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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
So with the title and cover I was thinking this horse race was going to be like the Palio di Siena held in Siena, Italy every year. That doesn’t really have a thing to do with what this book is about.
The book is actually about a small island called Thisby. Every fall these water horses (capaill uisce) come up from the sea and wreak havoc on the islanders. They are brutal horses with a taste for blood and not at all picky where they get it. These water horses are creepy. They are so creepy you would want to run away screaming in terror. Only don’t run because then they will chase you down and kill you.
Every year in November there is a race with these water horses along the beach. I really don’t think that is the smartest location choice as the “magic” of the water horses can lull the rider enough that the horse can swim out to sea and drown the rider. The water horse will then likely eat the rider. Are you creeped out yet?
When Kate (Puck) Connolly announces that she is going to enter the race, she is at first just thinking of a way to get her older brother, Gabe, to stay on the island a few weeks longer. Puck also refuses to ride a water horse on principle because the water horses killed her parents leaving only Gabe, Puck, and their younger brother Finn. Puck instead decides to ride Dove, her trusty island horse.
Puck is trying to pick up the pieces of everything to somehow keep the house she grew up in. She tries so hard to stay strong for Finn as they are the only family each other will have left when Gabe leaves for the mainland.
Sean Kendrick at nineteen has won the Scorpio Races multiple times. He has a way with the water horses. At first he is adamant that Puck and Dove have no place on the beach as Puck is not a boy and Dove is not a water horse. Then later he says that Puck has the right to try just like anyone else.
Sean Kendrick is an interesting fellow who keeps his secrets to himself. All he wants in the world seems to be Corr, his water horse that technically belongs to him employer Mr Malvern.
This book was so unlike anything I have ever read. The setting is so very real it seems entirely possible there could be an island called Thisby where, every fall, ravenous water horses emerge from the sea.
This review first appeared at Orandi et Legendi.
The book is actually about a small island called Thisby. Every fall these water horses (capaill uisce) come up from the sea and wreak havoc on the islanders. They are brutal horses with a taste for blood and not at all picky where they get it. These water horses are creepy. They are so creepy you would want to run away screaming in terror. Only don’t run because then they will chase you down and kill you.
Every year in November there is a race with these water horses along the beach. I really don’t think that is the smartest location choice as the “magic” of the water horses can lull the rider enough that the horse can swim out to sea and drown the rider. The water horse will then likely eat the rider. Are you creeped out yet?
When Kate (Puck) Connolly announces that she is going to enter the race, she is at first just thinking of a way to get her older brother, Gabe, to stay on the island a few weeks longer. Puck also refuses to ride a water horse on principle because the water horses killed her parents leaving only Gabe, Puck, and their younger brother Finn. Puck instead decides to ride Dove, her trusty island horse.
Puck is trying to pick up the pieces of everything to somehow keep the house she grew up in. She tries so hard to stay strong for Finn as they are the only family each other will have left when Gabe leaves for the mainland.
Sean Kendrick at nineteen has won the Scorpio Races multiple times. He has a way with the water horses. At first he is adamant that Puck and Dove have no place on the beach as Puck is not a boy and Dove is not a water horse. Then later he says that Puck has the right to try just like anyone else.
Sean Kendrick is an interesting fellow who keeps his secrets to himself. All he wants in the world seems to be Corr, his water horse that technically belongs to him employer Mr Malvern.
This book was so unlike anything I have ever read. The setting is so very real it seems entirely possible there could be an island called Thisby where, every fall, ravenous water horses emerge from the sea.
This review first appeared at Orandi et Legendi.
Started out a bit slow but I got into the second half and loved it.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I kept waiting for the twist to happen. The one paragraph that makes you suck in your breath and makes goose flesh on your arms. I was very disappointed that there was no twist. Just a boy and his killer horse on the beach.
3.5
While I enjoyed this a good bit it doesn't quite warrant 4 for me. The writing is beautiful as it always is with Maggie. She really is superb at creating places as characters and evoking certain moods as atmosphere. I also enjoy her talent for creating flawed, not inherently likeable characters and yet making them immensely likeable to me. Everything is in place here to make this a great book, I think it just really comes down to personal taste more so than it even normally does for a book. I was rather surprised I liked a book about killer water horses at all so yay Maggie! Good job! Although, after The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves I feel like it's just unfair to any book I read. They can't come close to topping that with me.
While I enjoyed this a good bit it doesn't quite warrant 4 for me. The writing is beautiful as it always is with Maggie. She really is superb at creating places as characters and evoking certain moods as atmosphere. I also enjoy her talent for creating flawed, not inherently likeable characters and yet making them immensely likeable to me. Everything is in place here to make this a great book, I think it just really comes down to personal taste more so than it even normally does for a book. I was rather surprised I liked a book about killer water horses at all so yay Maggie! Good job! Although, after The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves I feel like it's just unfair to any book I read. They can't come close to topping that with me.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Review to come.
I had great expectations about this book...I really did.And I wanted to like it but it seems that Maggie Stiefvater's books just don't work out for me.
Scorpio Races is basically about a girl whose name is Puck and she basically needs money to survive.Then we have Sean whose father was killed in the scorpio races.Now,the Scorpio Race is kinda like some deadly and dangerous competition where everyone who enters has to capture a sea or water or whatever you want to call it horse,train it and try to win.But it's not that easy because people get killed.Sean is determined to win the Scorpio Races and Puck enters because she wants the money.Her parents died and she was left alone with two brothers.So she basically enters the competition for them.
First of all,it takes a while for the story and the relationship between the characters to like...build.It takes a while actually for the characters to become familiar with each other.And that's just frustrating.I have to admit that the plot was really interesting but it just didn't work out for me like it did with other people.I was really annoyed.A book with a title like the Scorpio Races should be about some Scorpio Races.Instead the whole race thing gets only one chapter.And the rest of the book was about getting ready for the races and the whole training thing which wasn't that necessary if you ask me.The thing that annoyed me most of all was the end.Like seriously?I thought there was going to be a sequel about the two of them doing something extraordinary and meeting new people.Then,I would get the chance to like it more but no...There's not a sequel.This is just a stand alone.Like that's okay....
Scorpio Races is basically about a girl whose name is Puck and she basically needs money to survive.Then we have Sean whose father was killed in the scorpio races.Now,the Scorpio Race is kinda like some deadly and dangerous competition where everyone who enters has to capture a sea or water or whatever you want to call it horse,train it and try to win.But it's not that easy because people get killed.Sean is determined to win the Scorpio Races and Puck enters because she wants the money.Her parents died and she was left alone with two brothers.So she basically enters the competition for them.
First of all,it takes a while for the story and the relationship between the characters to like...build.It takes a while actually for the characters to become familiar with each other.And that's just frustrating.I have to admit that the plot was really interesting but it just didn't work out for me like it did with other people.I was really annoyed.A book with a title like the Scorpio Races should be about some Scorpio Races.Instead the whole race thing gets only one chapter.And the rest of the book was about getting ready for the races and the whole training thing which wasn't that necessary if you ask me.The thing that annoyed me most of all was the end.Like seriously?I thought there was going to be a sequel about the two of them doing something extraordinary and meeting new people.Then,I would get the chance to like it more but no...There's not a sequel.This is just a stand alone.Like that's okay....
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A beautiful, engrossing, breathtaking book. It gives you everything you hope for: you are completely transported to a world where what's realistic feels true and what's magical is so vividly, specifically, and sharply drawn that it feels real, too. You become desperately invested in, for example, whether or not someone will be able to keep/own a murderous water horse that appears to basically be constantly fighting the urge to kill him and everyone else. Trust me. This will matter more to you than you could possibly imagine.
If you've never read Stiefvater, you need to. Pretty much everything she writes is gold. Start here if you're looking for just one book, not a series, and if you're drawn to horses and the wild, wide ocean.
If you love trees and wolves and aching love stories, start with Shiver.
If you love forest magic and lost kings and Tarot and complicated incredible friendships, go right to the Raven Cycle.
To be clear: start wherever, but then read all of it.
If you've never read Stiefvater, you need to. Pretty much everything she writes is gold. Start here if you're looking for just one book, not a series, and if you're drawn to horses and the wild, wide ocean.
If you love trees and wolves and aching love stories, start with Shiver.
If you love forest magic and lost kings and Tarot and complicated incredible friendships, go right to the Raven Cycle.
To be clear: start wherever, but then read all of it.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated