Review by Emma, age 8, Garstang St Thomas CE Primary School
I liked the book because it involves magic. Throughout this book there is a boy called Billy, his parents are adventurers, and they leave Billy in Charles Dickins old house. Billy makes friends with an old tortoise; Billy can do magic, and he ends up in a battlefield trying to save a prince and his horse. He was transported by the princess’ mother when she hit him with an old horseshoe. I enjoyed the part when the tortoise said that it did not even notice Billy had gone and that it was just carrying on with normal life and the part where the tortoise said it was named after Charles Dickins, this made me giggle. In the story the princess hits Billy with a rust old horseshoe and tells him that her son, the prince, is going to be executed and that was the reason Billy needed to save the prince. I think the section of the book where they get locked in the stables is a bit boring because if they escaped, they could just ride away, a damp lightless dungeon with no animals would be better with their hands and feet chained to the walls, this would be more daring. I would recommend this book to any class pupils that enjoy reading chapter books as it is very exciting. 

Review by Eleanor, Year 9, Shenley Brook End School
The War of Heavenly Horses was a lovely book to read. I think it is aimed a younger audience than me, but it was still very interesting. Although the book is the sequel to another that I haven’t read, I still knew what was happening. Although, I found chapters 12 and 13 confusing. I didn’t really understand what was happening and, if the book is aimed at a younger audience, I doubt they’d understand either. The rest of the book was very clear though.

The most interesting character for me was Han. Han’s reaction to everything that was happening to him was very relatable and he was the character I felt most sympathy for. The book taught me a lot about the time it was set in and about what was happening in a different part of the world at that time. The fact it was set around the time of 100 BC was interesting to me because, before reading this book, I knew nothing about time period or about Emperor Wudi of China.

The plot was very interesting to me. I liked the fact that the story was told from the perspective of a character in the book, but that character wasn’t actually apart of the main story line. The fact that Billy was sent on his mission by a woman who wanted his son to be saved was a lovely idea. The book didn’t involve big fight scenes or fast-paced action scenes, but it kept the feeling of urgency for the characters.

I would recommend this book to others. It was a very enjoyable read and the storyline was very heartwarming. I would like to have known what happened to Han and his mother. Did the emperor come looking for Han? What happened to Dr Ganfu? Did Billy ever see Han again?

Overall, I think the book was very good and written very well.