Review Detail

Based loosely around the legend of the Celtic water horse, the entirety of this book takes place on a small, fictional island called Thisby--set somewhere in the Atlantic ocean off from the British isles. With a small population reliant on tourism, Thisby hosts an annual November race that pits mythical carnivorous horses against each other... and their ill-advised human riders.

Stiefvater is nothing if not a pro at crafting ambiance. Her pacing is meticulously languid, punctuated by brief, almost-sudden (but not jump-scare cheapened) violence and/or horror. Thisby itself is one of the most prominent characters in the whole book. You get the sense of wild beauty, stormy petulance, and melancholy danger from both our POV characters' perceptions of the place... and the common tendency for locals to flee it. November cakes aside, Thisby seems about as tempting a real estate location as Panam from Hunger Games. But our heroes are completely devoted to this, the only place in this established world where mythical predatory horses creep out of the sea and slaughter people semi on the regular. (And this is despite that fact that the MCs have lost 3/4ths of their parental units to these beasts between them.)

I fully appreciated that there is an undercurrent of forcing one to consider if the worst monsters the island attracts are, in fact, humans. Although, this is unfortunately done by making the two primary antagonists largely one-note evil villains.
As the over-privileged son of the most wealthy man on the island (who also happens to be Sean's boss), Mutt Malvern's only defining characteristics seem to be his jealous hatred toward Sean, his utter idiocy regarding the horses he's grown up around, and the psychotic (and EXPENSIVE) cruelty his daddy lets him get away with at every turn.
Mr. Malvern himself is a little more two-dimensional. He's a callous, greedy man--the sort who has no qualms about evicting the orphaned Puck and her siblings from their parents' house. He's also grimly indulgent in his desire for entertainment--to the point where he'd refrain from collecting on the house he's owed when the teenage girl occupant requests just enough time for her to try to win the money for him by riding her completely normal horse in the Scorpio Races (against dozens of the deadly and much faster water horses.)
He also, apparently, took in Sean at age 10--after his father was killed horribly in the Scorpio races. Though he didn't take him as a surrogate or foster son... but rather as an employee of his stables. (So yeah... totally cool with child labor.)

I'm guessing they are called the Scorpio Races because they fall in the month of November (as the Zodiac sign's transit is roughly October 23rd to November 22nd.) Fittingly our heroes, Puck and Sean, are of the single-minded focus typically ascribed to those born under said sign. (So that probably explains the book title?)
At any rate... unless I blanked it out, I can't recall any mention of the zodiac signs, or astrology in general, at any other point in this story.

Though there were a number of aspects this reader didn't particularly care for, I can't deny the prose is hauntingly engaging. Stiefvater does a vivid job with descriptions, and expertly conveys nuances (such as those that relate to horse care) that brilliantly immerse readers in the story. The romance is a very organic slow-burn, built on mutual respect and crucial commonalities--making it completely believable and cheer-worthy, while not actually the focal point. (Puck and Sean don't really begin talking to each other until nearly halfway through, allowing for a lot of individual build-up and character establishment.)

The ending was memorably satisfying. And it didn't quite go the way I'd guessed, which is nice.

Favorite Quote:

-“There are moments that you'll remember for the rest of your life and there are moments that you think you'll remember for the rest of your life, and it's not often they turn out to be the same moment.”