The Year the Horses Came Book

The Year the Horses Came follows the life of Marrah on her coming of age day on the coast of Brittany several thousands of years ago in the late Neolithic. Marrah's fateful encounter with the shipwrecked foreigner Stavan signals the beginning of the end of her Goddess-worshipping culture, an inevitable future seen by her mother many years earlier. Marrah is charged to bring word that the earth-worshipping Goddess cultures are threatened by the Horse People of Stavan's culture.

The first part of the book uses the relationship between Marrah and Stavan to draw broad contrasts between matriarchal and patriarchal societies, especially in the framing of relationships between men and women. In Stavan's world, back in the Sea of Grass, women are seen only as possessions of men and have no rights of their own. As Marrah and others heal and care for Stavan, the young man further questions his cultural heritage, a process seemingly begun with him long before embarking upon the long journey that took him to the shores of Brittany.

As expected, Stavan and Marrah become attracted to each other. This is slightly difficult for Stavan, as he sees her as his "chief" for having saved his life. Among the Horse People, this debt means he must serve her until it is repaid and they are equal. He struggles with the uncomfortable situation of being in debt to a woman to whom he also desires, one with outrageous ideas of self-worth and autonomy.

Ah, but he works it out and becomes a devoted, albeit jealous, lover, as they travel east (along with Marrah's younger brother) to warn Marrah's mother's home village of the impending threat.

There are a few encounters with other Goddess cultures along the way: a quick visit into the caves of Lascaux to be awed by the works of their Paleolithic ancestors, another to the island of Sicily for a fertility celebration, even another to the Iron Gates in Romania where Marrah and her brother fall ill with a disease that finally evens the debt between Marrah and Stavan.

At this point, the story seems to finally find its own, whereas prior it is all too reminiscent of the great journey undertaken by Ayla and Jondalar in the Plains of Passage.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I'm a huge Children of the Earth fan, despite that series' many shortcomings. And what's not to love? The Day the Horses Came has a prehistoric heroine, an epic journey, variations on Goddess worship, and horses (though far fewer than the title alludes). But I struggled to connect with the characters in any meaningful way, as the writing tended to hop from POV to POV, without giving me a chance for more than a superficial glimpse of the main characters.

Marrah's path through the story was too smooth for her character to reveal itself, and she sometimes came off as a spoiled, or at least privileged, child. Not until the end of the story was her character tested, but her antagonists were too stereotyped to give her any depth. Stavan, too, seemed shallow, though perhaps we are to believe that's a symptom of his patriarchal culture. It's a telling point that I had to go back to the book while writing this review to recall the name of Marrah's younger brother. (It's Arang.)

One of the themes of this book is matriarchal-good, patriarchal-bad. While I don't entirely disagree with that in concept, for a story of this nature, here it was clumsily drawn in block letters with a blunt crayon.

I read this book not knowing it was the first of a trilogy. The main conflict is resolved, but I was left hanging by a couple of unfinished threads, storylines that are no doubt addressed in the second and third volumes. Even though I would like to know what happened to Marrah's mother (whose story was left dangling in an ominous way), there is little else compelling me to continue with this series.

I'll give this book a C+, and the plus is more for my interest in the setting than anything else.