The Scorpio Races - A Teens' Top Ten 2012 Nominee

May 16, 2012

Nineteen-year-old Sean Kendrick and sixteen-year-old Kate "Puck" Connolly share the same fierce passions for their home, the mystical island of Thisby, and their horses. But, there is a dangerous difference between Puck’s common mare and Sean’s capaill uisce--one of the man-eating water horses of legend--and all too soon, she will have to brave racing against dozens of the vicious beasts during the fatal Scorpio Races that claim the lives of so many each November on Thisby.

In The Scorpio Races, author Maggie Stiefvater takes the Celtic legend of water horses—meat-eating, terrorizing killers from the sea—and weaves it into a darkly compelling story about two teens who are about to enter the race of their lives and knowingly face death to do so. Sean Kendrick races for sole ownership of his horse and for freedom from a boss who has used him nearly all his life for his skill with the capaill uisce. Puck Connolly races to keep her home and her younger brother safe and to perhaps persuade her older brother not to leave the island for good. Both Sean and Puck were orphaned by the capaill uisce and know exactly what kind of danger they face. Yet, they are determined to win at any cost. What they don’t expect is the relationship of respect, grudging friendship, and maybe even more that grows between them as they prepare for the race. Winning at any cost means the end of the other’s life as they know it.

Erin’s Bonus Features for The Scorpio Races

Genre: fantasy, sort of; magical realism, maybe?
Mood: dangerous
Song: Wild Horses – The Sundays
Readalikes: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey; Fire by Kristin Cashore
Website: maggiestiefvater.com

This blog is part of a series on YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten 2012 nominees. Voting for TTT starts in August; more information can be found here.

~Erin D.
Parkville Branch