The next book in the series starts of with Henry and Alec convinced that the stallion who sired the black is somehow still alive and siring a new generation of racehorses. Tracing the yearlings back to Spain, they load up the Black and off they go, finding themselves on the Spanish ranch of a crazy bullfighter. From there, it is back to Arabia and to old acquaintances, who want Alec's help in running down the ghostly stallion haunting the mountains. Alex must decide if helping his friends and solving the mystery is worth risking his life and that of the Black.Yeah, yeah, ok, as an adult, I could poke holes the size of the moon through storyline - why would they cart the Black over to Europe, why the interlude in Spain, why the weird ways of getting their help? It is also pretty obvious who is behind it all. But as a kid's book it works - lots of action and suspense, a ghostly horse and a unknown enemy. So putting my adult eyes away and taking up my kids rose-tinted ones, I really enjoyed this.
The important thing to remember about the Black Stallion series is that it has always combined adventure with horses. It doesn't matter how that combination comes about, you know that when you pick up one of the books written by Walter Farley, you'll get both of those subjects with one read. Is anyone going to find mysterious horses after being kidnapped and while wandering down a secret tunnel in a sheikh's mountain castle? Of course not. We all know it's not reality, it's adventure. If the human race wanted reality all the time, we wouldn't tell tall tales to our children as bedtime stories. You read the black stallion books because the adventure is so unreal that it is perfect. This book certainly does not disappoint on that level. The mystery is just a bonus!
Do You like book The Black Stallion Mystery (1992)?
At first I had a hard time getting into this book, but soon I was absorbed. I read it pretty quickly as it isn't too long. I didn't know that there were other books in the series until I looked it up on this website. At first I was worried that since I hadn't read the other earlier books in the series I might have a hard time understanding it, but I was fine. It is an easy read that helped to relax me after a long day at work. I think that next time I go to the used book store I will try to find some of the other books in the series, it was a lot of fun.
—Stacey
I really enjoyed the suspense and twist at the end, but I really hate the fact that Ziyadah dies at the end.
—Jessica Timmons
The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt The Island Stallion Races The Black Stallion's Courage The Black Stallion Mystery The Horse-Tamer (all by Walter Farley) I stepped away from my re-read of this series as I just knew the two books listed first were coming up. Even as a child I never cared for the books without Alec and the Black. These two (Sulky Colt and Island Stallion Races) were even worse than I remembered. I wonder if The Island Stallion Races is what turned me off of sci-fi. The Black Stallion's Courage was one of my faves in the series and I still liked it a lot, even if I found some of it pretty implausible. I actually enjoyed The Black Stallion Mystery a bit more this time around. The Horse-Tamer isn't really part of the series but is about the Black's trainer Henry Dailey as a boy. Kind of bland, really.
—Bonnie
