If you are planning to read The Scorpio Races be warned: don’t start if you’ve got anything
else planned for the rest of your day because you won’t be able to stop reading
until the last page. Maggie Stiefvater’s latest release is riveting. And
masterfully crafted to boot.
On the tiny island of Thisby, it is October, the month
when the blood-loving water horses – capaill
uisce – climb out of the sea, ‘hungry and sea-mad’; when frenzied preparations
begin for the first of November, the day of the Scorpio Races. This is no
ordinary horse race for the islanders and riders, and if past races are
anything to go by, for some riders and their capaill mounts the price of entering will be their lives. But it’s Puck
(Kate) Connolly – the first female to ride in the races – and Sean Kendrick who
have the most at stake; both have their reasons for racing, and for each one,
the need to win outweighs the inherent risks.
Steifvater displays an unflinching ability to set characters
solidly on the page; she knows first-hand the minds and hearts of a close-knit
community, of the ache to belong, the ache to leave, and of the bitter enmity
caused by jealousy. Her characterisation is a close match for her superlative
plotting and she is a dab hand at crafting an artful sentence. Her prose is
vivid and fresh, witty and rich, with clever foreshadowing and withholding of
detail. Her descriptions of place invoke all the senses and it is easy to see
Steifvater has done her research when it comes to the portrayal of cliffs, the
ocean and the behaviour of horses. Her personification of the island makes it a
character in the story, a mysterious living entity that impacts the lives of
its inhabitants, and to which each reacts in their own way.
This is a story long in the making for Steifvater, and
as she outlines on her blog, one she believes is her best work to date, written
in response to advice she was given as a teenager to ‘write the book you've
always wanted to read, but can't find on the shelf’. It is a compelling read,
with a relentless build up of tension throughout the book. It is about courage,
kin, treachery, trust, and love; about wanting something so badly two marginalised
young people are willing to put their lives on the line. With a storyline
populated with horses, a race and romance, The
Scorpio Races is a book older teenage
girls will relish. Highly recommended.
Scholastic Books 2011
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