-job-training type of way. She already had been getting some strange feelings about Sabaska - the horse seemed to understand more than most horses, seemed to anticipate what Anna wanted before Anna was even sure what she wanted, and most telling of all - seemed to be able to communicate her own needs to Anna.

I love the way this novel is written; from the prologue where you're given a hint of things to come, to the beginning where things seem so normal, to the start of the fantastical nature of the Travelers and those hunting Sabaska. The narration is great - no info-dumping, which is one of my pet peeves. Campbell manages to get her point across without pages and pages of info-dumps. The dialog is also great - This is another one of my pet peeves, dialog that does not match characterization. Campbell's characters sound and read like their personalities. A teen speaks like a teen, a mage from another realm speaks a little differently - appropriately so. This shows talent, being able to write different characters with different voices.

There's a couple of swear words, if people are worried about that sort of thing (I'm not), all in keeping with the mood of the moment, there's no gratuitous swearing. And you also won't find gratuitous romance, or needless making out sessions. Her main character is beginning to notice the physique of the young men around her, but it doesn't overwhelm or take over the story. Rather it reminds me of those first sweet moments when you realize a boy (or girl, whatever your favorite flavor) is cute, and you might feel something for them. Nicely done, in a world overly obsessed with lust and body parts. :)

From action to story to dialog to characterization - this novel has a lot to recommend it. Campbell does an excellent job of writing a fantasy adventure complete with likable characters, both human and animal variety. I'm looking forward to more of Anna and/or Sabaska's world, whatever Campbell decides to focus on - hopefully both. :) There are quite a few characters in this novel that I could totally see as main characters for future novels, or as stronger side characters. I would love to read more about this group of characters. ( )