The Scorpio Races

Highly recommended to fantasy lovers, horse fans, and teens tired of vampires.

Maggie Stiefvater makes horses scary. This is The Black Stallion with fangs, a book that's ready to sink its teeth into your shoulder and drag you kicking and screaming through the pages. Stiefvater's use of imagery leaves readers with a frantic drumbeat in their head and the insistent feeling that one should be checking for sand in their shoes. This book is dubbed a love story and rightly so, but the love readers will find here won't be in stolen kisses and awkward gropes on the beach. Instead, Stiefvater's words stir up a mixture of feelings that will have readers looking at the ocean in a whole new way. This is not a book for cynical adults. For people who look around and hate the world, hate their job, and have too many obligations that a 404 page journey through Thisby is about as impossible as jumping on a plane and trying to find Thisby, put this book back. This is a book for teens and one of the best I've read in 2011.

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Blood Thirsty Horses & Boys

Scorpio Races is the newest release from acclaimed author Maggie Steifvater, author of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

The rich detail and passionate characters that Maggie brought to her wolves crosses into this latest release that asks is the question " how far would you go for what you love?"

In Thisby the tides are turning and with the coming of November brings in the entry of the capaill uisce, a fearsome type of man eating water horse.
The Scorpio Race itself has been a time honored tradition for the men of the island, and with the coming of the capaill uisce begins the beginning of the bloodletting. The savage water horses eat their way through island and rider as they yearn for the sea and the men and boys yearn for the title of winner for the races of the year. With dangerous training and jockeying for places the riders have someone new in their midst, a girl named Puck with a home to save.

Scorpio Races brings in amazing characters who are looking for a future with their small island while all feeling the call or the chains of the sea.
SR is breathtaking to read, I ate up the pages and could not put it down. It's story enthralled me as a reader. It was just incredible.

Growing up is hard enough but our characters have this huge responsibility to save themselves, their home, their family, their way of life. The world building was spectacular, you could almost feel the pull of the sea in it's pages.

Maggie S has created a masterpiece of possibilities in the Scorpio Races.

5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Awesome book!

I read this book while I've been traveling and the only thing I wish is that it'd be longer! I miss it so much already! I'm a big fan of Maggie Stiefvater and she never seems to disappoint my high expectation from a book.

5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommend!!

Loved, loved it....don't have to be a horse person to enjoy this gem of a book.

4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

I will never forget this book

I liked Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver series but I love this book more. It starts out a little slow and confusing but it had me hooked till the very end. This book was beautifully written and when I finished it I couldn't stop thinking about it and it's haunting tone. There were parts that were very touching and haunting and if you like romance, action, or suspense you will like this book. The characters were so well developed I feel like they are real people and kind of wish they were! I have recommended this book to all of my friends because I simply need to talk about it more!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Really good book

The begining starts out slow but it ends up being a really good book.

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Amazing--

This story left me wishing Thisby could be a real place so I could go there and see the magic of it for my self. It was an amazing story so read it. It was that good.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

You know a book is good when....

It stays with you long after you've read it. This is one of those books.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Lacks the Action I expected

When reading the reviews I felt like there would have been a lot more action involved in this novel. There is some;however, not to the extent that I was lead to believe.this is much more of an emotional story with some action sprinkled in throughout.

I wish more had been done with the horses. I found myself wanting to skip over the emotional stuff and go straight to any part with the horses. The main character does not come off as brave to me as I believe the author intends. She comes across to me as naive and stupid.

This book could have been five stars, but was lacking instead.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic

Beautiful and exciting, plus a little romance. Very good book

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Awesome

I love this story started to slow,but once it started its amazing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was very well written. I found myself completely enthr

This book was very well written. I found myself completely enthralled by the story - which was truly unique.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Chapter by Chapter's Review of The Scorpio Races

I’m just going to start this review by stating a fact that I am pretty darn sure that The Scorpio Races isn’t a dystopian novel. I know that a lot of people who think that The Scorpio Races is a dystopian, mainly because everything about the synopsis makes it sound like The Hunger Games but with horses. So while the novel is far from being a Hunger-Games-wannabe (because lately there have been tons of those and it drives me insane!), it is one thing that will light everybody’s spirit:

It’s fantastic.

This was one of the most creative, original and best novels I have read so far! Maggie Stiefvater has literally outdone herself this time. After reading Wolves of Mercy Falls I didn’t think that she could get any better, but after finishing this novel *la pulls at hair* everything about it was just perfect! I laughed, I cried and I even felt butterflies (that sort of rhymes), but enough of my praise—because I can most likely go on for hours typing about everything I loved.

For those of you who don’t really know what The Scorpio Races is about, it’s about a scraggly island that hosts a horse race every year at the start of November (“It Is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.” I can’t get enough of that). That’s only the start of our story because I know some of you are thinking; It’s just horse racing, how dangerous can that be? Well, I have something to say to you Smarty Pants *waggles finger*, it’s very dangerous when you are racing near the ocean on the backs of Kelpies (though in the novel they were called capall uisce. Since I struggled with pronunciation up until I read the authors note where I learned that it is pronounced as: “CAPple ISHka”.) who want nothing more than to kill you and end up back in the ocean. And don’t forget the part where our main character Puck is the first girl to be in the races and our other main character Sean is the returning champion who just wants to have ownership over his capall uisce, Corr.

Throughout the novel I was constantly at a loss for words, not only was I kept guessing, but I was surprised by the traditions of the island people and by the lengths that came with the races itself. Not to mention the fact that my heart would melt at the length that Puck ends up going to to keep her family house and keep her family together in general. There was always the question of who will win the races? As the stakes grew higher. After every single outburst from a capall uisce would have me freaking out and gasping. Those horses are pure evil…and that is why I ended up loving them so much. The cutest part of the novel was the growing relationship between a somewhat guarded Sean Kendrick and a constantly “cross” Puck Connolly. I can assume that everybody knew that the closer the pair grew—there would be a greater effect on the outcome of the races.

All in all, a great novel that is definitely worth a read. I would recommend this to somebody in search of the next Twilight and Hunger Games or just wants something that will slowly blow their mind bit by bit. Let the Scorpio races reading begin!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Slow

This book was well written, the pace of the book was so slow.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Enjoyable Read!

I was super curious about The Scorpio Races the minute I heard about the book. I didn’t really know what to expect for a book that dealt with horses, but I love Maggie Stiefvater, and I couldn’t wait to get started on this book. It was definitely worth the read!

Every year, November marks the beginning of the Scorpio Races. These are no normal races, however. These races consist of water horses that long for their home in the sea, and eat not only other animals, but humans as well. Riding one these beasts to the very end of the race will win you big, but you could also die in the process. Kate Connolly who, is the first girl that has ever entered the race, needs to win to save her family home. Can she do it, is the question.

Kate (Puck) was just a really great main character. I love that she was just a girl, plain and simple. Not wanting to give up the only home she’s know, she did what she had to do for herself, her brother and their home. I love that her best friend is her horse, Dove. They have such a special bond together; it was always nice reading about their situations together. I also really enjoyed Puck’s younger brother, Finn. You could really see how much he cared for his sister, and I loved their brother/sister relationship.

Sean Kendrick, who should be Kate’s biggest rival, turns out to be a great character as well. I was a little unsure of him at first, he was a bit standoffish and distant, but he definitely won me over by the middle of the book. I love the way he was with the horses, and the way he was such a gentleman, especially when it came to Puck.

The storyline for this book was absolutely unique and fascinating. Just imagining the horses that live in the water, and how evil they were. It definitely kept the mystery in the book. I enjoyed the pacing of the book as well. Once I had time to actually sit down and read uninterrupted, I flew through the pages. The ending of the book is very satisfying, I thought it ended perfectly. The romance in the book is at a minimum, but I think that makes it stand out even more.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to! With such a great storyline, and awesome characters, who wouldn’t love it? It’s definitely a must read.

Happy Reading!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Best book ever!!!

Omg i red this nook like eight times in a row and am reading it again. I fell in love with this book immediatly. It had action, romance, comedy, parts that make you cry, everything! I love sean and corr as well as puck and dove. Both pairs are so awesome you cant help but love them both! Anyone whos given this book less than five stars is out of their mind, this book deserves nothing but five stars because of how amazing the actual story was, all the hard work people put into this book, the to die for characters, the unbelievable seting, and so much more! God bless maggie and keep her writing! I luv u maggie <3!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Sorry

I just didnt like the book. It was boring. It had no decent flavor to my taste. It was lacking potential i had expected from high rating comments....

One of my favorites.

This book is probably the best book i have read for a while. I really liked the book from the first page, all the way to the end. It just keeps getting better and better! I highly recommend this book for young adults, or adults themselves. THis book is amazing

Wonderful

I only found this book after reading the Hunger Games, and I loved the story! I really fell in love with the characters. I only wish this wasn't a stand alone story. I want more of Kate and Sean!!

I Loved it! Im a horse rider and it was accurate the lingo she u

I Loved it! Im a horse rider and it was accurate the lingo she used. Im also moving to a small town from a large one and I was really freaked out by it, but this book really helped me see the beauty and tranquility of a small town! Im now looking forward to moving. So I am grateful for that! Keep it coming Maggie :-)