I have yet to watch the film adaptation, but I've always been interested in this book after catching a brief glimpse of the movie a while ago. Spoilers ahead.
Joey, a farm boy's beloved horse, is sold to the British army and experiences the horrors of World War I. Throughout the entire story he wants but one thing: to return to this boy.
A very intense and kind of depressing read. Yet still pretty dang good. I liked how this time the war was shown from the horse's POV, rather than the common human one. It made for an interesting read and it was soulcrushing to see Joey go from owner to owner and battle to battle while slowly being worn down and losing his close friends such as Topthorn. Joey has multiple near-death experiences, poor guy.
The highlight for the story, for me at least, was the bond between Albert, the farm boy who later ends up becoming a soldier, and Joey. They clearly loved one another immensely and despite the odds after being separated they eventually re-united, after which Joey becomes very ill and almost passes. But Albert looks after him and it's just so wholesome, despite the dark tones of the rest of the book.
This book was also a rather quick read, which I liked. I expected it to be longer but when I picked it up from the library is was quite short, but still very good. It didn't feel rushed or anything, the pace was just right. But I am glad that the book isn't 300+ pages long because I don't think I could stomach reading about a horse suffering for that amount of time.
One minor problem I found in my Dutch translated edition, I'm unsure if it's in the English release, is that at one point a character is named wrong. Albert later ends up having a love interest called Maisie, however in one instance her name is misspelled as Maddie in my edition. And it isn't a different character they're talking about here, it's very clear from the context that it is Maisie who they're talking about. Just...odd. I get that the names are similar but you wouldn't expect a character name screw-up in a traditionally published book, I'd hope. But, again, I have no confirmation if this also happens in the English release so it might just be exclusive to my translated edition.
Overall a pretty dang good read. Not too long and I don't recommend it if you can't stomach reading about animal suffering/death or war, but otherwise it was a good read. Just be prepared for some dark tones here, as well as the beautiful persevering friendship between a boy and his horse.
Rating: 3.5/5
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