Holly's Scorpio Races

My favourite book to date is probably The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. THis book is about a small island in the Atlantic, where the sea around the island is inhabited by carnivorous water horses, called capall uisce (COP-ple ISH-ke, plural is CAP-ple). And each autumn there is horse race on the island, with these capaill uisce. They are wild and dangerous and people always die at the races, but they are what attract the people from the mainland. One girl, Puck, enters the race on her land horse Dove to win money so her brother will not leave her. Sean Kendrick, four time winner, wants to win this time so he can quit his job and truly own the capall he has a connection with.

This is my favourite book for a number of reasons. I have always loved horses ever since I was a little girl and I loved horse lore even more. Stiefvater often deals with Celtic mythology, which is often unheard of in our society, but just as weird and entertaining as the Greek mythos. This book alternates between points of view between chapters, which I have always liked. Both Sean and Puck are relatable characters from very different backgrounds and they both want very different things. Yet they find similarities in each other and soon become friends. This book holds an element of romance but it’s not the main plot, which I always like. Romance is nice to add to the story, but it gets dull if that’s all I’m here for. Yet the story is hardly ever boring, and there are no true villains in the story. This isn’t about a hero vanquishing a great evil, just two young people trying to do their best to get what they want in the world  and support their loved ones. Even side characters are so deep and they have their own desires and foibles, which is so interesting. Even the “monsters” in this book are made infinitely scarier yet more desirable at the same time. They’re monsters that devour sheep and tear limbs from wild animals, they pull people into the ocean and either drown them or eat them alive. They’re horrible and terrifying, yet they’re always described as regal and beautiful.

Another reason as to why I really like this book is because Stiefvater does such a good job worldbuilding. There’s an entire culture on the little island of Thisby that is so unique from what we have and it seems barbaric yet elite. There’s so much detail spent on a little island, and extremely little is known about the outside world. The descriptions and ways of life in the book make it hard to tell what year it is, even what era. But the story isn’t about history, it’s about the monster races on Thisby. Enough detail is given to keep us informed and intrigued, but enough is left out to keep us wondering and not bore us. It’s a wonderful story and I would recommend it to pretty much everyone, so long as you can handle a little bit of gore, death, and sadness.

Comments

  1. Kim Kamminga28 September 2017 at 09:40

    I loved this book as well, have you read any of her other books? I have all of them--I love the worlds she creates as well.

    ReplyDelete

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