[Edit: Originally published on March 28, 2016]
Are you tired of “a girl and her horse” stories? Well, okay, this is a story about a girl and her horse, but it’s a biracial girl named Astrid and a robotic horse named Padlock. The robotic horses are the Titans that give the book it’s name. It’s a beautifully crafted story and it’s really hard not to fall in love with every single character. Even if you’re sure you’re going to despise them. My favorite character ended up being someone I thought for sure was going to be the antagonist of the book, but in the end he wasn’t.
Titans is a story about relationships. The relationships that you have with family and friends, as well as relationships between competitors and strangers, and people from different socio-economic classes.
While romantic relationships are certainly touched on, there is no proper love interest for Astrid. The guy who you think might be her love interest? Spoiler alert he ends up with the her bff, which I thought was a pleasant twist.
One of the largest themes in the book is the class divide, between upper and lower class. Titan racing is for the upper class. It costs a lot of money to buy a Titan and enter the races, but then Astrid, who is not from that upper echelon gets her chance to race. The feel of the story really kind of reminds me of the movie A League of Their Own, about the start of the women’s baseball league. It’s not quite an underdog story or a story about an outsider trying to fit in, it’s more complicated than that.
Again what I have is an advanced readers copy, but the book is now for sale and can be found right here.
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