A breathtaking novel set in the wilds of Ireland, from
the bestselling author of Shiver, Linger and
Forever.
Stay alive, stay astride, stay out of the water...
Every November, the Scorpio Races are run beneath the chalk cliffs
of Skarmouth.
Thousands gather to watch the horses and the sea that washes the
blood from the sand.
The mounts are capaill uisce: savage
water horses.
There are no horses more beautiful, more fearless, more
deadly. To race them can be suicide but the danger is
irresistible.
Sean Kendrick knows the dangers of the capaill uisce.
With one foot in the ocean and one on land, he is the only man on
the island capable of taming the beasts. He races
to prove something both to himself and to the horses.
Puck Connolly enters the races to save her family. But the horse
she rides is an ordinary little mare, just as Puck is an ordinary
girl.
When Sean sees Puck on the beach he doesn't think she belongs.
He doesn't realize his fate will become entwined in hers.
They both enter the Races hoping to change their lives. But
first they'll have to survive.
Romantic and steeped in legend
Maggie Stiefvater is a master at writing both romance and heart-pounding
action
Her books have consistently debuted at #1 on the NYT bestseller
list
PRAISE FOR SCORPIO RACES
"If The Scorpio Races sounds like nothing you’ve
ever read, that’s because it is. The capaill
uisce are exhilarating, frightening creations... Stiefvater has
successfully plumbed lesser-known myths and written a complex literary
thriller" - New York Times
The bestselling author of Shiver (2009)
and Linger (2010) turns the
legend of the water horse into a taut, chilling, romantic adventure. The
water horses are breathtakingly well-imagined, glorious
and untamably 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.
- Kirkus Review
I had this one on my list for a while, but I somehow never got around to sit with it, even though it starts off with a bang and the first phrase had me hooked. My reluctance to read it must have been pure serenedipity: here I was, on Easter Island, facing the Pacific. Free horses roaming the green green fields, waves crashing behind them in an awe-inspiring display. And I just knew, this is where I am reading "The Scorpio Races", on this isolated, mysterious little world a little to the left of the known universe, surrounded by craggy rocks and wild horses and unexplained moais. And, boy, was I right! The atmospheric writing made me fall in love with the rough life of Thisby and I felt each line worming its way under my skin, like a soul tattoo of harsh black lines. This book has sharp angles and it will cut you, then kiss you where it hurt you.
The story will stay with me, like a half-remembered sea song, salt on my lips, eyes in the forever stretching horizon, ears on the rhythmic melody of wild horses running on the beach.
Thank you, Maggie Stiefvater, for giving us this one!
