The Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater Narrated by Steve West, Fiona Hardingham

Overview

With her trademark lyricism, Maggie Stiefvater turns to a new world, where a pair are swept up in a daring, dangerous race across a cliff-with more than just their lives at stake should they lose.

Editorial Reviews

Jennifer Hubert Swan

If The Scorpio Races sounds like nothing you've ever read, that's because it is. The capaill uisce are exhilarating, frightening creations, far more fascinating in their quivering, carnivorous rage than lovelorn vampires or angsty fallen angels, the current paranormal darlings of Y.A. literature. Stiefvater has successfully plumbed lesser-known myths and written a complex literary thriller that pumps new blood into a genre suffering from post-Twilight burnout.
—The New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly

In her closing notes, Stiefvater (the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy) calls this a book “about killer horses”—terrifying faerie creatures that eat meat and seek to drown humans—and, in virtually the same breath, says that it “isn’t really about water horses.” She’s right on both counts. On the island of Thisby, the Scorpio Races are held every November, when the driven or the crazy ride the beaches on the backs of these mounts. Sean Kendrick does it for love, winning year after year on the stallion Corr; Puck Connolly, pitting her ordinary horse against the killers, does it out of desperation, to win money to keep her home and to earn respect from her older brother, who threatens to desert the family. Stiefvater’s narration is as much about atmospherics as it is about event, and the water horses are the environment in which Sean and Puck move, allies and rivals to the end. It’s not a feel-good story—dread, loss, and hard choices are the islanders’ lot. As a study of courage and loyalty tested, however, it is an utterly compelling read. Ages 13–up. (Oct.)¦

From the Publisher

é “Stiefvater's novel, inspired by Manx, Irish, and Scottish legends of beautiful but deadly fairy horses that emerge from the sea each autumn, begins rivetingly and gets better and better . . . all the way, in fact, to best.”–Horn Book Review, Starred Reviewé “Masterful...like nothing else out there now.”–Kirkus Reviews, Starred Reviewé “A study of courage and loyalty tested…utterly compelling.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred Reviewé “A book with cross-appeal to lovers of fantasy, horse stories, romance, and action-adventure, this seems to have a shot at being a YA blockbuster.”–Booklist, Starred Reviewé “Upon the sea-battered and wind-swept isle of Thisby, fall brings the famed and feared capaill uisce, or water horses, and with them, death . . . The author takes great liberties with the Celtic myth, but the result is marvelous.”–School Library Journal, Starred Review“Stiefvater not only steps out of the young adult fantasy box with “The Scorpio Races” but crushes it with pounding hooves…. If “The Scorpio Races” sounds like nothing you've ever read, that's because it is.”–The New York Times Book Review“Tactile world-building, an island full of compelling characters, and the budding romance between Sean and Puck all make for an unforgettable book that's quite unlike anything else out there.”–NPR Books“With this beautifully executed drama, Stiefvater has established herself as one of the finest YA novelists writing today.”–Entertainment Weekly“Tense, atmospheric, and utterly original.”–People Magazine

School Library Journal - Audio

Gr 7 Up—On the island of Thisby, October is a time of mounting tension, as the great water horses descend from the sea. Fierce, fast, and dangerous, they are used in the yearly Scorpio Races. Riders must combine skill with luck as they fight to keep hold of their horse and avoid becoming one of the race's causalities in Maggie Stiefvater's action-packed, romantic fantasy (Scholastic, 2011). Sean Kendrick, a loner and sought-after horse trainer, has won the numerous times and plans on doing it again this year. However, things change when Puck Connolly decides to enter in the hope of winning enough money to save her home and keep her family together. Puck will not only be the first female to ride in the races, but also plans on riding a land horse. With odds 45 to 1, she faces the ridicule of the entire island and those that care about her fear her death. While first thrown together by circumstance, Sean and Puck soon realize that they share a bond with the island and seeing the other succeed becomes as important as winning the race for themselves. With English accents, narrators Steve West and Fiona Hardingham alternate the voices of Puck and Sean, adding an authentic rhythm to the text. Pacing and delivery is strong and pulls listeners into a world of strong imagery and fierce emotion. This will be in heavy demand in middle and high school libraries.—Rebecca Flannery, Lyman Memorial High School, Lebanon, CT

JANUARY 2012 - AudioFile

Steve West and Fiona Hardingham bring Stiefvater’s lyrical prose to life in this fantasy story about the island community of Thisby and its legendary traditions. With charming accents, West and Hardingham recount the island’s feverish devotion to its annual Scorpio Races, featuring unpredictable and dangerous “water horses.” Told from the points of view of 19-year-old Sean and the younger Puck, the narration is a seamless blend of Sean’s rough edge and Puck’s courage. Listeners will find themselves with a deep and lasting sense of the island and of Sean and Puck’s complicated relationship. Both have entered the race with everything on the line, with steeds that are more interested in blood than victory. E.A.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling author ofShiver(2009) andLinger(2010) turns the legend of the water horse into a taut, chilling, romantic adventure.

Each October on the island of Thisby, thecapaill uisce, or water horses, emerge from the sea. Predatory meat-eaters, they endanger the islanders—but they are also fast, far faster than land horses, and if captured and very carefully handled, with iron and magic, they can be trained. Every first of November, the water horses are raced on the beach of Thisby; winning the Scorpio Races brings fame and fortune, but losing often bringsdeath. Nineteen-year-old Sean Kendrick runs for the right to buy the water-horse stallion Corr; 16-year-old Katherine, called Puck, pits her land mare against the water horses in an attempt to save her home. Gradually, the two of them, both orphaned bycapaill uisceand fighting for the most important object in their lives, become confederates. First-person narration alternates seamlessly between Sean and Puck. The large cast of supporting characters springs to life, particularly Puck's brothers, Finn and Gabe, and Thisby feels like a place you can see and smell. The water horses are breathtakingly well-imagined, glorious anduntamably violent. The final race, with Sean and Puck each protecting each other but both determined to win, comes to a pitch-perfect conclusion.

Masterful. Like nothing else out there now.(Fantasy. 13-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170536887
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/18/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Read an Excerpt

From The Scorpio Races

SEAN: It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Even under the brightest sun, the frigid autumn sea is all the colors of the night: dark blue and black and brown. I watch the ever-changing patterns in the sand, the beach pummeled by countless hooves.

They run the horses on the beach, a pale road between the black ocean and the dark cliffs, because the sand is a better surface for the horses' legs. It is never safe, but it's never so dangerous as today, race day.

This time of year, I live and breathe the beach. My cheeks feel raw with the wind throwing sand against them. My thighs sting from the friction of the saddle. My arms ache from holding up two thousand pounds of horse. I have forgotten what it is like to be warm and what a full night's sleep feels like and what my name sounds like spoken instead of shouted across yards of sand.

I am so, so alive.

Videos