Rating: 
Summary: Beware
Review: "The Horse Goddess" starts with young Epona coming to age in her tribe in ancient Ireland. Epona is, in Celtic mythology, the horse goddess. Morgan Llywelyn takes the story of Epona and expands it and tells the story of how a regular young woman could come to be revered as a goddess. The story isn't written in the traditional sweeping fantasy manner. Rather, "The Horse Goddess" reads like listening to a story. I can just imagine sitting around a fire listening to the village wise woman telling this story and the children sitting at her feet, listening with wide eyes. Epona has begun to exhibit magical abilities and the village's Druid priest, Kernunnos, desires to teach her. But something in Epona makes her rebel against Kernunnos and his unnatural ability for shape-changing. Kernunnos is obsessed with Epona and her powers, and when she flees her tribe rather than submit to becoming a Druid, he follows her all the way to the Scythians, which is where she finally ends. She exhibits an unusual ability of being able to communicate with animals, notable horses. The Scythians are a very horse-centered tribe, and Epona creates a place for herself in a society where women are little more than property.Llywelyn's story of Epona is a must read for people that are interested in Celtic mythology and ancient Ireland. Llywelyn is an amazing talent, and being interested in the ancient Celts and Ireland, I plan on reading many more of her books. She brings ancient Ireland to life, and adds depth and detail to Celtic myths.
Rating: 
Summary: Lest you be misguided by AllieKat's review below...
Review: ...none of "The Horse Goddess" takes place in or anywhere near Ireland. The context clues alone are enough to tell you the story is not set in Ireland, but just in case you don't pick that up, read the Afterward. It is here that Llywelyn gives us more detail on Epona's alpine home - Hallstatt, in the Austrian Alps.
More than anything this book shows just how far ranging the influence of the ancient Celts was, long before the word "Celt" became synonymous with the word "Ireland". While not as good as "Bard", "Lion of Ireland", or "Finn MacCool", "The Horse Goddess" is a good book - well worth reading, if for no better reason than to get background for Llywelyn's later books.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: I am an avid fan of Morgan Llywelyn's books, and I've not yet read one that disappointed me. Her stories are exciting and her characters live and breathe and truly draw you in. THE HORSE GODDESS is no exception. Still, there is something missing from this novel that makes me rate it a step below works like DRUIDS (the best!!) and BARD. It may be the odd rhythm of speech she gives the Scythians, no matter what language they are supposed to be using. It may be the one sidedness of the story; Llywelyn usually weaves several plots and points of view into one grand tale, but in THE HORSE GODDESS, she sticks to a single narrator's vision of a single chain of events. It leaves the story a little bit flat in the literary sense, but no less exciting for all that. Like her other books, I read THE HORSE GODDESS straight through in a day, carried away into an adventurous past by Llywelyn's incredible talent.
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: I am an avid fan of Morgan Llywelyn's books, and I've not yet read one that disappointed me. Her stories are exciting and her characters live and breathe and truly draw you in. THE HORSE GODDESS is no exception. Still, there is something missing from this novel that makes me rate it a step below works like DRUIDS (the best!!) and BARD. It may be the odd rhythm of speech she gives the Scythians, no matter what language they are supposed to be using. It may be the one sidedness of the story; Llywelyn usually weaves several plots and points of view into one grand tale, but in THE HORSE GODDESS, she sticks to a single narrator's vision of a single chain of events. It leaves the story a little bit flat in the literary sense, but no less exciting for all that. Like her other books, I read THE HORSE GODDESS straight through in a day, carried away into an adventurous past by Llywelyn's incredible talent.
Rating:
Summary: A book worth remembering
Review: I am so excited I found this book again! I read it in the 9th grade (over 20 years ago), and I have never forgotten it. The story is amazing - whoever knew that much about salt? The choices faced in this book - to stay in a safe place and do something you don't want, or to go with strangers to a strange place, not knowing what you'll find - I couldn't put this book down then, and I can't put it down now.
Rating: 
Summary: The Reality Behind The Myths
Review: In THE HORSE GODDESS, Morgan Llywelyn creates a real-life basis for mythology, by reducing the gods and goddesses of the Celtic pantheon to human dimensions. The fictionalized young Epona (who was historically the goddess of horses and one of the most widely worshipped European deities) has her coming-of-age in the early Hallstatt Celtic era. Refusing to accept the limitations of her life, she flees her home village and travels with Kazakh the Scythian. While in his company, she demonstrates psychic abilities allowing her to tame and communicate with animals, particularly the horses of the Scythians (a tribe who are generally considered to have domesticated the horse some 5,000-8,000 years ago). When her "magical" abilities become manifest, she is pursued by the shaman Kernunnos of her own tribe, who wishes to force her to return home. Kernunnos is obsessed with using Epona's powers to best benefit her own tribe. (The mythological Kernunnos was the Celtic god of the hunt, and here, his fictional namesake follows Epona from the modern-day Austria to the modern-day Ukraine.) Ms. Llywelyn's writing is crisp, detailed, and shows a fine appreciation for and understanding of the symbolical universe which her characters inhabit. The book brings these almost-forgotten myths to life, and leaves the reader just about convinced that perhaps it really did happen this way.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: Morgan Llywellyn, if you're out there and you are reading this, you are amazing!I want to have your child. I picked up this book out of desperation and boredom because I had nothing else to read, but alas, this book drew me in and kept me reading for hours. Morgan Llwellyn is, together with Anne Rice, the best English language writer alive today.
Rating:
Summary: Another brilliant book from Llywelyn!
Review: Morgan Llywelyn has done it again with this wonderful book. This book is set in the great celtic days of ancient lore. It was a time when magic, nature, and humans all meshed together. This is another wonderfully written book that keeps you interested from start to finish. While it's a love story at heart it is a book that everyone can read and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Was this the first book in a series?
Review: The reason I ask is that when I finished it, I got the feeling that I missed something. It seemed like the author was setting up storylines and plotpoints along the way that could be fleshed out in another book. But don't get me wrong, it was a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Crude but colorful storytelling
Review: The thing I liked about this book was its raw quality. The story telling is by no means raw...it's sparkling. It's the material and the way Llywelyn presents it that gives it this intriguing quality. This book is the typical epic adventure found so often in fantasy. Yet the author finds a way to infuse it with good original elements. I found myself feeling the very breath of characters as they spoke. As good as this book's story telling was, however, there was somthing about the plot that wasn't quite as fulfilling...this is why "The Horse Goddess" does not get all five stars. Maybe it was some of the cruder elements in the storyline or maybe it was the typical tried and true adventure through different lands, but the plot was the only unsatisfying thing about this book. Otherwise, I would recommend this book to anyone who asked but wouldn't present it as *the* book to read to anyone who was asking for suggestions.
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