Review by Booklist Review
Ella comes from a long line of strong women, from her witchy Scottish grandma to a mother who has succeeded in establishing a top sightseeing stable in New Zealand. Ella loves her equine-oriented existence, but there's sadness, too: her father went missing, and the town regards the family as a curious coven. Ella worries that the town's fears might have merit when she curses a local boy who promptly disappears, and the appearance of an unsettling wild stallion does nothing to allay her fears. Family secrets float to the surface, old loves come to light, and Ella will have to use all of her wiles to subdue a cunning kelpie and save her family and town. King deftly weaves Scottish folklore and vocabulary into a deliciously creepy and supremely satisfying story. The eerie atmosphere and unsettling interactions are wonderfully countered by fiercely loving familial (and animal) relationships, and the beguiling book will particularly appeal to horse or horror fans. A creative, compelling reminder of the power that words and stories can contain.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Ella lives with her mother, younger sister Fiona, and Scottish grandmother Grizzly on a farm in New Zealand, where they run a horse-trekking business. An unfamiliar black horse appears in the first sentence of this story, and from that point onward chaos and terror are released into their lives. A classmate disappears. The weather gets dramatic. The townspeople, already a bit mistrustful of this household of four women, pull even further away. The magpies are behaving oddly. Grizzly starts voicing gnomic Scottish warnings, and Fiona seems to be constructing odd little charms of feather and bone. Tension builds through King's use of an atmospheric landscape, Scottish-dialect words that lend strangeness to this crisply realized world, and the gradual reveal that the black horse is a malevolent kelpie (the water horse of Scottish folklore). The practicalities of horse trekking, with its chores and annoying customers, give readers brief, down-to-earth breaks from the aura of looming disaster, but nothing can prevent the malevolent spirit from attempting to reenact his ancient narrative in a new place, on a new generation. The writing is taut and intense, tackling high stakes with a memorable setting and a cast of believable characters, both adult and child, in the tradition of Susan Cooper. Sarah EllisJanuary/February 2026 p.73 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When a New Zealand family is menaced by a creature of Scottish legend, they fight back to protect themselves and their neighbors. Grimmelings are "the first or last gleams of the day," and Ella learned about them from Grizzly--her Scottish grandmother, Griselda, who calls herself a "word-hoarder." Ella lives with her family (who are cued white), including little sister Fiona, their mother, Morag, and Grizzly, whose cancer has returned. Morag runs a horse-trekking business with help from Hana, who's Māori. Grandad drowned in the nearby lake, and Dad disappeared by the lake as well, six years ago, although his body was never found. When a class bully goes missing after Ella curses him, she feels guilty, although Ella isn't from a house of witches, contrary to local rumor. But a kelpie has pursued her grandmother from Scotland through a "thin place" in the lake that allows passage between worlds--and it won't leave their family in peace until they defeat it. Each woman and girl is strong in her own way, and Ella's bond with her pony, Magpie, proves crucial in the fight, which ends in a climactic scene at the spring fair. A final chapter set at midsummer serves as an epilogue. Ella is a fierce hero, and the kelpie is a ferocious adversary. King effectively weaves together horses, Scottish mythology, and family history, threading the story with themes of conservation, awe of the natural world, and delight in new words. Prepare to be beglamoured.(Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
