Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: N/A
Publisher: Scholastic
Publish Date: October 18, 2011
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 416
Buy the book: The Scorpio Races
Shaunta’s Review: I have never been disappointed by a Printz winner or honor book, and The Scorpio Races is no exception. It’s tense in all the right places, emotionally engaging, peopled by characters that are impossible not to care about, and the story takes place in a beautiful, well-drawn setting.
My favorite kind of fantasy story is the sort where the fantasy element is blended seamlessly into the real world. The water horses that provide the fantasy in The Scorpio Races are a part of the real world on the island of Thisby, and aren’t questioned by the rest of the world, either. The race itself is dangerous and kind of insane–and a little unbelievable. The race requires the same kind of suspension of disbelief that The Hunger Games does. If you can let yourself believe that there is a world where water horses are real, and people risk death for the glory of racing them (and lots of people do die, every year), then you’re going to love this story.
I particularly appreciated the relationship between Sean and Puck. It was absolutely believable. They live on this little island, where everyone knows everything about everyone else, and so as they start to fall for each other it’s like it’s happening on a stage. The awkwardness and tension of that is palpable and a little lovely. It’s impossible not to root for these two.
I don’t want to give too much away, but I really, really loved the end of this story. Big, fat love.
The short chapters made this book not only easy to read, but impossible to put down. I spent two days saying to myself: “I’ll just read one more. Just one more.” And then it was over. Stiefvater has a real way with developing her characters into complicated, round people you’d want to know.
Over all, I really enjoyed this story. It’s a fairy tale that you can almost imagine really happening, and a real love story, not just between characters, but between a girl and her home and a boy and his horse as well.
