sevenstories’ #CBR4 Review #36: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

“Every year, the Scorpio Races are run on the beaches of Skarmouth. Every year, the sea washes blood from the sand. To race the savage water horses can mean death, but the danger is irresistible. When Puck enters the races to save her family, she is drawn to the mysterious Sean, the only person on the island capable of taming the horses. Even if they stay together, can they stay alive?”

First Line: ‘It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.’

I’m a little torn about this in a very similar way to how I felt about Delirium by Lauren Oliver recently. The writing is carefully crafted and atmospheric but the pacing is off and the book takes too long to get going. The characters are largely appealing and the concept is refreshingly unique for the young adult market but I think the horsey focus put me off a little, as I’m not a big animal lover. I imagine that this will go down a treat with some teenager readers. It is also good to read a standalone young adult novel as well and to get some level of closure at the end.

The full review is on my blog.

Why I read it: I bought it for my husband after seeing it on the Cannonball group blog, who took it on holiday with us to Iceland where I read it after I finished the books I brought with me.

Who I would recommend it to: Fans of earthy, gritty books rather than high tech, futuristic worlds who like a strong heroine and difficult decisions.

Alexis’s #CBR4 Review #16: The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater

I loved this book and hate to write a recap or review because my clumsy prose will just make it sound cheap. So don’t bother with what I have to say, just know that I loved this book more than The Night Circus, which I thought would easily be my favorite read of 2012.

On the island of Thisby the capaill uisce come out of the sea to roam wild and monstrous in search of fresh meat. They can be caught and ridden like horses, which they are not, and to forget this for even a second means it will be your last. In November tourist come to watch the capaill uisce and their riders race down the beach in the infamous Scorpio Races. Many will die. The winner brings home a fortune on an island where most have just enough.

Sean, quiet and masterful, spends his days working with the horses and capaill uisce in his care with the dream that someday the capaill uisce, Corr, that he has raced and won with, can be fully his. Corr is all that matters and to loose the race is to loose him forever. Puck is the first girl to ever enter the Scorpio Race and she’s doing it with her beloved island pony Dove. She’s driven by desperation bound by loss and poverty to win and keep some measure of her family together. There can be only one winner.

Maggie has written a number of bestselling YA romance books (The Faerie Lament, Shiver, etc.) so many have lumped this one in with them. Which is short-selling both the book and the author who has far surpassed her earlier books with this one. This book is about love and loyalty, home and hope, magic and mystery.

Every so often, I can see the head of a capall uisce in the water, far out from shore, driven toward the sand by the November current. The ones we have caught struggle against us in bridles hung with bells and red ribbons, iron and holly leaves, daisies and prayers. The water horses are hungry and wicked, vicious and beautiful, hating us and loving us.

It is time for the Scorpio Races