In the far future, after the apocalypse, a young girl named Malora wanders the African plains with her horses after her village is attacked by creatures called Leatherwings that kill every living thing. She barely escapes with her life, leaving behind her mother and the remaining villagers. Her skills with horses allow her to survive alone on the plains for several years, while rescuing and raising horses until she has a herd of her own. Then her life collides with Orion Silvermane and the other centaurs. They regard her with wonder, as they believed that all humans had been wiped out when they were massacred by the ancestors of the centaurs. They take her to Mount Kherion, the home of the highland centaurs, and the home of Malora’s ancestors before it was taken over by the centaurs. There, Malora experiences new comforts and learns new things, but must decide whether her new life is worth giving up the freedom she had on the plains, or if she should return to her lonely life with her horses, being perhaps the last human on Earth.

Daughter of the Centaurs is the first book in the Centauriad series by Kate Klimo. The book combines a post apocalyptic world with a fantasy twist. The setting is also unusual, as it is set in Africa. The way the author describes Malora’s home, the Ironbound mountains makes the reader feel like they are there. The story also references literature such as The Cat in the Hat and Romeo and Juliet,  which gives the book more realism, and connects it to the present day and the past, despite being set in the future. The story also does not contain much romance, which is a plus because most books, whether fantasy, dystopia or otherise contain romance, and it can seem silly, unnecessary and overdramatic. There was a tiny splash of romance, but it didn’t overshadow the story at all, and the story doesn’t  require it.

In the beginning, the book seemed too real,, like it could have been set in the past, or even present day. It didn’t have much of a fantasy feel for the first few chapters, and the arrival of the Leatherwings seemed to be a rough transition. The book is set on Earth in the far future, yet there was no explanation as to how creatures such as Leatherwings and centaurs could exist. Hopefully it will be answered in the next book. There were also some other ideas presented in the book that could have made the book better and increased conflict, but the issues just seemed to be let go, and did not emerge again. In certain instances, the author needed to be more specific or explicit, because it was sometimes  difficult to understand what the author meant.  One of the chapter titles could be considered  a bit spoilery, and the author seemed to end the chapters wherever they felt was a good place, and did not try for suspense, which leads the endings to be ordinary and unexciting The chapters were not too long or too short, and the book was not too long.

The premise of the story was good, and it was reasonably well written. There were a few things that could have been changed to make it better, but overall it was a good story. Daughter of the Centaurs is a book that would be good for someone who likes horses, fantasy or mythology, and isn’t afraid of trying something a little different. The sequel, A Gathering of Wings, holds the promise to be even better than the first book, though this rarely happens with series.