Daring You To Read is a weekly feature here on Tynga’s Reviews where we dare you to read some of our favorite older releases (at least 6 months old). All the books/series we choose to feature are titles we adored and think you should give them a shot! We think it’s a super awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!
You’ve already read the book? Let’s us know what you thought!
You are accepting the dare? We’d love to know!
Have a dare of your own? Leave a comment ^^
This week, I am daring you to read THE SCORPIO RACES. Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors. With each new book, she finds a way to outdo herself. In my opinion, this is her best book by far. I'm really hoping to introduce everyone to her writing if they have not given her a chance yet. But that's not the reason that I have chosen this book for this week's Daring You To Read post.
I'm daring you to read this book because of the message that is hidden within its pages. This book explores the relationship between humans and animals, man and beast. It shows the importance of companionship and its necessity to both survival and sanity. It shows that while a romantic relationship is important, any other form of relationship that is shared between two living creatures is equally as important and just as powerful. And it also shows that something other than a cheesy love story can move you to the point of tears. Not that I actually cried or anything, maybe just teared up slightly at the end...you know...
This story is told from the alternating perspectives of Kate "Puck" Connolly and Sean Kendrick. Both are wounded spirits. Both cannot live without their respective animals. Both are desperate to win the Scorpio Races to grab the prize money and ensure that they keep what is most valuable to them. For Kate, it is keeping a roof above her family's head. For Sean, it is Corr, the only thing on the face of the planet that has ever mattered to him. (Oddly enough, that one thing shouldn't matter to him.) But both are unprepared for the journey that this years Scorpio Races will take them on and will find themselves battling between their own desires and their desire to save each other.
Both Puck and Sean have two of the most distinctive and strong voices that I have come across in young adult literature. Puck is always putting everyone before herself and Sean is doing everything in his willpower to become a free man, which means keeping to himself. Where Puck is daring, Sean is quiet and brooding. With their alternative perspectives, you begin to see how the same event can be interpreted so differently or so alike between two separate people.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to read it. It's a book that I can pick up and re-read countless times without the tale ever getting old. The feelings that you experience while reading will linger with you for months after its completion. While part of me wishes their story continues, I know that this novel is so perfectly written that another book just couldn't do Puck, Sean, Dove, and Corr justice.
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 chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Do you think you can take this week's dare? 
I loved this book too! It was an amazing read - and I loved that many different types of relationships were explored as you said - romantic, family, friendships & even employer/ employee.
ReplyDeleteI have just received The Raven Boys in the post! I like the look of The Scorpio Races too. Unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of Shiver but I am willing to give Maggie Stiefvater another go. If I like The Raven Boy, I may read this one too.
ReplyDeleteBecky @ A Reader's Devotion
I adored her Wolves of Mercy Falls series and have been tempted to read this one too. Hopefully your dare will give me the extra push I need! ;)
ReplyDeleteI plan on reading it. I loved the Shiver series. I am also waiting on the Raven Boys :).
ReplyDeletevsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com
I definitely need to read this one. I am actually planning on listening to it via audiobook. I've heard wonderful things about the audiobook production. But first I have to finish Lola and the Boy Next Door. And then The Fault in Our Stars. Maybe after that.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Wolves of Mercy Falls fan (I will read the rest but I haven't been able to pick up the second one yet), however I loved Lament and Ballad. This one was somewhere between the two series, style-wise, and I think it might be my favorite of hers. I could've used a bit more romance but I absolutely loved the characters and their connections with the horses.
ReplyDeleteReally made me want to go riding!!!
I loved this book too! The writing was amazing and the characters were truly unique.
ReplyDeleteVery impassioned dare! I've actually already read The Scorpio Races and am now eagerly anticipating The Raven Boys arriving at my house.
ReplyDeleteI accept your dare. I've had The Scorpio Races sitting on my bookcase since it was released but I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I think I'm going to pick this one up next.
ReplyDelete