I loved the Shiver series from Maggie Stiefvater and I was so excited when I managed to get a copy for The Scorpio races.

A spellbinding novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.Some race to win. Others race to survive.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 choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen. As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.

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I loved the premise. Carnivorous seahorses that feed on animal and human meat that some islanders use to do races with. Great premise. Untamable vs human will. Oh, I so wanted to love this book. But it was long! And repetitive.

“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”
Yeah, me. Out of boredom.

The love arc (compared to the Shiver series) was baaaad. Like ba-ba-ba-baaad. There was no chemistry, there was no attraction. I kinda wanted the waves to swallow them all. Who cares that the horses are different colours than land horses? Or that they are all black when wet? All humans are black in the darkness.

Puck and Sean of course dual-narrate the novel, and since it’s Maggie Stiefvater, they both sound the same: flat, monotone, and boring. Another fail on this book.

Now, the part of Maggie’s books that normally redeem themselves in my eyes is the beautiful writing. In this book, it’s incredibly flat, has no life to it, and is dull. This whole book was a trainwreck.

The characters are also (the word of the day it seems): BORING! They try to throw in some battle of the sexes thing in there because men don’t want Puck to race because no girl has ever tried to be in them before. *GASP* The scandal! Why they even spent a whole chapter on that baffles me. Then, there was still a whole fight about whether or not she should be in them.

“That tomorrow we’ll rule the Scorpio Races as king and queen of Skarmouth and I’ll save the house and you’ll have your stallion. Dove will eat golden oats for the rest of her days and you will terrorize the races each year and people will come from every island in the world to find out how it is you get horses to listen to you. The piebald will carry Mutt Malvern into the sea and Gabriel will decide to stay on the island. I will have a farm and you will bring me bread for dinner.”

Sean isn’t emo like Sam Roth, but he’s boring. At least with Sam I could suffocate on the angst. All Sean made me do was yawn and want to take a nap (as I’m writing this I’m actually yawning).

“In the middle of all this, as Sean slips out of his jacket, he looks over his shoulder at me and he smiles at me, just a glancing, faint thing before he turns back to Tommy. I’m quite happy for that smile, because Dad told me once you should be grateful for the gifts that are the rarest.”

I’m not sure what happened but the last few books by her have had the same problem (like The Raven Boys – by Maggie Stiefvater – Crappiest book of 2018 (just getting started) – Maggie Stiefvater * The Wolves Of Mercy Falls Trilogy) so I think it’s the case of a one-hit-wonder (at least for me). The book still has a staggering amount of positive reviews and a 4**** on Goodreads so I must be part of the minority here.