In a way The Scorpio Races is not about The Scorpio Races; it's about people and their race against time, against adversity, and in the female protagonist's case, against all odds to try and succeed in the Scorpio Races. In a way, this is explained by the author through the voice of the female protagonist as she thinks about the male protagonist: "Sean stands at the edges of the surf, looking out at the sea, and there is something curious and longing in his expression, like he, too, wishes to go leap into the ocean and be gone. I think, just then, that this is why Norman Falk asked for Sean to be there. Not because he could perform the ritual. **But because Sean Kendrick, looking like that, is the races, even if no race was ever run. A reminder of what the horse means to the island-- a bridge between what we are and that thing about Thisby that we all want but can't seem to touch**," (**emphasis mine).
This contrasts sharply with books such as the Mazerunner trilogy and The Hunger Games in which the majority of the action in each book takes place during the trial after which the book is named. Indeed, the race itself does not happen until about 90% of the way through the book. This is a novel about horses, but one does not have to be a horse-lover to enjoy it- I would not brand myself as such. This is not the book for you if you are looking for make-out scenes and interminable battle scenes. The romance and the action are subtle and are "grown from the rocks and dirt around" Thisby (Quote from Sean's description of Puck).
The prose of this book reminds me of a song: it's beautiful and you can read it over and over again. I almost shudder to call it prose. It leaves you with no doubts about how Thisby looks & feels; how the horses look, feel, smell and sound; how the people look. The words are rhapsodic and lyrical, which is why I have included so many quotes from the book. My description of this writing cannot do it justice.
The story focuses on two characters, Kate `Puck' Connolly and Sean Kendrick, and is told in alternating perspectives from each of their points-of-view in first-person present. The author denotes each chapter or part of a chapter with the character's name to let you know from whose point of view that part is told. Sean has a knack for dealing with the water horses that is portrayed as being innate most of the time, though there is some superstition involved as well. Puck is a middle sister wedged between two brothers in age and the siblings are orphans, their parents killed by the water horses while fishing the year before this story takes place. She decides to compete in the Scorpio Races, at first to try and keep her brother from leaving the island and later she realizes she needs the money from winning even more than she initially thought. The traditional island men continuously try to bar her attempts because she is a girl and she isn't riding a water horse. As the friendship and eventual romance between Sean and Puck builds, so does a unique tension as the circumstances become such that each character must win the Races in order to get what he or she wants- but only one of them can.
The characters are well fleshed out, to include the secondary characters. As a reader you resent Puck's oldest brother though he is almost entirely absent in the book and you see her struggle with what appears to be her younger brother's anxiety- or possibly obsessive/compulsive-disorder, even though it is never given a name. You get detailed glimpses into the lives of Dory Maud and her sisters, who help Puck bring in income; the priest; the butcher and his wife, at intervals supportive and averse to Puck's participation; the rich boss of the horse yard, Mr. Malvern, owner of Sean's stallion and father of Sean's enemy; the insightful American horse lover, customer of Malvern's but advocate of all that is good. In many ways this book is able to present many original characters without falling on many of the traditional archetypes.
The setting is the island of Thisby, a locale invented by the author as a stage on which her story plays out, a setting which is just as integral to the plot and story as the characters themselves. In reading this book it is impossible not to visualize, smell, hear and feel Thisby. "Thisby's tiny: four thousand people on a rocky crag jutting from the sea, hours from the mainland. It's all cliffs and horses and sheep and one-track roads winding past treeless fields to Skarmouth, the largest town on the island" and "is a cunning and secretive thing."
The animals traditionally ridden by men in the Scorpio Races are the capaill uisce, the author's interpretation of the Celtic legend of the water horses. "These are not ordinary horses. Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back. Some of the horses have lathered. Froth drips down their lips and chests, looking like sea foam, hiding the teeth that will tear into men later." They are horses that live in the sea but as November- the time of the Scorpio Races- approaches the currents and the weather bring the water horses onto the beaches of Thisby, where men risk their lives to capture and attempt to tame these creatures enough for them to race on.
Unlike many Young-adult novels today, I would have no qualms about a teenager reading this book. Though there are mentions of a horse goddess in a parade, the portrayal of the horse goddess is comparable to us having leprechauns in St. Patrick's Day parades. The participants also have to have their finger cut and have a drop of blood dropped on a rock to declare that they will participate. The word `bastard' is used and there is obviously violence when people are killed by horses but I don't think that it is gratuitous.
I read complaints about the theme of the book being that money can solve all of your problems. I disagree. I feel that the theme is that youth can find a way to solve problems. Both of the main characters are orphans and have had to grow up fast and while they do need money to solve their problems, they don't just want it for frivolous reasons or for the sake of being rich. In fact, one character offers Sean the opportunity to go to America and be a partner in his horse yard and Sean doesn't take it and even states that it isn't money he wants- it's the water horse, Corr. Another theme is the importance of family. Puck frequently refers to the losses her family has already suffered and the further loss they will feel when their oldest brother leaves. There are also thematic elements related to gender equality, breaking the mold of doing-things-one-way-because-that's-how-it's-always-been and using your talents to solve problems.
I've never read a book quite like this and I won't be surprised if I never do again. In a market flooded with dystopias and teen-paranormal-romance devoted primarily to vampires and werewolves, this is a paranormal book with teens and romance that is somehow totally unique. It's a sweet surprise, like finding a note from a parent in your lunch box as a kid, and I don't know if I can be surprised like this again.
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Printing issues on pages 161-180
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2020
Just read book and pages 161-180 have printing issues. hard to read.
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2020
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