from Lindsay (aka LW) of elledoubleyouu
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
As a high school English teacher and a voracious lifelong reader, I am constantly asked The Dreaded Question: what is my favorite book? I have come to realize that the reason I dread this question and have such difficulty answering it is that at this point in my life as a reader I have many different relevant responses, varying by genre, country, time period, etc., all filed away in my head.
So, for this feature I racked my brain to pick the perfect book to share. I considered a number of options, including The Sound and the Fury, The Time Traveler's Wife, Angelology, and Wuthering Heights. In the end, I decided to share one of my favorite books I've read in the past year, from my current favorite Young Adult author, Maggie Stiefvater. I have always been interested in YA fiction, and what I love about Stiefvater is that she takes mythology (such as werewolves and water horses) and writes about them within the YA conventions in a manner that is beautiful and intelligent. The Scorpio Races is Stiefvater's most recent novel, based on the mythology of water horses. Although I had never read or heard anything about the water horses prior to reading The Scorpio Races, I was pulled in by Stiefvater's action-packed descriptions of the racing, the majestic and otherworldly horses, and mostly by her characters, with whom I fell in love. One hing Stiefvater does so incredibly well in this book is to make characters that feel tangible and likeable and unique all at once. Sean Kendrick is nothing like your run-of-the-mill modern day YA male protagonist, which makes him even more delicious and intriguing.
This book has everything: horses, magic, action, a hot book boyfriend, a non-cliche love story, and an endearing female underdog to root for. Add in Stiefvater's bewitching way with words, and this book instantly rocketed onto my ever growing list of favorite books (mentally filed under YA and recently read).
I won't give any more away, but I strongly suggest reading this book, as well as Stiefvater's other novels.
see previous Literate & Stylish posts here.
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