“The secret is to remember the race while the others forget everything but the ocean.”
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is a spellbinding story of the innate magic on a little island called Thisby. Every year, the capaill uisce jump from the sea, and those strong enough to harness them compete in the Scorpio Races, which take place on the first of November right against the sea shore. The capaill uisce are beautiful beasts of myth: water horses that are faster and stronger than their land counterparts. They’re also more bloodthirsty. Only the bravest can tame a capaill uisce long enough to ride them during the races, using special tricks known only to the best stablehands. If they can’t handle the horse, the rider will die. Puck Connolly has lived on Thisby her whole life. Her parents were lost to capaill uisce years ago, and this year, her older brother announces that he’s leaving his Puck and their brother Finn to work on the mainland, while they stay in their house with too-empty cupboards and not-enough money. In a desperate attempt to keep her brother for a few more days and earn some money, Puck decides to enter the Scorpio Races. This decision is made even more dangerous by the fact that she’ll be the first female rider, and that she has to win to keep her brother and her home. Sean Kendrick is a four-time champion of the Scorpio Races, an orphan working for the richest man on the island: Malvern. Every year, Sean rides the red capaill uisce he tamed himself, but Corr belongs to Malvern. Sean’s one dream is to one day be able to buy Corr, and when he stakes his job and Corr on this year’s race, it becomes imperative that he win. Two main characters are introduced, two separate stores. Both have one thing in common: they both have to win the Scorpio Race, or else they will lose everything they love.
“This island is a cunning and secretive thing. I can’t say what it has planned for me.”
Stiefvater’s writing is addictive. She focuses on our main characters and their interactions, rather than setting a whole scene through exploratory writing. It doesn’t matter though, because the peripheral glances of Thisby through the lenses of Sean and Puck make the story at once grounded and ephemeral. Both of her main characters are beautifully fleshed out, and when Sean’s steadiness meets Puck’s wildness, it is absolutely clear that their relationship is one that will flourish. They are individual people and written as such. The romance is a careful afterthought, as Stiefvater lends more precedence to the titular event of the novel, and the main objective of both characters’ journeys: the Scorpio Races. Poetic yet blunt, this book is a fascinating read, bringing to you a tale of free horses, inevitable death, and the magic in belief and making wishes.
“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”
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