The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

****

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 have been thinking that maybe I am the wrong person to write this review. You know, since I have already admitted my author-crush on Maggie Stiefvater. But since I am the only one of us that has read Scorpio Races so far, you will have to deal with my fangirl tendencies.

This is a bit difficult for me to admit but it took me a little while to get into The Scorpio Races. The story captured me immediately but the pace is slower than what I am used to. It took time to switch gears and fall into the pace that the story requires. But once I caught the rhythm, I was able to enjoy the words and phrases that Ms. Stiefvater has yet again turned into works of art.

I won’t give a synopsis of this story as providing more than what is given above would spoil the fun. I will tell you this. The Scorpio Races is a story about simple people living in a simple yet very dangerous world. If you are looking for an action packed story, this is not it. Of course you will see some action because really, you can’t have man-eating horses and not have some action going on. But in the end, this is a simple and quiet book highlighted by simple and beautiful prose.

Don’t be fooled though. Although quiet, this book will demand quite a bit from you. It will demand that you make a cup of tea. It will demand that you drink said tea as you sit in your favorite reading nook. And it will demand that you not move from that spot until you finish the story. And a book that demand those things? Well, that’s a book that will probably grace my bookshelves Forever…



Nat