Beast Quest 20 – Equinus the Spirit Horse

Adam Blade's Equinus the Spirit Horse is a Beast Quest adventure for 7 year olds in which Tom faces a ghostly half-man, half-horse that steals the spirits of living things.

What happens

Tom and Elenna are riding across the Forbidden Land, a grey, dead place where the trees crumble to dust when you touch them. Tom's father, Taladon, is trapped as a ghost. The only way to bring him back is to find six pieces of an amulet, and each one is guarded by an evil Ghost Beast. Equinus guards one of them.

It opens with a proper shiver. Two village boys dare each other to climb over the wall into the Forbidden Land. Something thunders towards them out of the dust, and it isn't a horse with a rider. It's one creature.

Then Equinus charges at Tom's horse, Storm, and passes straight through him. Storm is still alive. But his eyes are empty, he won't move and he doesn't know Tom at all. Is there anything sadder in a horse story than a horse who doesn't recognise you?

There's a way to save him, though. A secret clock hidden inside Tom's compass starts ticking round, and Tom must beat Equinus before it gets back to the top. To make it harder, the magic leap Tom used on earlier quests has gone. His armour's powers are slowly returning to his father.

So Tom and Elenna head into a dead jungle, leaving Silver the wolf to guard Storm. There are maggots swarming up their legs, a wind that isn't natural and a Beast who can turn solid or ghostly whenever he likes.

It's everything Beast Quest fans want. Short chapters, a new Beast, a race against time and a proper heroic promise ("While there is blood in my veins"). The row with Tom's dad is a nice touch too. Tom is really angry that his father didn't warn him, and it's good to see him say so.

The prologue and the spirit-stealing are properly creepy. The boys at the start are left pale and blank, and the maggots are gross (that's probably a plus for some readers!). A child who's easily spooked might like to read the start with you. Most Beast Quest fans will just race on to find out if Storm comes back.

What to read next

This picks up straight after Nixa the Death Bringer, the first Ghost Beast. If your reader hasn't met this set of Beasts yet, that's the place to start.