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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So I spent the first 1/3 or so very confused, because I know so very little about horses that I had to look up words pretty often to figure out exactly what was happening. BUT eventually I didn't worry about it and just figured it out via context. And I was interested-but-not-loving-it until the end, then there were TEARS WHAT THE HELL.
Spoiler
Corr being sad and making sad noises at Sean, and then walking back to him, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo that was too much!
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"They came in with the tide. The moon illuminated long lines of froth as the waves gathered and gathered and gathered offshore, and when they finally broke on the sand, the capaill uisce tumbled onto the shore with them. The horses pulled their heads up with effort, trying to break free from the salt water."It's been years since I've read a novel with such a large emphasis on horse care and riding. As a competitive horseback rider, I've suffered through a surprising number of painfully inaccurate and severely unresearched horse-driven books. Fortunately, I can attest to the author's thorough knowledge on the subject, and the absence of frustratingly blaring errors was greatly appreciated.
The writing was beautiful and was most evident through the world building. The setting and premise were very thoroughly and thoughtfully crafted, from the deadly, horse-like capaill uisce to Thisbe and its inhabitants to the races themselves. The dialogue, descriptions, events, etc. are so strikingly realistic that you feel as if you've been transported to Thisbe and are living alongside the characters as the plot unfolds.
"What it's like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It's the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It's speed, if you're lucky. It's life and it's death or it's both, and there's nothing like it."Instead of focusing primarily on the Scorpio Races, the novel instead diverts attention to the host of motivating factors that contribute to an individual's decision making. Furthermore, each character portrayed a unique combination of traits, beliefs, and backgrounds, and Stiefvater successfully established two sharply contrasting voices for the novel's two, first person narrators, Puck and Sean.
Sean Kendrick immediately stole my heart (and amazingly managed not to trample it shortly thereafter). Sean's significant experience with both horses and the capaill uisce may have played a small role in my infatuation... Less superficially, however, he's one of the few YA love interests that avoids the stereotypical pitfalls of acting like a complete ass simply because he can, suppressing all emotion with icy, forlorn silence, an excess of emotion that rivals that of their PMSing girlfriend, or an adaptation of some form of a hero stance. Most striking was his humility, which went hand-in-hand with his willingness to fade unnoticed into the background, a silent observer rather than an active participant.
My heart ached for Sean at the conclusion of the novel, and there were quite a few tears shed. While somewhat predictable, the ending was in no way any less heart wrenching and inner turmoil evoking. I don't want to say more for fear of introducing spoilers, but it was an emotionally-taxing rollercoaster. All I can say at this point is: well played, Ms. Stiefvater, well played; you've been officially promoted from author to professional and unexpectedly ruthless heart wrecker.
My only complaint was the notably slow pacing. It wasn't until the final 75-100 pages that my thoughts stopped wandering and I was able to fully concentrate on the book (although this might have some slight correlation with my poor multitasking abilities). Irrespective of my talents in this department (or lack thereof), after reading purely the summary and a handful of reviews, I automatically expected the plot to be laden with heart-pounding twists and turns alongside constant, unrelenting action. While very few, if any, of my original assumptions proved to be accurate, the book nevertheless had a certain attractive quality that immediately drew me in - more of a slow burn rather than a flashy, spastic plea for attention.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.75 Stars!
Starting this book off, I was enjoying the scenes and world building, Maggie Stiefvater is incredible at writing about the surroundings and environment, although once I got about halfway through the book I found myself incredibly bored.
This book put me in a reading slump BAD! It took me a little over 2 weeks to read, when usually it would have taken me less than a week. I was slacking with reading in general because I didn't want to pick this up and went days without reading because of it.
In the end, I decided to skip a whole 50 pages (skim reading what happened in between) and went to read race at the end. Honestly I don't think it changed much because I could have started the book, skipped the whole middle, and read the end without needing all the info in between.
The book isn't bad, I just thought it was slow and made me dread pushing through to continue. Not the book for me (though it seems Maggie Stiefvater's books aren't for me in general).
Starting this book off, I was enjoying the scenes and world building, Maggie Stiefvater is incredible at writing about the surroundings and environment, although once I got about halfway through the book I found myself incredibly bored.
This book put me in a reading slump BAD! It took me a little over 2 weeks to read, when usually it would have taken me less than a week. I was slacking with reading in general because I didn't want to pick this up and went days without reading because of it.
In the end, I decided to skip a whole 50 pages (skim reading what happened in between) and went to read race at the end. Honestly I don't think it changed much because I could have started the book, skipped the whole middle, and read the end without needing all the info in between.
The book isn't bad, I just thought it was slow and made me dread pushing through to continue. Not the book for me (though it seems Maggie Stiefvater's books aren't for me in general).
I went into reading The Scorpio Races with little idea as to what the book was about other than there being some sort of horse race and a girl, the first girl ever, to enter it. Which, okay, I'm a complete sucker for and I just threw myself into the story. Then I promptly threw myself back out with disgust over the fact that it's actually alternating POVs between the main female character, Puck and Sean. And I hate that with a fiery passion.
Not enough fiery passion, apparently, as for some inexplicable reason I began reading the book anyway and, to my amazement, actually liked it. It helped that Puck and Sean are both serious characters with distinct personalities and I rather like them both. What also helped immensely are the horses in the race which apparently kill people (or would, given half a chance). The horses, or capaill uisce, are this book's version of kelpies, in that they come from the water, want to drag people back into the water, and they attempt to drown people or eat them and whatnot. Basically? Awesome horses.
The writing is more serious than one would expect, and rather lyrical in nature. I rather enjoyed it and while both main characters sounded vaguely similar to one another, they were different enough that I could ignore it. The plot of the book was decent--Puck enters the race for a... well, it's not the best reason ever (at the time, she discovers a better reason later), but for her, it was the only thing she could think of, while Sean has always entered the race year after year.
Sean is interesting. He loves the capaill uisce, though one had killed his father when he was younger. He trains the horses, he especially loves (though always respects) one named Corr, and works for a man who is very much a businessman and rather inscrutable in nature. Sean is very serious, very somber, and it's a striking contrast between other YA male leads who very rarely display such poise, even if inwardly he's shaking at times. I found myself liking him very much, if not more so than Puck.
The book is very good. It's well written, the story is fascinating, and there are components to it that I love. It even made me like alternating POVs, which is a task and a half for an author. Then there's Sean and Puck's relationship that builds slowly, but steadily and I just ended up really liking them as a couple.
The book is not perfect. I still don't have a decent handle on Malvern, who Sean works for, for example. At first Puck's reason to enter the race was nonsensical to me, though she has a better reason later on. The fact that the main antagonist got away with the crap he did just boggles the mind--especially considering that Malvern display of fatherliness is more than wanting. Still.
The detriments were minor and my enjoyment of the book was great. 4 stars.
Not enough fiery passion, apparently, as for some inexplicable reason I began reading the book anyway and, to my amazement, actually liked it. It helped that Puck and Sean are both serious characters with distinct personalities and I rather like them both. What also helped immensely are the horses in the race which apparently kill people (or would, given half a chance). The horses, or capaill uisce, are this book's version of kelpies, in that they come from the water, want to drag people back into the water, and they attempt to drown people or eat them and whatnot. Basically? Awesome horses.
The writing is more serious than one would expect, and rather lyrical in nature. I rather enjoyed it and while both main characters sounded vaguely similar to one another, they were different enough that I could ignore it. The plot of the book was decent--Puck enters the race for a... well, it's not the best reason ever (at the time, she discovers a better reason later), but for her, it was the only thing she could think of, while Sean has always entered the race year after year.
Sean is interesting. He loves the capaill uisce, though one had killed his father when he was younger. He trains the horses, he especially loves (though always respects) one named Corr, and works for a man who is very much a businessman and rather inscrutable in nature. Sean is very serious, very somber, and it's a striking contrast between other YA male leads who very rarely display such poise, even if inwardly he's shaking at times. I found myself liking him very much, if not more so than Puck.
The book is very good. It's well written, the story is fascinating, and there are components to it that I love. It even made me like alternating POVs, which is a task and a half for an author. Then there's Sean and Puck's relationship that builds slowly, but steadily and I just ended up really liking them as a couple.
The book is not perfect. I still don't have a decent handle on Malvern, who Sean works for, for example. At first Puck's reason to enter the race was nonsensical to me, though she has a better reason later on. The fact that the main antagonist got away with the crap he did just boggles the mind--especially considering that Malvern display of fatherliness is more than wanting. Still.
The detriments were minor and my enjoyment of the book was great. 4 stars.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I'm hesitant to read recently published teen fantasy, because it always seems to be along the lines of Teen Bland Female meets Teen Mysterious Male and Some Epic Magic Shit happens in the background whilst they Fall In Love. And I mean, yes, this book did follow that pattern. But it was written well! I really enjoyed Teen Mysterious Male's character, which I think was because he was written like a person instead of a cardboard cut out of the guy every teenage girl wants. The Teen Bland Female was also kind of awesome, as was the Epic Magic Shit. And it had storyline! And relationships that weren't just Boy and Girl Who Loves Boy! And relationships with animals! Who doesn't love animals. My only quibble was that although the POV changes worked well for the plot, and the male protagonist, it didn't work well for the female protagonist. I couldn't tell what was the author was trying to delineate between the way the girl thought about herself and the way the male protagonist saw her, and what was character growth. It made her character seem a little too variable to me, but that was a minor complaint. I recommend it as an easy read before bed. As long as you don't easily get nightmares from the idea of flesh eating sea horses.
I'm going to start this off by saying I have some mixed feelings about Maggie Stiefvater. I loved the Raven Cycle, hated Shiver. All the Crooked Saints was interesting, and I feel like it was a good use of time, but I'm not planning on reading it a second time. So, as you can probably tell, I was a little apprehensive picking up the Scorpio Races. A previous teacher of mine (who I respect the bookish opinions of) actually recommended this to me (but then again, she also liked Shiver.. uuk...). But I love Kelpies, and I love small towns stuck in the past, so I was willing to try reading it. AND READ I DID. The Scorpio Races was great. I feel like the romance and characters were more human than I was used to, but sometimes still felt disconnected (my opinions and feelings were probably a little bit more than a little influenced by the setting). But yeah! Scorpio Races is great (maybe even my favorite Stiefvater book, and it's a good breather book from deep ones.