The Scorpio Races

I've read, and re-read, and re-read again all of Maggie Stiefvater's books. And I love them all, equally, like children. They sit pride of place on my top shelf and I gaze fondly at them on cold winter's evenings. Not really, but I do love them a lot. I've chosen to do a quick post about The Scorpio Races because I think that if you're going to start reading Maggie Stiefvater's books it's a good one to start on as it's a stand alone novel.

The book is based on the legend of water horses, which has many different versions. Some talk of a half man/half horse that steals away young fair maidens, some do not. But the version Stiefvater went with is the latter, of horses from the sea, who eat flesh. Pretty creepy if you think about it, but a fab basis for a story. 

Now, onto the characters. I don't want to give too much away because I personally hate when overviews do that. I just want to say that they are all very real, or as real as you can get in a novel about people-eating horses. Puck is the sort of girl you want to be or you want to be friends with. She's tough and individual and you want her to succeed, you want her to win. But then comes along Sean and you like him as well and he's very harsh and cold and you want to get to know him; you want Puck to get to know him. As the story progresses, both characters open up and reveal their pasts, their history and that only makes you love them more. If you're like me, and get very involved in the books that you read, you will fall in love with them.

The story line is brilliant, details are worked in a sophisticated manner (wahey, A Level English Language) and the range of vocabulary is very mixed. It is both informal and formal and there is a key equestrian lexical field running throughout. But you don't need to know about horses to read this, it's not all technical. The same as you don't need to be an expert on the water horse myth; as it is all very carefully explained.

The book is very, very emotional, but you won't find yourself crying your eyes out. You will be moved- that's a definite. If you aren't, you clearly have a heart of stone.
My one grievance is that you never really get a conclusion in terms of Puck and Sean- and some people like that. I don't. I want to be told what happens so I know that they've lived happily ever after.  

Overall: 11/10.