REVIEW: Horseman

 Horseman
Author: Christina Henry

Prequels, sequels, retellings.....most of the time they are hit or miss for me. I've had a few revisits to classic stories that I loved, but most are just disappointing, to be honest.  I decided to take a chance on this sequel to Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow because the premise really sounded interesting. It was a good decision -- I really enjoyed this story! 

The Basics: 20 years have passed since Ichabod Crane disappeared from Sleepy Hollow. Brom Bones married Katrina Van Tassel and life went on. Strange things happen in the woods around the little village though. Bente Van Brunt, Brom's grandchild, ignores the legend, except for running through the woods with his friends playing Sleepy Hollow Boys. Bente - who prefers to be called Ben - just wants to be like Brom. Then one day, while running around in the woods, the boys find the body of a child....and the head is missing. Is the Horseman back? Or is there another evil lurking the woods around Sleepy Hollow?

I loved Ben as a character. Born a girl, but a boy at heart, Ben struggles to make his grandmother understand him...and to become the person he wants to be. Brom is larger than life, of course, just like in the original story. 

This tale is definitely written for a YA audience, but at 50+ I enjoyed it, too! It was interesting to revisit the story and characters from Irving's tale....this time with a real supernatural feel to it. 

Definitely a great book to read (or listen to) during Halloween season! It fit right into my spooky reads for October! 

The audio book is almost 9 hours long, and narrated by Em Grosland. Grosland does a great job of voice acting. She brings the story to life! I got about halfway through my digital ARC of this book and realized I wanted the audio book -- I love listening to spooky stories! And this one had enough supernatural events and suspense that I knew it would be a superb audio book! Bought the audio the  minute the book released! 

So, although at first I was a bit skeptical that anyone could do the original story justice, Christina Henry took the feel of the original and made it her own. Loved it! Now that I've read this book, I want to read Henry's story Captain Hook! And she has a story based on Alice in Wonderland, too! I obviously have a lot of reading to do! Yay!  Full stars from me -- this story is spooky and very entertaining! This would make an awesome movie! *hint hint* And the book cover art is AWESOME! 

**I voluntarily read a review copy (and bought/listened to the audio book) of this story from Berkley Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**