“Tell me what it's like. The race."
"What it's like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It's the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It's speed, if you're lucky. It's life and it's death or it's both, and there's nothing like it.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races
"What it's like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It's the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It's speed, if you're lucky. It's life and it's death or it's both, and there's nothing like it.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races
I love Maggie Stiefvater. I love her stories, I love her writing, I love her mind. I picked up The Scorpio Races because I read Shiver, Linger, and Forever and thought they were so creatively written and thought out that I wanted to see what else she could do. Wow.
Let me start off by saying, I’m a bit afraid of horses. Being not quite 5’2”, they have a bit of an advantage over me and quite frankly, I have always been afraid of their teeth. I think they are beautiful and if I have a chance to be around them I will take it, but I usually keep a bit of space between myself and these four legged beings. I love the idea of water horses. I understand there are some myths about them (Stiefvater wrote using her own interpretation), but I had never before heard of them. I absolutely fell in love with the horses in this story, even the blood-thirsty piebald that Mutt chose. The descriptions of them coming out of the water, their desire to be in the water, and the fierceness these flesh eaters have were spectacularly written.
I also love the characters. Puck is not your average girl. She is strong, but afraid. Beautiful, but plain. Smart, but, some would say, stupid to enter the races. They are all easy to like, and I am particularly curious about Finn and what his story is.
I really hope you will read this story or at least pass it on to someone you know who enjoys young adult stories. It was a really great read.
Maggie: I know you said you would not write the "other half"....but will you PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Related Links:
http://maggiestiefvater.com/the-scorpio-races/
http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/11/book-review-the-scorpio-races-by-maggie-stiefvater.html
http://www.scholastic.ca/titles/thescorpioraces/
http://www.amazon.ca/Scorpio-Races-Maggie-Stiefvater/dp/054522490X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328280356&sr=8-1
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-Scorpio-Races-Maggie-Stiefvater/9780545224901-item.html?ikwid=the+scorpio+races&ikwsec=Home
Thanks for the links!
ReplyDeleteThat book caught my eye but not enough to actually pick it up. It sounds pretty interesting though. And yes, horses are scary!