It wasn't awful, and I can still see why I liked this series when I was in middle school. That said, Bonnie Bryant likes to have the characters, particularly Carole, go into lecture mode and talk for half a page about horses and horse care. Given the point... of the series, the content of these lectures is perfectly reasonable, and I often found the information interesting when i didn't know much of anything about horses. The way they're worked into the story, though, is less than ideal. I also could have done without the mystic parts of the story, though I remember liking it as a kid, so that's very much a your mileage may vary complaint. I would really like it if Bonnie Bryant would treat her audience as if they weren't idiots - they're kids, not stupid. When I was a kid myself, it was merely annoying. As an adult, it's almost painful.