Book Avengers: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Hello and welcome to our July Book Avengers post!  Today we are featuring The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.  This one has been on my TBR list for quite some time and I don’t know if you guys know this but this is Sarah’s FIRST Stiefvater.  So what are you waiting for?!  Find out what we thought!

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Kristina’s Thoughts:

 First let’s chat about the audio version.  Many bloggers have told me that is was the favorite audiobook so I tried to listen while reading.  NO GO.  My reason?  Get this, he sounded too hot.  I know right?  Huge first world issue.  Problem was the narrator had this fantastic smooth voice with an accent and before I knew it 30 minutes had passed and I didn’t remember a thing he said so I had to go back and read it anyways.  Hot guys reading in public is great but hot guys reading out loud to me causing my brain to cease in function.  Book version though was good.  A little bit of a slow start for me but definitely gave the unique Maggie vibe we all know and love.  I loved Sean and his relationship with his horse as well as Puck with her brothers.  This is a tough one because though nothing was horrible nothing moved me to the point of being overly memorable.

Did it live up to the hype?

Well. . . as a huge Raven Boys fan (still working on The Raven King because I don’t want it to end) I’m going to have to say no.  Was it a good book?  Yes.  Did it hold my attention and give me the same feels as TRB?  No.  While I enjoyed this one for the most part I don’t know if I’d ever read this one again.  I by no means hated it, just wasn’t quite the level I expected.

Kristina’s Rating:   3/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah’s Thoughts:

If I had to use a word to describe Maggie Stiefvater’s writing, it would be “atmospheric”. There’s lots of gorgeous descriptions and beautiful passages that come together and form this dreamlike quality to her writing. That much I could appreciate. But where this book felt short for ME was that I needed to know more. I never felt like I got an opportunity to learn about the world in which ‘The Scorpio Races’ takes place. It was never clear to me where the book took place, or when. It most closely resembled a pre-WWI era England or Ireland, but even then I wasn’t sure if this was an alternate version of that. The water horses, one of the main plot points of the book, just kind of popped up out of nowhere. Were they some sort of magical creature or just a new species Stiefvater created for the book? It was never quite clear to me.

Clearly, this didn’t work for me. I’m the kind of reader who needs more back story to feel invested in the story and it’s characters. I got nearly halfway through ‘The Scorpio Races’ and realized I could care less about anyone or anything that happened. That’s when I knew it would be a DNF for me. Which is something I HATE to do.

Did it live up to the hype?

I think it’s safe to say that ‘The Scorpio Races’ did NOT live up to the hype for me. This was my very first Maggie Stiefvater book and after hearing so many of my friends rave about her books, I was more than excited to experience it for myself. It didn’t take me long at all to realize that her style of writing is just not for me. You know what they say…”There’s a book for every reader”, and I’m sorry to say that this book was most definitely not for me.

Sarah’s Rating:

 

  

Want to be a part of picking our next book?  Below are our three August picks that we’ve narrowed down from our current TBR list.  For your vote to count head on over to our twitter hashtag #bookavengers and vote using our twitter poll.  (It will be pinned this month to my twitter: @gone_pecan) Feel free to retweet and help promote your pick!  Voting closes July 25th and we will be announcing our next pick via twitter that day.

August picks:

Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment.

But Sorcha’s joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift-by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.

When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all…

 

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.

But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.

Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined—it is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. Along the way Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know. Ultimately, he will discover that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America—and that he is standing squarely in its path.

 

 

We hope you guys enjoyed our post and vote to pick our next back list books!  Please remember voting will end July 25th (via our twitter poll) and we will announce our August pick then.  As always, if it is new to you as well please join us in reading, we’d love to chat with others while we are reading.  See you soon!

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