A new "Black Stallion" book

The "Black Stallion" and "Island Stallion" series of books by Walter Farley are my all-time favorite books, and have been since I was 9 years old and first discovered them at the library at my grade school. I've read them all so many times I have large chunks of them memorized.

Steven Farley, Walter Farley's son, has kept the series going, off and on, in recent years, with spotty success. He co-wrote, with his father, "The Young Black Stallion," and penned other books on his own after his father's death such as "The Black Stallion's Shadow," "The Black Stallion's Steeplechaser," and the aborted "Young Black Stallion" series which was not about the Black, but about a girl and her horse Raven who are taken under Alec Ramsay's tutelage and mentorship. That series ended prematurely, apparently due to low sales volume.

Now Mr. Farley has a new "Black Stallion" book out, "The Black Stallion and the Shape-Shifter." Set in Ireland, it seems to be an Irish folklore (or partial science fiction, take your pick) story about Alec and the Black encountering something called a kelpie, which is defined as a shape-shifting creature that carries people off into the ocean.

I'm reading this book, and it's ok, but I'm torn between being glad that Steven Farley is continuing his father's books, and wishing he'd let the books pass along with his father. He is not the writer his dad was, and his plots are not as interesting as his father's plots, and Alec and the Black just don't FEEL like Alec and the Black in these books. There isn't as much emphasis on the Black's untameable spirit, or on the incredible bond that Alec shares with the Black.

He did get some things right in this book. In his earlier attempts at continuing the series, Steven Farley had Alec be 16 years old and the Black was supposedly 6 years old. Fans of the original series know that in the third book, "Son of the Black Stallion," Alec was already going to college, so he had to be older than 16 already, and the Black was 7 years old when Alec got him back after Abu Ishak died in "The Black Stallion and Satan," so how could he suddenly be only 6 years old years later? Also, Alec and the Black race against a 2-year-old champion in a handicap race in "The Black Stallion's Shadow." Huh? Since when do 2-year-old colts race in handicaps against established handicap stars like the Black?

In this book, the Black's age is given as "well into his teens," and Alec is apparently a young man as he was in the later books of the original series, so at least the ages are more correct.

I just wish his plots were more interesting and that the books had more of the "feel" of his father's books. Since the characters came out of his father's imagination and heart, that would be impossible.

I'll finish reading this book, and I'll put it on my shelf with the other "Black Stallion" books. But to me, this isn't a true "Black Stallion" book; only the ones written by Walter Farley were. Steven tries hard, but Alec and the Black died with Walter Farley. (I wonder if Steven is going to try to write an "Island Stallion" book? It would be interesting to see how he handles the characters of Steve Duncan and Flame.)

What's rather surreal is remembering being 10 years old and being in my bedroom with my nose buried in one of the original "Black Stallion" books, reading them for the very first time. I still live in the same house I lived in at age 10, and here I am, in that very same bedroom, with my nose once again buried in a "Black Stallion" book I haven't read before, at the age of 47! The more things change, the more they stay the same!