Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 401
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: Contemporary / Fantasy / Mythology 
Release: October 19th, 2011
Buy the Book at: Book Depository / Chapters.Indigo / Barnes & Noble / Amazon

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 chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen/span>

The Scorpio Races is one of those books that kept me longing to have in my hands since I first read the summary.  The promising world of Horses, the animal I most love and that fills my childhood memories, invaded my thoughts making this wait almost unbearable. Then, the day my copy arrived at my door I felt relief and excitement. I finally got to see this book between my hands and when I opened the cover and flipped to the first page, The Scorpio Races radiated its own glow towards my face. A beautiful and heartwarming world was being revealed right in front of my eyes.

She draws back and looks into my face. I have not moved, and she barely has, but the world feels strange beneath me. 

"Tell me what to wish for" I say. "Tell me what to ask the sea for".

"To be happy. Happiness" p.360

How can I do this book justice? How can I possible express the beauty of its content? Even the most eloquent person would have a hard time trying to do it. So, I'll do my best, even though I know it won't be enough.

The dual narration of the story is one of the things that, for me, enriched my reading experience. I loved being in Puck and Sean's head. I loved to see the world through their eyes and most important, I loved to feel all the love they have in them. Their love for horses, their love for family and the love for each other. I It was absolutely heartwarming. Regardless Puck and Sean's difficult circumstances in life, I love and highly value the hours I spent with them, as them.The reflective and touching thinking of our two main characters, Puck and Sean, made me often stop between paragraphs to think about their lives... and my own. Also, their motivation and struggles for wining the Race kept cracking my heart and I wished there were two first places for them win.

Stiefvater's lyrical imagery excels in The Scorpio Races and, hours after turning the last page, I still feel everything so vivid! I can still see and feel the Island, the sky, the sand, the sea, the land horses and Water Horses. And yes, I said water horses. Maggie Stievfater takes the Water Horses from Celtic mythology and shaped them to create, once again, her own mythology. Maggie Stiefvater's emotionally evocative writing style is so brilliant that I would never tired myself of reading this book over and over. There are so many things I love about this book. I specially love the Man/Beast relationship and the love these two express to each other. Puck and her horse Dove, Sean and his horse Corr. This was, indeed, one of the most beautiful and moving things The Scorpio Races provided me along with an ending that made me shed countless silent tears. Sometimes, some little things have the greatest meaning. The Scorpio Races has little details all along that, at the end, connect to each other becoming touching moments with beautiful and gratifying messages. I love it! and I love it so much that I would like to say a lot more about it. I would like to tell you everything about it! But I wont because I want you to experience The Scorpio Races by yourself.

This was one of the most beautiful and touching stories of the year and it will still be, for sure, in the next years to come. I Think The Scorpio Races is like Ravel's Bolero of Young-Adult literature, the quiet and detailed growing of the story, gently and wonderfully, nourished the crescendo in this experience that completely overpowered me, and guided me until I reached the finish line. My reward?...an explosion of emotions!

This prize can also be yours...get off the mark, go race, go read it!

Watch the Trailer!

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website at http://maggiestiefvater.com/