Book Review: Timber Ridge Riders

Welcome to the first official book review on Of Horses and Heroes! Recently, I read a series called Timber Ridge Riders by Maggie Dana, and I really enjoyed it. So, I thought I’d do a review of it to tell you about it. I’ll do an overall rating, but I will also be evaluating these individual categories: realisticity, plot, characters, and writing.

Realisticity – 4/5

This series was pretty good about being realistic to the horse world. Most of the information was correct, and some of the incorrect information was simply a couple outdated things (also, it’s a middle-grade series, so I don’t expect super in-depth descriptions of the horse stuff). My only nitpicks are little things. For instance, one of the characters when talking about a red roan horse said something along the lines of “who would want to ride a pink horse?”, which annoyed me. I mean, who doesn’t love roans? They’re beautiful AND awesome! Overall though, these books were pretty realistic about horses.

Plot – 4/5

Ok, so this aspect of the series really surprised me. It had a really original plot compared to most horse series, especially middle-grade ones! I loved seeing that, because it’s been a while since I have. The plot was completely unique and didn’t have hardly any of the recycled plot lines you usually see crop up. The only thing was that there would be little inconsistencies, which is why the plot isn’t rated 5/5. Nothing too drastic, but still. However, the plot was still enjoyable and original!

Characters – 5/5

The characters were each distinct and different from each other, which was great! Some were similar in looks, but those were either relatives or part of a plot point, and their personalities were different, so it worked great! There are a variety of characters, and the new ones never felt redundant, and I enjoyed that. Each character had things about them that made them memorable as well, and the author did a good job about this.

Writing – 3/5

The writing wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t bad. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that the same descriptions were often used multiple times (sometimes in the same book, sometimes across books), either word-for-word or really close. Also, the same joke was used in just about every book with the same explanation every time. Sometimes the writing felt like it told more than it showed the reader things. It was still good and descriptive, though, so it was more the repetition and things like that.

Overall – 4/5

This series is great if you’re looking for horse books that aren’t similar to everything else you’ve read, and that have fun characters! I definitely liked and enjoyed these books, and maybe you will too. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this series and what books you want to see reviewed! Thanks for reading.