I am constantly astonished that no one within my immediate range of acquaintances has read this book (except for the ones I practically forced to read it). This book is way up there near the top of the list of my favorite books ever, though it’s exact place various with the times.
There’s so much good to say about The Scorpio Race that I don’t even know where to start. I loved this book for a lot of reasons, not least because it is complete within itself. These days I seem to have a hard time to finding good, stand alone novels. It seems like every time I pick up a book I get to the end only to find that I have to read two or three more installments to find out what happens. Now don’t get me wrong, I love series as much as anyone. More story to love right? But sometimes I get frustrated with how long they drag on. Sometimes I just want to read a book and and have a real conclusion at the end, and Scorpio Races does just that.
The most distinguishing feature of this book, and the thing that most strongly endeared it too me, is the wonderful mix of realism and fantasy. In the novel Maggie Stiefvater brings to life an incredible little island, the only place in an otherwise realistic world where the powerful and magical water horses appear. The water horses are the only magical element in the story, and yet they are not out of place, but rather serve to transmit a sense of the fantastic and magical to all of the otherwise ordinary surroundings.
The story itself is a coming of age tail that follows Puck Connolly, a teenage girl who is struggling with tough family circumstances at an already precarious age. But Puck doesn’t let that her hard life drag down her spirits. She has a tough attitude and wild heart that make her instantly likable and makes you cheer for her as she recklessly enters herself into the Scorpio Races.
The Scorpio Races are the main event on the island. It brings tourists and racers from all over the world to witness the unique event every year as the wild and carnivorous water horses begin to emerge from the sea. Riders risk their lives to capture and tame these wild, fairy horse, all to compete in the deadly competition. The water horses are not meant to stay on land you see, and the race, that takes place only yards from the ocean, is as much a struggle to keep your mount from plunging into the waves and drowning you as it is a competition with the other riders. This is the competition that Puck daringly, and foolishly, enters, with her tame, grass eating mare. No one recognizes the foolishness of her decision more than Sean Kendrick, our other protagonist.
Sean is an orphan, living and working on a ranch that breeds the dangerous water horses. He has an affinity with the wild horses that no one else can match, he understands them in a way no one else does, even better than people at time. He too is entering the Scorpio Races, despite his own fathers death in the races years ago. As Puck remains resolute in her determination to Race despite all of the dangers, it draws her and Shawn together in a most beautiful way.
And that’s another thing I love about this book. I find that in a lot of YA novels the romance tends to get way over done and is so full of drama that by the end I almost don’t care whether they end up together. Not so in Scorpio Races the friendship, and eventual love, between Puck and Sean is so sweet and sincere and completely lacking in all of that overdone, can’t live without each other, heart pounding, jealousy inducing, teeth grinding, frustrating romance that I see out there nowadays.
I could go on, there is so much good about the novel, it’s so understated yet powerful and it leaves you thinking about it long after you’ve put it down. In short, The Scorpio Races is pretty much everything I look for in a novel, and I would highly recommend that you read it if you haven’t already. Need I say that I would absolutely rate this 5/5?
Mad Random 