The Scorpio Races

One word.. STUPENDOUS!

The best book I have ever read. The well-constructed sentences, the flow of words... it left me astonished. I kept saying: “I can’t believe I just read this beautiful sentence”.

This book is amazing, and is officially my favorite book in the world. I loved all the excitement and action of the the plot. Stiefvater us the best author in the world, and I absolutely hope there will be a sequel!😄😄😄😜

So, I just want to start out by saying this review is going to be long, but knowing how popular Maggie's other works are, I know people are going to see this and think "Is it as good?" And the answer, my dear friends, is that it is so, SO much better. This book is enchantingly dangerous, calm in its descriptions of the extremely bloodthirsty water horses even though the danger of the water horses presence is an urgent threat. It's the kind of seemingly quiet tale with so many questions lurking below the surface. First off, I just finished the Scorpio Races a few days ago after reading it at the library. I came without my library card and discovered her novels. Scorpio was the only one not a series and I wanted to finish it then, so I picked it up after reading like 2 chapters of the first Raven Cycle book. I was immediately drawn into the world Maggie created, an imaginary island called Thisby located near England, Scotland, Ireland etc. The words she uses are so descriptive and beautiful, it's hard for me in my oh-so-limited vocabulary to describe it. But this book is a masterpiece. It doesn't roughly grab you and engulf you in action, language, or excessive romance. Instead it steadily draws you in with its descriptions of the island, the feelings developing between Puck and Sean, and most importantly, the capaill uische (hope I'm spelling that right), the bloodthirsty yet beautiful water horses that swim from the Atlantic onto the shore of Thisby and are captured, tamed, and trained for the yearly, legendary Scorpio Races. Puck is a girl who lost both parents and is about to lose her older brother as well, and Sean, is an orphan who works for an internationally famous Thoroughbred farm. One note- if you aren't a horse, or even animal person, you will not like this book. The whole premise of this book is preparing and then racing in a HORSE race. So it's got tons of horse stuff in it. But I actually own a wild island pony (from an island herd in Virginia) myself so I absolutely loved the wild, almost untrainable nature of the water horses. Puck is a feisty, yet honest heroine who I loved from the start. Her quest to save her house and keep her brother from moving to the mainland was such a noble quest, and it appealed to me greatly. The fact that she rides in the races, AND on her own horse, Dove, is incredible and extremely brave. I'm not sure if I could do that. However, Sean was the book-stealer for me. His "horse-whisperer" ways with the water horses and just his whole personality drew me in. The parts where he narrated were the best. Ok, I know this review has been really long, so if you've made it to here I want to say thank you for taking the time to here me long rant. And let me say, compared to the first book in Maggie's Shiver series, Scorpio Races is INFINITELY better. More description, less boring romance. Not that Shivers romance is boring, in there just, you know, SO MUCH of it. Nuff said. Hope you enjoyed my review and will now read the book! Seriously, read it. Go rent it from your library if your cheap like me. Thanks! CJM

The characters are well thought and the story is very one of a kind! I don't read often but I think I'll start doing more of it!

I am not a horse person, I've never been a horse person but this was amazing .🎈 It is one of those books you'll never forget and has this brilliant ending. This is a must read

I absolutely loved this story.Congratulations to Maggie Stiefvater,for a job so well done.I've always loved horses and shown an interest in european legends and lore.Although Thisby is fictional ,the author clearly drew from real life.I felt like I was there with Puck and Sean. Have a feeling I'll be reading this book again....!

This book is a terrific book, probably my favorite all time. It is a fantastic story and I recommend it 100%

ABSOLUTE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD from a horse lovers view this captures the magic of horses but isn't one of the those horse books (which are horrible) The characters are completely alive and are bold and go father than almost any other book I've read the thought and cleverness in the book and story makes me wish I could go to Thisby because I know I would never live because my heart wouldn't allow it this book sits on my self well worn because every month or so I reread because the magic of the books comes alive again and again no matter how many times u read it so people get this book because it will change your world <3

This is a truly amazing read. It is beautiful, sad, and slightly wrenches the heart in only the way excellent prose and endearing characters can. The magic, the tension, the protagonists, the older feel of the world and the belief that the young can carve out a beautiful and strong world of their own makes this novel a bright spot in YA fiction. I wish I could recommend the author's other more popular works, but this is her best yet. I hope she continues in this vein. Also, I'm pretty sure her editor's got to be the bomb to help pull this together. Thank you, whomever you are.