Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press (October 16, 2011)

Source: Library

From GoodReads:

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.

I loved Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series so much. Because I loved them, I was a little hesitant to pick up something completely different from her - I still wanted to be lost in Mercy Falls, not some strange island. But, that skepticism didn't last long. The Scorpio Races is a story unlike any other. Built upon a myth about horses that comes straight from the sea and thirst for blood, The Scorpio Races is not just about the mysterious horses - it is about surivial, love and the importance of a place to call home.

Puck may be the heroine of the story, but it was Sean who I wanted to know more about. He is described as having one leg on land and another in the sea, and Stiefvater does a fantastic job of weaving Sean almost seamlessly into the mythology of her Scorpio Races. I cannot imagine living in a world like Sean and Puck's. Their world is a world where people die every year in nothing more than a horse race. And, because the horses appear, the race must be run. And, because the race is run, people die.

I felt like The Scorpio Races takes awhile to get going. Almost like the race itself, the reader must go through the paces before they get to the climactic end of the story. They have to go through the pages, learning the mythology of the island and the people who call it home. Slowly and steadily, you learn more about Sean and Puck, and you can't decide which one you want to win the race.

The Scorpio Races makes you believe in a mythology of the island. You fear the water horses. You fear the races. You fear what will happen to the winner - and the loser - of the race. The Scorpio Races is not like Maggie Stiefvater's other books. It is a completely different story, but one that is told with the same level of passion and detail as the Mercy Falls stories.