The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: ---
Publisher: Scholastic
How Received: BookExpo America 2011
Comes out October 18.
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
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I loved Stiefvater's Shiver when I read it, but it wasn't a book that really stuck with me; it was good, and I enjoyed it, but not enough to pursue the sequels nor to keep it when the time came to weed my bookshelf. I've had her Book of Faerie series on my shelf for some time, but haven't had a chance to get around to them; they sound fantastic. And Stiefvater herself is hilarious, I love her blog.
That said, I expected The Scorpio Races to be a good book. Something that everybody raved about for no reason other than Stiefvater wrote it and that the plot and characters were good. I thought I'd love it, write a raving review, and then forget about it.
That is not what you're going to read.
What you're going to read is a raving review in which I tell you that I've added this book to my favorites list. That it has some of the most beautiful writing I've had the honor of reading in young adult literature in some time. That the world Stiefvater created is one I would love to live in, dangers and all. That Stiefvater's characters are stunningly real and raw.
I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. Let's just take a look at the way the story is told: two perspectives, Puck's and Sean's. The writing style for each is distinct, each perspective honest and refreshing. And the writing itself is absolutely gorgeous - Stiefvater's writing has an ethereal, lyrical quality to it that's absolutely enchanting.
The world? Fantastic. I, like Puck and Sean, would be content to stay on that island forever. Perhaps it's my love of nature and horses coming out - and I'll address my love of the water horses that Stiefvater has created in a moment - but I thought the island was enchanting. Perhaps it was because of the point of views that Stiefvater chose to write through (both characters adore the island), but it isn't as if the dangers and the bad side of the island are hidden from the reader; it's seen in all it's (occasionally bloody) glory.
And the water horses? Oh, my, I have never wanted to ride in a race so badly, risk of death or not. I grew up reading The Black Stallion series and The Phantom Stallion series; you give me a wild horse of any kind and I fall in love. Add in the bit of mythology Stiefvater chose to use and I have my new favorite interpretation of a mythological creature.
I would love to touch on the romantic aspect of this novel. There is one - it's clear from the beginning that something is going to spark between our two protagonists. However, it is handled with such subtlety, with such grace, that I absolutely adored it. It's not the focus of the book and it fits in so naturally with everything else that I couldn't help but adore it.
Final Comments: It's clear I love this book, and it's worth a read. The Scorpio Races leaves the rest of its genre - and perhaps the entire YA section - in the dust.