Review 12: 'The Scorpio Races'

'Why Luke will like it: It is a "horse book".. kind of.'. This left me less than amazingly enthusiastic about this book. What that sentence doesn't tell you is that they are bloodthirsty killer horses that rise up out of the sea. I really like books that centre around legends and mythology, whether they are from Earth, or some fantasy world. I like a bit of romance. I'm a fan of life and death struggles. This book has all of these and yet I had to push myself to read it. I think Emma is partly right when she says most of the books I read are written in fairly basic prose, not in that they are, but in the fact that they don't waste words trying to sound pretty.* The Scorpio Races, I feel, spends too much time sounding pretty and not enough time doing things.That said, I did like how well Stiefvater portrays the emotions of the characters, and Puck's desire to remain on the island and in the house where they grew up.

So yeah, that's my take on this. I liked the fantasy, the story and themes, but it took too long to get anywhere. It is however, still a good read. You're up now Em.

- L

* Amusingly enough, both the books I read immediately before and after this challenge were of the  more complex/pretty/descriptive of the books I generally read.

Challenge 14: 'The Scorpio Races'

The book: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is a very hard book to describe. It's about horse racing, and killer sea horses, and magic and superstition, and living on an island and moving away, and feminism and independence. I said when I finished it a few weeks ago that it was the best book I've read this year, but trying to convince other people to read about killer horses that come out of the ocean was a bit of a hard sell.


Why I liked it: I loved the phrases that Stiefvater chooses. I loved the connection that Puck and Sean have to the island and to the horses. I loved their relationship and their independence.

Why Luke will like it: It is a "horse book"... kind of, but only in the loosest sense of the word, and definitely not a giggly girly horse book. There is a boy main character and a girl one who kicks arse. There are fantasy elements to the story, although it feels very grounded to me, and while they're not like anything he's probably read before, I think that side will appeal to him.

Why Luke should read it: I may be wrong, but I think most of what Luke reads is written in fairly basic prose. I want him to appreciate language, and the poetry of word choices, and to feel like he just has to re-read or underline or email me a particular turn of phrase because it's just so perfect. Not to say that this is the best ever example of that, or that there aren't other books that could do this (in fact I have another one in mind for a future Challenge), but I think The Scorpio Races is a nice place to start.