The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary Provided by Scholastic: 

SOME RACE TO WIN. OTHERS RACE TO SURVIVE.

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 choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.  

My Thoughts:

I’ll be honest, the story of The Scorpio Races did not seem very interesting to me, but I planned on reading it because I will read anything that Maggie Stiefvater has written. So even though I wasn’t as excited to read this book as I should have been, I had high expectations for it and I was not disappointed! Stiefvater has created a different world that is amazing and magical and beautiful. With all of the other YA supernatural kind of books out there about vampires, zombies, angels, ect, Stiefvater has done something entirely different with The Scorpio Races. I think she took a chance with this one, and that chance paid off!

Kate “Puck” Connolly lives with her older brother Gabe, and younger brother Finn. The three of them struggle to make ends meet ever since their parents were killed by the infamous water horses, also known as capall uisce, many years ago. When Gabe tells his younger siblings he is leaving them for the mainland, Puck decides she will race, hoping it will force him to stay. Sean Kendrick has nothing and no one except, Corr, a capaill uisce. His mom left him when he was young, and his father died when he was ten. Ever since then he has lived and worked for the Malvern family, training and taking care of the capall uisce who have started to come up from the water, so they could be sold for the races. Sean races every year with Corr, and most of his winning money going back to his boss, Mr. Malvern, who owns Corr, and technically Sean. All Sean wants to do is leave the Malvern Farm behind, but he won’t leave without Corr. This year if he wins, he will have enough money to buy Corr and finally be free. Both Puck and Sean have their own reasons for racing and for winning, and both of them desperately need to win.

Sean and Puck meet during training. I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow from acquaintances to friends to something much more deeper and meaningful. Sean sticks up for Puck when no one else wants a girl to race. He also helps her train her horse, and teaches her how to race.

I really loved Sean. He is definitely the strong and silent type. Never saying more then a few words at once, and never allowing anyone to see how much pain and suffering he holds inside. I loved that he was supportive of Puck and how much he helped her. I also loved how much he cared for the capall uisce, especially Corr.

I would have liked to learn more about the characters. That was really my only problem with this novel. I felt that the only person I really knew was Puck. Sean was very hard to figure out, but I think by the end I had a pretty good idea on who he really was. I also wished that Stiefvater spent more time on Gabe and Finn. Gabe just seemed like a jerk, when I knew there more to him. I really liked the parts of Finn that we got to see. He was so supportive of his sister, and I loved the bond that the two of them had.

Basically, Stiefvater has done it again, and has written another beautiful story! Her descriptions were amazing. I was able to picture the capall uisce coming out of the water. I feared them as much as the residents had and I was able to feel exactly what Sean and Puck were feeling.

In perfect Stiefvater fashion, the ending is so emotionally charged, it will leave your breathless and wanting more.

The Scorpio Races is set to be released in October 18, 2011 and I have a feeling it is going to fly off of the bookshelves!