Author: Justin Allen
Overlook Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-59020-273-9

Click Here To Purchase Year of the Horse: A Novel

Year of the Horse takes  some very familiar threads  in young adult fiction –a young protagonist with a destiny he must fulfill, a quest for hidden treasure, a dangerous landscape peppered with formidable foes and unlikely allies- to weave an engrossing coming of age tale  replete with both wisdom and edge-of-the-seat moments.

In a foreword to this rollicking tale, author Allen gleefully alerts his young readers to the unpleasantness that lies ahead, not wanting to “.. begrudge  (them).. the opportunity to engage the sometimes shocking realities of history”.  Fair warning indeed, for the roller coaster ride this book offers its readers, young and old alike, across the untamed and dangerous landscape of North America  in the years following the Civil War. The book spares no punches in its gritty, often brutal, account of one young Chinese American boy’s experiences on a hunt for treasure, guarded by forces more formidable than anything he could imagine. Allen deftly weaves folklore and fantasy into this adventure,  that also goes on to make a powerful statement about what it means to be American (or, indeed, a member of any community) regardless of one’s color or creed.

For fourteen year old Chinese American Tzu-lu (or Lu, as he is soon rechristened) it’s just another day, working at his homework in his grandfather’s shop in the little town of St Frances. But a few hours later, a strange  visitor leads him away on an even more mysterious voyage that he feels ill-prepared for.   This visitor is Jack Straw, a  famed gunslinger,  who quickly becomes Dumbledore to Lu’s timid Harry, Gandalf to his reluctant Frodo – the wise teacher and father figure who grooms Lu for the  task he is destined for. They are also  joined by a ragtag group of traveling companions with whom he must struggle to survive not just hostile Indians and murderous Mormon settlers, but also the unrelenting harshness of the continent they must cross on horseback. 

The book scores on  pace, and its evocative descriptions of the terrain the group journeys through. Also the increasingly grim circumstances the group must confront - a horse literally dissolves in a pool of acid ; an amorous Mormon preacher attacks them  in a bid to abduct their lone female comrade; and death, when it finally catches up with them, takes its toll on the weary travellers.   Racism  is never far away either ; Lu  and his friends are regularly taunted ,  their identity and ‘Americaness’ questioned .  Allen tempers the harsh reality of these scenes with enough humor  and suspense to keep the reader hooked.

This is a book full of finely etched characters, right from the protagonist and his companions to the  people they meet along the way. Yet , some things struck me as unconvincing .  Lu and his companions seem strangely compatible, despite their cultural and political differences. The outcome of the book hinges rather conveniently on a gift to Lu from one of the several mysterious strangers he meets through the course of the book, each more clued in on his journey and its purpose than most of his group. Are there greater forces at work here, helping to tilt the balance in favor of Lu and his friends – no one ever stops to consider this . Jack Straw never explains the true nature of their foe to his friends, and they never seek to question him either, until prodded gently by  one of Lu’s acquaintances. When they do, Straw abruptly  disappears, leaving them an ancient notebook  to draw their conclusions from, so that they are greatly unprepared for what is to follow. And Lu, when he is finally told about the circumstances surrounding his father’s death, seems strangely untouched, never once pausing to grieve, rage or even reflect upon it.

For all the issues I had with the book, I must say that Year of the Horse redeems  itself with a cracker of a showdown, a very satisfying solution to the mystery of the treasure, and enough tantalizing clues to suggest the possibility of a sequel. 

Click Here To Purchase Year of the Horse: A Novel