Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races
Maggie Stiefvater

Irish island mythology. Sean Kendrick and Kate (Puck) Connelly are young residents of Thisby, an island of the Irish coast. This island is known for its horses and its fish and annually hosts horse races that attract tourists and buyers from the mainland. This annual event supports most of the island for the rest of the year. The mythology comes in the form of the water horses. These creatures are monstrous horses that live in the sea, and when the come on to land, their carnivorous appetites terrorize the locals. As part of the annual festival, a water horse race is held, and as the first line states "It is the first of November and today someone will die".

With Sean as the resident horse whisperer and Puck a feisty girl not willing to bow to conventional wisdom, our protagonists follow paths that eventually intertwine. This is an excellent character book, with the island as much a character as the people. Stiefvater has a way with the phrase that is both clever and able to convey deep meaning with few words.

Very enjoyable.
Rating: Read

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