Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really loved this! The audio was fantastic, Steve West and Fiona Hardingham are quickly becoming two of my favorite narrators.

This is my first Maggie Stiefvater book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the setting of the island of Thisby and the mythology behind the races. There is a blurb at the end of the audio that talks about the mythology a little bit and I loved how she came up with the magical water horses that are at the center of The Scorpio Races. I enjoyed the writing and I'm looking forward to reading more from Stiefvater.

The Scorpio Races follows Puck Connolly and her horse Dove and Sean Kendrick and his strange red stallion Corr. Corr is not an ordinary horse, he is a water horse, a capaill usisce, a violent meat eating horse born of the sea. Every month in November, the capaill usisce climb out of the sea, wreak havoc on the town of Skarmouth, the people capture them if they dare and train them to race. The winner takes home a fat purse while the losers face death and dismemberment. Those who race know what they are getting themselves into, Sean more than anyone. His father raced Corr and lost his life, Sean now trains Corr for the races and has won several times. Sean works for a local horse breeder and Sean is his horse whisper. Puck on the other hand only has her gentle mare Dove, she knows nothing of the violent water horses. Her family is poor and she and her brothers do what they can to make ends meet. Her older brother decides he wants to leave the island and find work on the mainland, and in her desperation to keep him at home Puck decides to enter the races. If she wins she can earn the money she needs to keep their house. Her older brother is leaving no matter what she does, while her younger brother Finn does what he can to help her train. Terrified by the capaill horses, Puck decides to race Dove in the Scorpio Races. Puck faces adversity at almost every turn, but she is determined to win, but if she is going to win she has to train. During her training, she finds herself befriending Sean. Sean also wants to win the race so he can finally purchase Corr outright. In the end they develop a beautiful friendship that leads to more, but the romance is barely there. It is a pleasant development in the book, but it does not take over the story. Sean's relationship with his horse is beautiful as well and much more present in the story. I loved learning about the horses and the interaction they had with Sean, they were terrifying and powerful and unpredictable but Sean always loved and respected them. The races are only a very small portion of the book, the story is more about the lead up to the races. If you've ever watched a horse race or any race for that matter it is over in seconds, but the training and preparation takes months. That is how I would describe this book, it is more about the lead up to the races and the trials and tribulations our characters must face to get to the finish line, not the few minutes they actually race. That part is there too, and it is everything I expected.