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mekarabeam 's review for:
The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater
adventurous
funny
tense
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:
Yes
i have conflicted feelings about this book, and i wish i didn’t!
i picked this book up because the idea of human beings attempting to tame and race fantastical, monstrous sea horses with sharp teeth and a taste for human flesh seemed like such an amazing concept. and for its credit, the capaill uisce were the absolute highlight of the book for me. they were everything i wanted them to be, and every time they were mentioned i was gripped.
however!
this is a note to anybody wanting to read this series because you’re interested in the capaill uisce or the scorpio races: the race itself lasts for about two pages and you’re mainly focused on puck connolly and her journey.
this was probably my main disappointment with the book. i found puck to be likeable (as far as reckless teenage protagonists go), but if i were to pick between her or MURDER MONSTER HORSES, it’s a bit of a no brainer. also, i didn’t really think much of the romance. but maybe that’s because i’m not a romance person.
the other thing that ended up disappointing me was how pretty much all of the buildup in the book fell flat at the end. i’ll put the next pieces of criticism behind spoilers so i can elaborate a bit more on this point:
when around 80% of the book is buildup, having the end quickly wrapped up with a happily-ever-after-bow is very disappointing. especially so, considering how dark and gory some of the things that happened in the book were.
you are shown a dozen times over the course of the book that racing a regular horse in the scorpio races is suicide. you see men’s throats ripped out, an entire dog almost eaten whole, and see first hand how outmatched dove and puck are in both speed and strength compared to the capaills.
almost all of this buildup then falls flat because:
1) puck wins the race with both her and dove pretty much no worse for wear
2) sean kendrick survives a fall into a stampede of man eating horses because his murder pony is the best one or something
3) puck wins the prize money and THEN some more to coincidentally solve all of sean’s problems
needless to say i was expecting a hell of a lot more out of THE SCORPIO RACES. but the presence of the capaill uisce as well as the atmosphere of the world building really softened the fall. despite my criticisms, i did really love the cast, and felt like i could really see each and every one of them existing on the island of thisby. i also really loved seeing the island’s traditions surrounding the races. it all felt very natural, and you can tell stiefvater put a lot of effort into her research for this world.
anyway, THE SCORPIO RACES was just fine. but it definitely had the potential to be great if it had stuck the landing.
i picked this book up because the idea of human beings attempting to tame and race fantastical, monstrous sea horses with sharp teeth and a taste for human flesh seemed like such an amazing concept. and for its credit, the capaill uisce were the absolute highlight of the book for me. they were everything i wanted them to be, and every time they were mentioned i was gripped.
however!
this is a note to anybody wanting to read this series because you’re interested in the capaill uisce or the scorpio races: the race itself lasts for about two pages and you’re mainly focused on puck connolly and her journey.
this was probably my main disappointment with the book. i found puck to be likeable (as far as reckless teenage protagonists go), but if i were to pick between her or MURDER MONSTER HORSES, it’s a bit of a no brainer. also, i didn’t really think much of the romance. but maybe that’s because i’m not a romance person.
the other thing that ended up disappointing me was how pretty much all of the buildup in the book fell flat at the end. i’ll put the next pieces of criticism behind spoilers so i can elaborate a bit more on this point:
you are shown a dozen times over the course of the book that racing a regular horse in the scorpio races is suicide. you see men’s throats ripped out, an entire dog almost eaten whole, and see first hand how outmatched dove and puck are in both speed and strength compared to the capaills.
almost all of this buildup then falls flat because:
1) puck wins the race with both her and dove pretty much no worse for wear
2) sean kendrick survives a fall into a stampede of man eating horses because his murder pony is the best one or something
3) puck wins the prize money and THEN some more to coincidentally solve all of sean’s problems
needless to say i was expecting a hell of a lot more out of THE SCORPIO RACES. but the presence of the capaill uisce as well as the atmosphere of the world building really softened the fall. despite my criticisms, i did really love the cast, and felt like i could really see each and every one of them existing on the island of thisby. i also really loved seeing the island’s traditions surrounding the races. it all felt very natural, and you can tell stiefvater put a lot of effort into her research for this world.
anyway, THE SCORPIO RACES was just fine. but it definitely had the potential to be great if it had stuck the landing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Death of parent