by Maggie Stiefvater
I did not want this story to end. It is a stand-alone, and I want sequels. Heck, I want an entire series! I hope they make a film from this book, though I suspect it wouldn't stand up to the incredibly detailed images I created in my head as I read the story.
This story is set on the fictional isle of Thisby. No time frame is given, though with the marked lack of electronic modernity and some archaic turns-of-phrase, I place the time between the 1930s to 1940s. No location is given, but as I read, I gave it a geographical location among the outer craggy isles off England, Scotland or Ireland.
What impressed me the most with this story, and I've read it at least a half dozen times, is the world-building Maggie Stiefvater created. Even now, I can feel the sharp sting of the sand and salty surf being wind-driven into my cold face. My eyes squinting as my hair whips about my head. I can see the gray, muted colors of the harbor with its peeling-paint fishing boats. The weather-worn buildings of the town lean towards each other, as if they're trying to prop each other up against the wind trying to blow them over. I can smell the sticky sweetness of a November Cake from the baker's shop. This author created a world so indelible that I am certain if I looked hard enough, I could find this place.
"It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die."
How great is that for an opening sentence?! We are introduced to Sean, one of the main characters. The story is related in alternating voices; 19yr old Sean and 18yr old Puck (Kate). Both have compelling reasons to compete in and win this years' Scorpio Race. There can only be one winner. I also consider the island of Thisby and the town of Skarmouth to be supporting characters in addition to the Capaill Uisce (water horses, pronounced; copple-ooshka) - mythical and majestic horse-like creatures that tumble from the sea at summer's end. "Did no one tell him that pain lives in this sand, dug in and watered with our blood?" Capall uisce, faster than land horses and as cunning and lethal as any carnivorous predator ... and the mounts used by the island men to race in the Scorpio Races. Using charms braided into their manes, symbols drawn on their bodies and incantations whispered in their ears, riders use these ephemeral contrivances in an attempt to control the deadly sea creatures. They race for the finish line as often as they race to their bloody deaths, at the sharp teeth and deadly hooves of a Capall Uisce that can turn the wet sands dark with their life's blood. "A reminder of what the horses mean to the island - a bridge between what we are and that thing about Thisby that we all want but can't seem to touch. When [he] stands there, his face turned out to the sea, he is no more civilized than any of the capaill uisce, and it unsettles me."
The island of Thisby, it's people, the Scorpio Races and the Capaill Uisce are woven tightly together, all in a deadly dance that culminates with the brutal choices of survival or death.
Heidi Y.