The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races By: Maggie Stiefvater

In November they come. In November some people die trying to ride them.  The capaill uisce, or water horses, come to the island of Thisby from the sea each year. And each year the men try to tame them enough to ride them for a large money prize in The Scorpio Races. Sean Kendrick knows this well as his father always trained these horses and died riding one. Puck “ Kate” Connolly also knows these horses can kill because one took the life of her parents.  But this year Sean and Puck both enter the race because they need to win.  Sean needs to be able to take the money and purchase his favorite horse and leave the job he is tiring of.    Puck needs to win so she can have money to save her parents house, which she finds out is not paid for.  Sean decides that Puck intrigues him and so he decides to help her train, but the men of the island believe that a woman should not be allowed to run in the race because none have done so before.  Will they both be able to get what they need from the race, and stay alive trying?

This was another great book from Maggie Stiefvater.  The story is a beautiful one of hope, love, and promise. It shows the wonderful side of people and also shows some horrible sides of people desperately trying to get what they want in different ways. The characters are ones that you take with you when you leave them.  The writing style is so easy to follow and creates vivid images in your mind. The mystery of the water horses is something that intrigued me the whole time, these horses come out of the ocean and the people believe that they can actually ride them and train them. I also liked that at the end Stiefvater talks about the actual myth about the water horses and how it came about that she wanted to write about them.  I would recommend this to high school or older because of some adult language and content. 

I purchased this book from Amazon.com

ISBN: 978-0-545-22490-1