Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I do like the Phantom Stallion series a great deal, but I was disappointed in the last couple of books. In the book before this one, the author left a lot of things unfinished and I was hoping that she would pick up where she left off. In the last book, the dangerous hunting dogs were still on the loose, Linc Slocum was in trouble in the mountains, and Blaze the River Bend Ranch dog was missing. I wanted to hear where Blaze was, how Linc was helped, and what they did to catch the dogs.
Instead, the story just picks up with Blaze back (never once even mentioning that he was missing), Linc being his normal "evil villain" self (which is getting more and more extreme with each book), and they mention once that the dangerous hunting dogs were sent back to Louisiana. But how did all this happen? How did they catch the dogs again, where was Blaze, and how did they manage to get Linc out of trouble? We don't know because the author says nothing.
The book itself is not bad, but it did get off on a bad note with me because all the problems and issues that the last book left open were more or less forgotten and she just charged into another story. The story is about Shy Boots, the colt of Apache Hotspot and Diablo, mentioned in the second book of the series: Mustang Moon. Apparently Ryan, Linc Slocum's son, is very fond of him and is trying to protect him from his father who wants to get rid of the little colt. Ryan gets Sam to help at the same time as the HARP program on River Bend starts up again. However, Ryan goes from being a sort of shy guy that is rather competitive with Jake, to being a total and absolute spoiled brat all the of the sudden. I mean, honestly he was never really unusually nice or anything in the other books, but he was polite and not nasty or anything. In this book, he is all the sudden being a manipulative jerk and thinking he can pay for anything he wants, etc. and gets Sam into some trouble through this. Because of Ryan pushing Sam into doing something not so smart (she means well, but acts on a bad idea trying to help), Hotspot and Shy Boots disappear. Shy Boots ends up being sold to a petting zoo, but Ryan rescues him with Sam's help, though he still acts like a brat. Hotspot ends up running wild with the Phantom (huge surprise there, not trying to be rude to the author, but I saw that coming a mile away). There is the brief intro of the character, Karl Mannix, who is supposed to be working for Slocum, who ends up (like all the people who work for Slocum, except the Kenworthys) being a crook who is responsible for Hotspot and Shy Boots being missing, though he is not actually caught at the end of the book.
The book itself is not bad. I love the author's writing style and descriptions, but if you are hoping to have some of the loose ends of the last book taken care, you will be a little disappointed. If you really enjoy the series (as I do), I do recommend reading it because the story is a good one and Sam develops (at least a little) into a stronger, smarter person in this book. I liked it, but it was not quite what I was hoping for. Still, for the die-hard fans who own all the books (like me), then it is a nice addition to the story line.
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