Novel Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: YA Paranormal (Lightly, Romance)

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Scholastic

Spoilers?: No/Very Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Available on Amazon.

Something Specific:

That I loved:

•  "It's strange to be called a woman, but I nod." (Hardback, pg. 323) (I just enjoyed this quote, and related to it rather well.)
• The characters.

Review:

I did enjoy this book, but it took me forever to get through, and I’m not even sure why.

I’ve read most of Stiefvater’s books, and have enjoyed every one of them so far. I love her style of writing, how pretty and lyrical it is, and her characters are always rather interesting and enjoyable. And none of those things were different with this book, and yet it still took me a while to get through it.

The Scorpio Races is about the Scorpio Races, a race where people ride dangerous, blood-thirsty water horses. Starring Puck Connolly, a rough-around-the-edges girl who lives with her two brothers, and decides to enter the Scorpio Races with her normal horse, and Sean Kendrick, a stoic boy who has a way with horses and lives where he works, and has won the last several Scorpio Races.

The characters in this story are just fantastic. I loved Puck, and how honest and mean she can be, and Sean was great and quiet and barely lets anyone in. I loved how similar and different they were from the other. They were both rough around the edges, and neither let anyone in very easily, and while they were both wary of the other, the attraction to each other was obvious. Part of me feels that there was something off about their attraction to each other, that maybe it happened too suddenly, and yet the other part just enjoyed it so much.

There were a lot of other enjoyable characters, but some of my favorites included Puck’s little engineer/creator brother, Finn, who is so sweet and adorable and loves his family, and Mr. Holly, an older man who’s in town to buy some horses and ends up growing a liking for Sean and Puck. Mr. Holly was charming, and someone that Sean needed to have in his life at the time. And then there are Puck’s and Sean’s horse, Dove and Corr. They had their own personalities, and I liked them.

There were a ton of characters, and while I did like reading about them all, it could get a bit confusing at times, remembering who was who. That didn't bother me much, though.

I didn’t really have any problems with the water horse part. I found it really interesting, although when there were long paragraphs of description, long dialogue-free scenes, it grew a bit boring. Maybe that’s just me, because I usually enjoy all of Stiefvater’s books, but those parts were just not very good for me.

The little town that they all live in was really interesting to me. It bothered me a bit, how easy it was for underage kids to live on their own, and how hard it was for them to find a job, but I could see the allure in the town. All of the people that live there would make me want to visit, and maybe stay. Particularly for the food from the bakery.

The ending was good, but not amazing. It wasn’t as open, or mean, as I was expecting it to be, so I do like that. But I think I just would have liked more, to see what happens next. I’m satisfied enough, though.

My only real problem with the book is how long it took me to get through it, especially since I really did like reading it. I started it at one point, got about sixty pages, and paused it, and then when I started it again, it took me, like, two or three weeks. Part of it might be that I was in a stalemate with reading, but I think that some of it had to do with the book.

I would still read the book again, and suggest reading it, just for the characters. The whole book was rather charming, and delightful, really.