This horse story is Walter Farley's gentle foray into science fiction. They were all doing it, even Biggles flew over a strange magnetic Tibetan mountain (Biggles Hits The Trail) and Farley may have felt his books had become typecast. Or maybe he was having a bit of fun with a book which no editor would have taken from a first-time author.Steve Duncan has discovered an island with horses left by the Conquistadores in The Island Stallion, one of Farley's best works. Returning for a visit he finds two strange men where only his professor friend Pitch (Phil Pitcher) should have been. Pitch can't explain how they arrived but they seem pleasant enough and they want to study the horses too. Steve really wants to race his fiery chestnut stallion Flame but of course he can't reveal the existence of his lost world, Flame doesn't have racehorse papers and Steve doesn't have money for transport or entries. But apart from that, no problems. Steve just wants to have his stallion admired and to prove that Flame is a champion. He doesn't really realise that it would be a bad idea to take Flame out of his environment when the island interior is all he has ever known.The two little men, who change into birds when nobody is looking to travel further, offer to solve Steve's problems since he has been so helpful. By now Steve realises that these are not ordinary people and before he can really take it in, they transport him and Flame to the nearest racecourse and give him the opportunity to make good his boast.Given the certainty that Flame would pick up equine diseases to which he and his herd had no immunity, not mentioned, the easy acceptance of the aliens and lack of the word abduction, the shift of mass from small bird to man-size, we do get the impression that Farley was writing for a younger reader than in his earlier books.The island stallion really gets into his stride on a racecourse in The Black Stallion's Challenge which is also a much better book, but this is gently entertaining and will suit young horse lovers.
This book really struck a chord with me as a kid. I read this series out of order, and I think I read this one near the end. Suiting, as it has such a different tone than the others. 11 year old me thought the aliens were the coolest thing ever, and I still have dreams relating to the inside of that spaceship. Of course, this is a Walter Farley book, and there are more than enough horsey things to keep anyone who's read this far into the series interested.
Do You like book The Island Stallion Races (1980)?
It was definately a good read, but I find it very odd that walter farley would write about people from another world? But the message near the end of the book is one that I will most definately teach to my son.
—Jessica Timmons
