The Scorpio Races

I'll have to move this to the top of my top 10 pile now! (I've only finished one so far, Paintbox for Pauline by Ruby Ferguson).

Anyway, Steifvater is going to be speaking/signing books at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC this September. Link below is to her author page which they should start to fill in soon with photo and signing/speaking times (her bio is already there). After the festival, they'll post a webcast of her talk, (the link to it should be right on her author page) which hopefully everyone will be able to view!

www.loc.gov/bookfest/author/maggie_stiefvater

Well if she does have horses, I'd be worried what she was trying to feed them ;D ;D

Started on the train going home last night and loving it so far....

;D
I thought that I was going to be the only one to be ambivalent about this one! What I could do with is one of those theatre masks as a smiley, with a smile on one side and a frown on the other!

Couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it all the way through, and still can't!! I also got one of my hangups about the name of the heroine (who I did hate!!) as Puck was a male name for a mischievous male sprite and thus totally unsuitable for her!

Ok things I really liked about the book:

The writing style/quality of writing was excellent, far above the standard of the usual YA book. Some of the descriptions of the people were fantastic. One of my personal favourites:

"Dory is what Mum used to call a 'strong-looking woman' which meant that from the back she looked like a man, and from the front you preferred the back"

Priceless! There are some great eccentric characters and a lot of them are painted in this irreverent slightly humourous style. Altho it must be noted this is the only sign of humour in the book!

I also found the book easy to read. The story was intriguing and I had to keep turning the pages to see what happened in the race itself.

The 'kelpie' horses (I can't be bothered to look up the spelling, after a while I kept calling them the capercailles in my mind ) In some ways I loved the horses but in other ways I did not....see below...

Things I disliked about the book:

Lack of emotional connection with the characters - to me this was one of those books which seem curiously detached from anything emotional. Like kunuma I never warmed to Puck (agree completely unsuitable name). I thought that that Puck and Sean had no electricity between them in their romance. The only time I ever felt emotional was the bit at the end with Corr and Sean. In fact their relationship was for me the highlight of the book.

Violence & gore. Far too much of it. Blood seemed to pay a huge part in the book, and if you will excuse the heavy-handed metaphor, dripped throughout the pages! Right at the start we have the imagery of Sean's father being pounded into meat by the horses, then there is a cow being butchered, dead sheep, dog mutilated, horses drinking blood, all in the first few pages, and it continues in the same vein, with people's throats being torn out, horses being killed and more. Given the nature of the story it would be impossible to not have violence but it just seems to wallow in it. Luckily this is where the lack of emotional attachment comes in, I don't feel as horrified at the deaths as i would have done otherwise.

Similarly the violence is where my ambivalence to the water horses comes in. I don't know if the author likes horses or not but I dont feel a horselover could have written this book. The horses were so unlike horses in every way. I've always found the kelpie legend a bit odd as the physical characteristics of horses are not designed as a predator, they have long legs to escape, their teeth are wrong for eating meat, etc, etc. Of course we have to assume the horses are magical rather than physical beings but why in the shape of horses? It also is a pet hate of mine when animals are demonised and made to appear evil. Its bad enough when it happens with predator animals like wolves and sharks but when it happens with prey animals like horses its a bit much for me! But at the same time I thought the horses were an amazing creation and brought to life so vividly - so totally ambivalent on this one.

Another thing I found a bit odd (and I have seen this talked about in other reviews) is there doesn't seem to be any physical grounding in the story. It is set in Ireland but is this an alternative universe type of thing - as the water horses are not secret and it seems the whole world knows about them. Also what era is it set in? The amounts of money mentioned for Sean's yearly wages are ludicrously low, there seem to be very little trappings of modern life such as technology. How old are Puck and Finn? I dont think its ever mentioned, it seems to be assumed that Finn is fairly young as he is too young to drive a car but why doesn't he go to school, in fact none of the kids do. This lack of any grounding in a reality is what I think prevents me feeling much emotional attachment to the story - I just feel its not quite real, almost like its the story of a dream rather than real characters.

Be interested to hear other people's views on the above!

But that's kind of the point of the book, isn't it? The water horses ARE predators, as unlike Dove (the real horse) as possible!

The Sean/Corr relationship feels to me like one of Jack London's boy/wolf relationships, in fact.

I'm thinking they're supposed to be Faerie creatures rather than either mortal horses or monsters, and the island people seem to regard them in that way.....both fear and reverence

Did you take a hunk of blood dripping meat with you???

Seriously though, I was going to reread the SRaces before I commented, but tellingly I didn't want to! I love supernatural creatures, unicorns, dragons, you name it; and dragons are for ever eating cows, knight whatever, but NEVER have I read so much OTT blood and gore! My sympathies were all over the place, if anywhere - certainly not with the heroine, who was prepared to sacrifice her pony's life for her house - some idiots actually give up their houses to keep their horse!!
When was it set?? That annoyed me, and if these meat eating horses were so supernatural, how come you could mate them with ordinary horses to get a horse that made a good sport horse 'cos it could 'swim well! You can't have it both ways - either they are a different magic species (with dracula teeth so they can eat this meat!!) ot they are genetically the same as ordinary horses, in which case they must need snorkels as well as false teeth, and what do they eat in the sea??

I know, I'm being pedantic, but I did have a go at the Twilight books from the point of view of genetics and they had magical creatures who managed to eat meat, and drink blood without me feeling I had stumbled into a butcher's shop on a bad day.

The comment about Jack London is very true, just as his tales of wolves make good 'boys ' stories' but are quite unpleasant for anyone who knows about wolves and loves them for what they really are, then this book too, is a great adventure story, but although not upsetting for me in the same way as say A Day to Go Hunting, not such a good read for a horse lover.

Am going to rate it from the point of view of a non horse lover - because it isn't meant to be a horse book and I don't want to be unfair.

It's a while ago i read this now, a reread would be useful as i remember the general story but the details i often forget unless I've read and reread a book several times. Even then i often find 'something new' i haven't remembered (or never read as it was brutally abridged in another edition in some cases!).

I actually liked the ferocious nature of the 'Cappel oos' (cappel - phonetically oo as in moon, s as in the letter sound) - ( this is not exactly correct i know but it was how i read/remembered the species), they were so different from a normal horse but at the same time were they? This book outlined them as predators rather than the prey animal we are use to but lets face it, a horse is much bigger and stronger than us and only complies because of it's peaceful nature/outlook and the very nature of liking to be 'led'. A scared horse is just as capable of inflicting pain/death as the water horses in this book were. The Author actually writes it's barely a horse in one of her more vivid descriptions.

It takes everything in me not to whimper. The creature is black as peat at midnight, and its lips are pulled back into a fearsome grin. The ears are long and wickedly pointed toward each other, less like a horse and more like a demon. They remind me of shark egg pouches. The nostrils are long and thin to keep the sea out. Eyes black and slick: a fish’s eyes.
It still stinks like the ocean. Like low tide and things caught on rock. It’s barely a horse.
It’s hungry.

I was also confused regarding the time zone and setting. To me it had the feel of a Scottish Island maybe....although when i read it the TT was on so the Isle Of man was equally plausible. I don't think it strictly matters as it's pure fantasy and therefore the time and setting become irrelevant to me. As for why the horses are nowhere else...why do lemurs only come from Madagascar?
I would say the ferocious nature of them and the lack of understanding regarding the handling (not to mention the death count) is what deters them from being exported elsewhere in the world although of course the racehorses with 'cappel oos' blood are exported, so in parts they are out there. Maybe they are protected, can't live without some access to their native environment, sometimes i feel we just analysis fiction too much instead of just accepting!

I also liked the very understated blossoming romance between Puck and Sean...sometimes less is most defiantly more. I do however feel the horses were the main focus of the book with the ending being suitably fitting. I'm not sure about the rich Americans part...was he Seans guardian angel? Was he just there to remind us how unique the islanders of Thisby and their devotion to the water horses really are? I really didn't understand his part of the story, although his inclusion shed a lot of shrewd insight into the islanders/this way of life. Maybe this was it, the outsiders viewpoint on the whole thing?

;D ;D ;D

Haffy wants to know why lemurs only come from Madagascar!! Would you like a 5000 word essay or the quick answer! ;D ;D

Perhaps the water horses are the same, they used to be everywhere but only survived in one place!

Ignoring rude comments appertaining to my feet, what does everyone think the loch Ness monster really is then?? Opinions on a postcard, or in a 5000 word essay accepted!

If you think the water horses in this book were bad then check out this book which has

"mutated equines known as the Demon Horses; fanged, clawed, fire-breathing beasts"

www.amazon.co.uk/Whisper-ebook/dp/B007WU6LZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342730224&sr=8-1

Got this as a free book on my kindle - will let you know what its like when I get round to reading it.

Another member of the soon to be formed fluffy bunny only ponymadbooklovers group - thought it was only going to be Claire and I for a while there!!

Why can't the Brits/Celts have it both ways, the Greeks and Romans certainly did....their gods had children with mortals - the demigods like Orpheus and Perseus and of course Hercules

It is fascinating our relationship with the sea, we so desperately want there to be undiscovered monsters out there, and yet we are at the same time scared that there just might be.
Many of them of course we have invented out of animals who were just really out there being unusual and minding their own business - like the octopus in Jules Verne, the man eating whale, and more recently even Daren's Shark! And wasn't there a sea serpent in the Narnia books who tried to eat the ship?

I always loved the idea of mermaids and mermen - but wasn't it the Greeks who had mermaids as sirens who lured men to their deaths? So obviously whatever sex you are, there's someone in the waves waiting to lure you to your doom.........I'd say to see the modern version waiting to lure females to their doom can be seen if you go to the Boardmasters Surf Event at Newquay! lol ;D ;D