The Scorpio Races

Summary:

 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shiver and Linger comes a brand new, heartstopping novel. Some race to win. Others race to survive. 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 choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen. As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.

Staff Review:

     On a small island not so far away and in a time not so different than the present, the water horse races known as the Scorpio Races are held every November.  Islanders capture and train the water horses, which, while faster than any normal horse, feed on blood rather than hay and long for the sea.  Puck Connelly enters the race to save her house and to keep her family together, yet she races on her island pony not a water horse.  Sean enters because racing is a part of him, and although only nineteen he has won the Scorpio Races four times, yet neither his winnings nor his water horse are his own.  Puck and Sean are brought together by the races, one racing to hold on to everything she knows while the other seeks his independence and the chance for a new life.

     Told in alternating perspectives, this story captivated me.  This is a book about small town life, racing, adventure, and friendship, all told with a dash of fantasy and a sense of the romantic.  The writing is simple, yet also profound much like the story itself.  Even as I write this review and look through the pages I am tempted to begin the story again and escape to this island.  And if I do manage to return perhaps I will find that you have also ventured there to witness the races for yourself. 

-- by Jordan F.