The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Scorpio Races

Series: Standalone

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythological Retelling

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

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. – summary from Goodreads

The Scorpio Races was an absolutely amazing book- one that I adored!

I have come to the realization recently that I have read a lot of books at a young age that were a little too advanced for me. This is one of those books. I read this when I was around fourteen years old, and it was just okay. This time around I am in my late teens, and I get the full scope of this book, and it is a five-star read for me!

This book is different from anything else I have read. It’s about the mythological water horses and the residents of this island catch them every November and race them. I am not at all familiar with this mythology, which just added to the story.

This book had a stop start sentence structure that I really liked. Usually, I would dislike this sentence structure, but it added to the story so wonderfully, and it made the thought process of the characters feel more realistic. I felt closer to the characters, and I liked the way it all flowed together.

Maggie Stiefvater will always get me with her explorations of home and brothers. She does this in this book but also the Raven Cycle/Dreamer Trilogy world. This book beautifully explores home, and how it is enough for some people and not enough for others. I loved how Puck and Sean bond over the way they love their home. I also loved the exploration how sometimes the place you are born isn’t always enough. I also loved the relationship between Puck, Finn, and Gabe- it was real and complex.

I loved our main characters! Sean and Puck were everything! They were real and complex, and different from the usual protagonists we see today. At first glance they seem like many other characters, but through reading this novel they are very different. I especially loved Sean! He was very closed off, but he had a lot of depth, and I loved how he loved horses. I love how Puck explored her world and all the different relationships she developed with people.

There was romance! I loved the relationship between Sean and Puck. This was a very background romance, which normally I don’t enjoy, but I think it greatly benefited the book and showcased their relationship. This was a very quick relationship, but it was wonderfully done and you could just feel the connection and chemistry between the characters. I felt like their relationship was real and they just had such a bond, even though it’s not super overt. I also loved what everyone else had to say about their relationship, especially George Holly!

The setting was very intriguing, and I love how it was described. It was slightly hazy, if that makes sense, and it added to the magic of the world. I will say I have no clue where they are (I’m thinking somewhere off of Ireland- very large chance I’m wrong) and I don’t know the time period- there were cars but not tv that I could recall. Honestly the way this was written made the island feel real and the characters more real, as we are seeing the island from their perspective.

I love the horses- both regular and water. I thought they were wonderful, and something not seen as a focus in books too often!

Honestly there is so much to this story that I cannot possibly talk about it all and how much I loved it. Go read this book- you won’t regret it!

The Scorpio Races has wonderful characters, romance, setting, and storyline! This is a five-star read and one I highly recommend!

Quotes:

“I think brothers are the most inexplicable species on the planet.”

“‘I will not be your weakness, Sean Kendrick.’

‘It’s late for that, Puck.’”

“‘From the sea, to the sea.’”

“‘May the ocean keep our brave.’”

“I’m so full of an untamed wanting that I can’t bear it.”