To Ride the Gods' Own Stallion - Hardcover

Diane Lee Wilson is an accomplished horsewoman and the author of I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and was awarded a silver medal by the Commonwealth Club of California. She was selected as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, and a starred Publishers Weekly review praised the novel as "No ordinary horse story, Wilson races out of the gate with her debut...horse livers or not, readers will be riveted." To Ride the Gods' Own Stallion was inspired in part by the powerful bas-relief sculptures discovered in the ruins at Nineveh, which chronicle the exploits of the warrior kings of ancient Assyria. Ms. Wilson lives with her husband and daughter in Escondido, California.

Grade 6-8-Thirteen-year-old Soulai is devastated when his father gives him to a trader to pay for a harness ruined in a fire. Told that he would be enslaved for five years, the boy thinks his life is over. Taken to Nineveh, where in 640 B.C. Ashurbanipal is king, he is bought by Habasle, one of the king's sons who desperately wants to be the next ruler. As a stable boy, Soulai has in his care the magnificent horse Ti, marked with the wings of the god Ninurta on his flank. When Habasle causes both physical and psychological injuries to Ti, Soulai is determined to protect the animal from further damage. In a plot full of violence, action, occasional strong language, and intrigue, Soulai follows Habasle and Ti as the young prince tries to outwit the forces determined to stop him from what he feels is his destiny. The book is full of vivid description, good character development, and careful attention to certain literary details. At the same time, the plot is too often driven by convenience and coincidence-some seemingly debilitating wounds heal suddenly, people appear on the scene at exactly the wrong time, and life-threatening situations that defy the imagination are endured. Still, Soulai is a character with grit and purpose, and readers can only be delighted when he gains his freedom and finds his niche as an artist carving the great Assyrian relief sculptures.
Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
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