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A review by bookph1le
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
2.0
More extensive review to follow. But the bottom line is that, while Stiefvater does write nicely, this book was pretty much all filler with draggy pacing. Really, it should have been titled "Preparing for the Scorpio Races", seeing as how the race itself takes up 10 pages or less out of 400, and it takes something like 375 pages to even get there.
Full review:
The Scorpio Races is my first experience with Maggie Stiefvater, though I've been very much aware of the Wolves of Mercy series. I'm not really a fan of vampire or werewolf novels, but I thought I might give the Wolves series a shot if I liked this book. After all, I'd heard a lot of good things about Stiefvater's writing in general. While I can say that the praise I've heard of her writing was well deserved, I think The Scorpio Races shows that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. There will be some spoilers in this review.
At first, I was really drawn in by Stiefvater's lovely writing. She has a nice turn of phrase, and she describes her settings and most of her characters in very vivid ways. I liked how she used just a few details to give the reader a very good idea of the personalities of such characters as Finn. I was also very much intrigued by the concept she presented. The first pages are such a strong start, such a visceral portrayal of a past race and of the death of Sean's father. I was eager to continue on and to find out what would happen to Sean in the races and then...nothing. Seriously, there are about three hundred seventy five pages out of four hundred without a single race.
And this is the serious issue with this book: there is far, far too much buildup and then the climax is over and done with in a flash. In fact, by the time I reached the climax, I was so fatigued from all of the detail preceding it that I was pretty indifferent to finally reading about the race. Yes, Stiefvater's writing is lovely, but there is so much in this book that doesn't need to be here. At times, I got the distinct impression that her characters were rambling--and, indeed, they sometimes mentioned this themselves. A ramble here and there is fine if it advances the plot or tells us something key about the characters, but that wasn't the case here.
My biggest pet peeve with this book was the way everyone constantly referred to one another by both first and last name. Who does that? It got to the point where it was the only thing I noticed about the novel, kind of like when a friend points out to you that someone you're listening to scratches their nose every other word and you find you can't focus on anything else but that.
Another large issue for me was that I simply did not buy into the premise. At first, I thought the book took place in a fantasy setting, and I was okay with that. There could have been a cultural context for why a bunch of people consistently risked their lives in a race where they ride man-eating horses. When I realized it was set on Earth, sometime in the not-too-distant past, I was shocked.
Yes, Puck is in a sticky situation and I could see how she would be desperate for money, but I still could not buy into the idea that she'd risk her life to do so--and I especially couldn't buy the idea that she'd risk her life just to prove a point to her brother. That part of the novel really doesn't work, because Gabe was never fleshed out enough for me to understand why Puck was devastated at the thought of his leaving. I understood that she was grieving the loss of her parents and didn't want to witness the further breakup of her family, but this particular plot point just did not resonate with me. There's so much superfluous detail in here about Malvern drinking his tea with salt and butter, yet I was lacking crucial information, such as what kind of bond Puck may have had with her elder brother.
As for Sean, his motivations made no more sense to me. I could understand his wanting to win a beloved steed, but one who killed his father? Really? It's a shame because his connection with the horses is rather fascinating. Had he been so attached to any steed other than the one who killed his father, I think I would have really bought into his storyline.
Lastly, though the characters are quite interesting, there is a distinct lack of voice between Puck and Sean. I think Stiefvater would have been better off writing in the third person and switching perspectives, because I never really felt like I was in either of the characters' heads.
In the end, I just couldn't shake the thought that the characters may as well have been riding tigers, as that would have made about as much sense as them riding man-eating horses. It probably doesn't need to be said that I won't be putting the Wolves series on my to-read list any time soon.
Full review:
The Scorpio Races is my first experience with Maggie Stiefvater, though I've been very much aware of the Wolves of Mercy series. I'm not really a fan of vampire or werewolf novels, but I thought I might give the Wolves series a shot if I liked this book. After all, I'd heard a lot of good things about Stiefvater's writing in general. While I can say that the praise I've heard of her writing was well deserved, I think The Scorpio Races shows that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. There will be some spoilers in this review.
At first, I was really drawn in by Stiefvater's lovely writing. She has a nice turn of phrase, and she describes her settings and most of her characters in very vivid ways. I liked how she used just a few details to give the reader a very good idea of the personalities of such characters as Finn. I was also very much intrigued by the concept she presented. The first pages are such a strong start, such a visceral portrayal of a past race and of the death of Sean's father. I was eager to continue on and to find out what would happen to Sean in the races and then...nothing. Seriously, there are about three hundred seventy five pages out of four hundred without a single race.
And this is the serious issue with this book: there is far, far too much buildup and then the climax is over and done with in a flash. In fact, by the time I reached the climax, I was so fatigued from all of the detail preceding it that I was pretty indifferent to finally reading about the race. Yes, Stiefvater's writing is lovely, but there is so much in this book that doesn't need to be here. At times, I got the distinct impression that her characters were rambling--and, indeed, they sometimes mentioned this themselves. A ramble here and there is fine if it advances the plot or tells us something key about the characters, but that wasn't the case here.
My biggest pet peeve with this book was the way everyone constantly referred to one another by both first and last name. Who does that? It got to the point where it was the only thing I noticed about the novel, kind of like when a friend points out to you that someone you're listening to scratches their nose every other word and you find you can't focus on anything else but that.
Another large issue for me was that I simply did not buy into the premise. At first, I thought the book took place in a fantasy setting, and I was okay with that. There could have been a cultural context for why a bunch of people consistently risked their lives in a race where they ride man-eating horses. When I realized it was set on Earth, sometime in the not-too-distant past, I was shocked.
Yes, Puck is in a sticky situation and I could see how she would be desperate for money, but I still could not buy into the idea that she'd risk her life to do so--and I especially couldn't buy the idea that she'd risk her life just to prove a point to her brother. That part of the novel really doesn't work, because Gabe was never fleshed out enough for me to understand why Puck was devastated at the thought of his leaving. I understood that she was grieving the loss of her parents and didn't want to witness the further breakup of her family, but this particular plot point just did not resonate with me. There's so much superfluous detail in here about Malvern drinking his tea with salt and butter, yet I was lacking crucial information, such as what kind of bond Puck may have had with her elder brother.
As for Sean, his motivations made no more sense to me. I could understand his wanting to win a beloved steed, but one who killed his father? Really? It's a shame because his connection with the horses is rather fascinating. Had he been so attached to any steed other than the one who killed his father, I think I would have really bought into his storyline.
Lastly, though the characters are quite interesting, there is a distinct lack of voice between Puck and Sean. I think Stiefvater would have been better off writing in the third person and switching perspectives, because I never really felt like I was in either of the characters' heads.
In the end, I just couldn't shake the thought that the characters may as well have been riding tigers, as that would have made about as much sense as them riding man-eating horses. It probably doesn't need to be said that I won't be putting the Wolves series on my to-read list any time soon.