Title: To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion
Author: Diane Lee Wilson
Major Themes: Assyria, Nineveh, Horses, Coming of Age, Slavery
Synopsis: After being sold into slavery to save his family, Soulai cared for a horse belonging to the son of the king of Assyria—and had to save his owner from himself!
I recently brought home a very large stack of books that I had bought. When I asked my children to pick out books for me to read aloud, one of the boys chose To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion. I didn’t know anything about this book, but when I read the introductory page and saw that it was set in ancient Assyria, I was quite intrigued. Very soon, the rest of the family was hooked, too.
Publisher’s description:
Soulai is not brave like his sister. Nor is he a skilled craftsman like his father. And when Soulai accidentally burns down his family’s home, his father gives up. He sells Soulai into slavery for five years to pay off the debt.
While working in the royal stables, Soulai meets a horse unlike any other―a stallion named Ti. Like Soulai, the stallion is owned by the spoiled young Prince Habasle. But unlike Soulai, the stallion is respected by all and thought to be marked for glory by the gods. Soulai realizes what he must do to escape his enslavement―befriend the stallion to prove that he’s bound for his own land of greatness.
My thoughts:
To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion is a coming-of-age story. Soulai’s father was quite disgusted with him, and as he sold his son into slavery, he told him, “A man measures his worth in scars.” But could Soulai ever become a man like his father, even with many scars?
I have never come across a book set in ancient Assyria, except for a couple of stories about Jews. Habasle’s father was Ashurbanipal, one of the greatest kings of that empire. A lot of this story happens in Nineveh, and some of it in Ashurbanipal’s library—what a great way to remember that bit of history!
All of us got really caught up in Soulai’s story. We found it quite engrossing, and were either groaning or cheering him on, depending on his decisions in the particular chapter. We loved watching his growth as a person from the beginning to the end of the book, as well as the changes that happened in Prince Habasle’s character.
There is a lot of violence in this book, as I state in the warnings section. It is not a gentle, sweet story. Assyria was a violent empire. To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion hints at the violence of the Assyrians, but only shows a fraction of what went on—and that fraction is bad enough! However, there is a point to the violence portrayed here. It is needed to show how people are shaped and change. As we read the first several chapters, I debated about keeping this book on our shelf, but by the time we reached the end, I decided to keep it. It will go on the young adult shelf, though, instead of the junior shelf, because of the harder subject matter. I recommend it for teens who like a good historical fiction.
WARNING: A lot of violence. Animals kill each other several times. Boy sold into slavery, branded. Lions killed, people injured or killed by lions, pigs killed, dog went mad and died. Chapter 4: Boy threatened with being sent to dance in the harem. Chapter 6: That damned asu, near pissed as you, prayer to Ishtar, insinuations of a woman being unfaithful. Chapter 7: The wind demon, man badly injured. Chapter 12: Swearing by Ishtar. Chapter 13: Swearing by various gods, damn this.… Chapter 14: Damn. Chapter 18: Boy beaten up. Chapter 19: Swearing by a god twice. Chapter 21: Damned horse, description of carvings showing men dying. Chapter 23: King states that a god spoke to him.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 12 – 15
Reading Independently—Ages 12 – 15, 15 and Above
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
Leave a Reply