The Glory
Author: Lauren St. John
Publication Date: March 5th 2015
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
From the bestselling author of The One Dollar Horse trilogy, a sensational, stand-alone equestrian thriller about a gruelling 1,200 mile race, a girl on the run from the law and a boy on a mission to save a life.
A Girl on the Run from the Law
Alexandra Blakewood has everything any teenager could wish for, apart from the horse she'd love, but she won't stop getting into trouble. Sent to a US boot camp, she dreams of escaping. It seems impossible until she's told about a gruelling 1,200 mile horse race across the American West...
A Boy on a Mission to Save a Life
Will Greyton was the star student at his Tennessee high school until his father was laid off. Now Will works at a burger joint. When his dad falls ill, it seems things can't get any worse. An operation will save him, but there's no way to pay for it. Then Will hears about The Glory, a deadly endurance race with a $250,000 purse, open to any rider daring enough to attempt it...
If The Glory would have stuck more to the Race and the
Equestrian side of the story, I would've liked it a lot more than I did.
Unfortunately, that's probably the only side of the book I did like. From the
sub-plots, third person narrative, no connection and somewhat unlikeable
characters and a insta-lust and insta-love romance, you could say I have a few
issues with the book.
The Glory started off slow for me, I couldn't get into it,
we went back and forth from Alexandra and Will in third person, I said unlikeable
characters, well, Will wasn't too bad, but Alexandra isn't exactly nice. I
guess all she wants is to fit in, but she makes mistakes, a lot of stupid
mistakes she doesn't even learn from. She blames everyone but herself, saying
she'll try harder, be better, until the next mistake. She wasn't easy to like,
she was self-absorbed, and assumed her Mother and Step-father hated her and
were against her for the reason they sent her to a Boot Camp for troubled
teens.
Alex and Will meet in a diner, and after that short and
brief meeting they can't stop thinking about eachother, as it goes, and once
they realise they're both in the same Race and therefore competing against one
another, try to stay away but think about the other constantly and blah blah
blah. It isn't insta-love in an obvious way, which was good, nothing comes out
of it for most of the story, but once it does, and at the end they're all 'I
loved you from the second I laid eyes on you back in the diner'. No. No, no,
no. I didn't particularly like them in the first place, but the icky, over
clichéd and not an ounce of chemistry, nailed that coffin shut.
A bit part of the book is about the race but the other
parts, facts about the area the characters are in at the time, going to
Alexandra's parents and back and forth to what's going on back at the Boot Camp
was rather boring, and unnecessary. It honestly didn't add much to the story,
and made it all seem more tell than show, and for some parts, a little
unbelievable. The parts where it concentrated on the Race and the horses, I
loved, and it's clear the authors knows a lot about horses.
I had no connection to the characters whatsoever, I don't
know if that's down to the third person, Alexandra being unlikable and Will
being a little monotone, or the fact the back story we get on them, again, felt
more tell that show, or if it was a mixture of all of it.
If you love reading about horses, this book is made for you,
if you prefer a more engaging story with a faster pace and more show then tell
storytelling, I'd try something else.
Rating: 2
/5
