The Scorpio Races

This book combined everything I love, horses, the sea, romance and determination. Maggie Stiefvater has managed to weave a beautifully intricate story that will entrance you from the beginning. I was amazed at how well Maggie manages to capture horses through out this novel,  normally authors have a tendency to anthropomorphise horses making them seem less of an animal than they really are. I think the harshness and deadliness of the capall uisce helps keep the animalness of the horse intact. Part of what really attracted me to this novel was the interesting way the seahorses were portrayed as lethal animals, but it stresses that this is because they are animals, they do not consciously make the decision to be vicious instead they are like the sea from which they are borne. Unruly, beautiful and completely its own, I enjoyed the way the magic of the sea was portrayed as neutral and ancient, it is what it is, nature/mother earth itself.


Thisby the island on which the novel is placed is woven with it's own unique magic, seemingly the only island to have the capall uisce. Thisby is beautiful and I loved the way it is part of the sea, Maggie managed to make the boundaries between land and sea minimal, the islanders respect the sea and are aware more so than others of the strength and power of the sea. Thisby itself is almost a character of this novel, it's beauty and presence in the decisions of the characters as well as their developments qualifies it as a character really!

Puck
Puck is great, a tom boy, determined, stubborn and in love with her island and her home she'll do everything she can to save her home even f it means racing in the Scorpio Races against the deadly capall uisce on her island bred pony. She is a great character to follow and, oh you will, you'll be willing her to come through, to win, to do what's right, and figure out what's right. Puck's got a hell of a lot on her shoulders and someone needs to help her lift..... and in comes Sean.

Sean
Sean is basically the human equivalent of the sea. He feels it, he moves like it, he is fluid and graceful, and he loves the capall uisce: he recognizes their danger but he is attracted to them and has more control over them than other people. Sean is also stubborn and passionate, he has had to fight for himself for so long that he finds it hard to trust other people, yet he finds himself attracted and interested to the determined whirlwind that is Puck.

Although individually Puck and Sean are great, together their romance is amazing. It is gradual and sweet and based on deep attraction and trust. Their mutual respect for each other is so endearing, that you'll wait, practically drooling, for the next sweet advance in their relationship. Their romance was so sweet you didn't need them making out every second in fact that would have ruined the powerful magic Maggie manages to weave through this novel.

I've read Maggie Stiefvater's The Wolves of Mercy Falls and I have to say this surpasses them by far. And they were pretty dead awesome. A solid 5 out of 5. This book was amazing and you really can't afford to miss it.

It's published by Scholastic and you can and should and will get it from Amazon for £5.99. A late Valentine treat for any fellow single people out there or a belated present to ask for from your sweetheart!

Good Reading!
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