After Lucas by Tudor Robins (Review)

Release date: 31 October 2017

Publisher: Tudor Robins

Number of pages: 286

My rating: 5/5 (yesssss)

Yay, my queen Tudor Robins pulls through again! I have to say, I think After Lucas is absolutely my favourite book from her. I’ve read every book that Tudor has released so far, and I always find them to be enjoyable reads. Although most of them are about horses, each book is unique, without being too weird or out-there (in my experience, a lot of horse books are very similar). After Lucas is actually told by the antagonist of the previous book in the series.

After Lucas is the second book in the Stonegate series. The first book, Objects in Mirror, follows a character called Grace as she battles her anorexia and works with her horse, Sprite. Mavis, the protagonist in After Lucas, is somewhat of an antagonist in Objects in Mirror. In Objects in Mirror, Mavis is spoiled and a bit of a brat.

I enjoyed Objects in Mirror, but I was disappointed that Mavis wasn’t explored much. She was kind of just the anorexic brat of the barn, and that was all. Which is fine, if every book went deep into every single character, we’d never get anywhere! Nevertheless, I wanted to know more about Mavis, and the story behind her attitude and her weight problems.

I was so excited when Tudor sent me an e-copy of After Lucas to review, and boy, I was not disappointed!

The absolute shining star of the book is Mavis. At first, she perhaps isn’t the most likable character. Mavis’ character development throughout the book is incredible. I won’t spoil it too much for you guys, but wow. And it’s not just a magic flick-of-the-switch kind of change either. It’s a realistic, well explored example of maturing, and shows that there’s a story behind every brat or antagonist. I find that sometimes books that are narrated by characters who aren’t particularly likable or friendly can be difficult to get through, but Tudor nails it on the head with Mavis’ growth.

Heck, I’m usually a pretty level-headed, compassionate person, and even I get super prickly and annoying to be around at times (sorry guys!). For Mavis to develop and grow from a prickly, short-tempered, uncaring teenager to one that shows patience, kindness, and tolerance was a big change. But Tudor writes this excellently. It was so good getting a peek in the mind of a character who would normally be an antagonist.

Honestly, I know exactly how Mavis feels. I know exactly what it feels like to not like myself… Or to be grumpy and snap at people, and not be able to stop myself. I honestly think almost every one could relate to her in some way.

The other characters in the book are incredible too. Every single one of them has a great story and a unique personality. Tudor does a wonderful job of giving each character their own personality, story and issues.

And of course, the horse aspects of this book was spot on, as usual! Lucas, the horse that Mavis is working with is fantastically described. Lucas is a green horse in training, and Tudor shows that excellently. All too often in horse books, green horses magically become well-trained, super talented, quiet horses. This is definitely not the case with Lucas, and while he’s not described as a particularly nasty or difficult horse, his progression in his training was very realistic.

As for flaws in this book, I literally can’t think of any! Okay, so I probably saw maybe a typo or two (although I do have a slightly advanced copy)… But it was honestly minimal. After Lucas is well-written, engaging, realistic, and well-edited too.

I would absolutely recommend After Lucas to anyone who has any interest in horses at all. The horse-related parts of the book aren’t super overwhelming, but there is definitely some jargon in there that might be a bit confusing to people who have no knowledge of horses or horse riding at all. After Lucas is honestly a fantastic book, and I actually enjoyed it more than Objects in Mirror (although I really did like Objects in Mirror, so you should definitely read that one too!).

I was provided with an advanced copy of the book for review purposes.