Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

37 reviews

ceruleanshelves's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

not to start a riot but as a horse girl, i loved this even more than the raven cycle.

set on the beautifully atmospheric and fictional island of thisby, determined and sharp-tongued kate "puck" connolly enters into the dangerous scorpio race. while it's typically run on the carnivorous fantastical kelpies - "capaill uisce" - that inhabit the surrounding the timeless isle, she dares it on her beloved pony - i mean horse, dove.

These are not ordinary horses. Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back.

she soon finds slow respect and kinship, and more, with the brooding, stoic sean kendrick, the resident kelpie whisperer who's racing with his own capaill uisce, corr.

“It’s easy to convince men to love you, Puck. All you have to do is be a mountain they have to climb or a poem they don’t understand. Something that makes them feel strong or clever. It’s why they love the ocean.”

the setting of the wind-whipped coastal town on a small cliffed island, surrounded by a raging sea full of monsters makes for the perfect fall read. thisby is unique, with inspiration pulled from many places and no absolute clear time period setting, it creates an ethereal fable.

I think that’s the mercy of this island, actually, that it won’t give us our terrible memories for long, but lets us keep the good ones for as long as we want them.

the family and town dynamics add a grounded drama that drives more emotion than merely a fast-paced race adventure. frustrations with the sexism, the limits and closeness of a tight knit community, the isolation of grief within a family, and the revered respect for these dangerous creatures make for a story that stays with you well beyond reading.

I think, just for that moment, that I hate brothers, because they never realize when something is important to you and they only care about their own things.

stiefvater's writing is absolutely gorgeous; her attention to detail and vivid characters, all the townsfolk have entire lives off page that you can just feel from the little bits we get of them. i also loved her sharp humor, which came out most voraciously in puck.

“I hear laughter and someone asks if I need help, not in a nice way. I snarl, 'What I need is for your mother to have thought a little harder nine months before your birthday.”

this became an instant favorite, if i had read this growing up it 100% would've become my entire personality. i'll def be rereading in the future.

He is slow, and the sea sings to us both, but he returns to me.
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ladyheroj's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sleepymiracle's review

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

The synopsis sounded really interesting and it had been sitting on my shelf for a while, so I went ahead and read it.

Overall, I think it was pretty good. The writing was beautiful, the flow of events were somewhat interesting, and the setting was great. Additionally, the pacing is slow, taking place over the course of a few days, but I think it's well-written; it created a lot of tension and suspension befitting of the events. We get a lot of focus on the two main characters, as well as a strong focus on their relationship and their character development, which I think is nice.

However, with such a big focus on the two main characters, I feel like the supporting/side/minor characters got shoved aside. They were easy enough to tell apart and were distinctly different, but I just think that they really just faded away or died after being introduced a few chapters ago; something that really pisses me off in stories of all sorts.

Moving on from the characters, I felt the ending was a little messy. From my point of view, the author knew that this book was getting pretty long for covering the events of a couple weeks and wanted to get this wrapped up quickly. The plot, for the most part, was covered up. What I'm considering "messy" is the relationship between their characters and
what happened to Sean's horse.


So, was this good?
It wasn't bad.

Would I reread it?
Perhaps, but I very likely won't.

Would I recommend this?
Maybe.

At best, it was good; at worst, it was rather dull. 
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babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book so much. I'm 32 and haven't had feelings over a horse book like this in decades. It was exactly what I needed right now and scratched my kelpie itch perfectly. The ending also
healed my White Fang wound from decades before
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uselesspirateraven's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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raptorq's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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ronan_lesh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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seforaflorian's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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dananana's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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phantomgecko's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I read a lot of horse books in elementary school. In hindsight, they're usually boring. (Sorry Marguerite Henry) But idk, I kept reading them because horses are cool?

This is a horse book, even a RACE horse book, that for real isn't boring. Possibly because the horses in question are mythical creatures that kill.

A cute little love story wrapped in adventure. Also with frustrating undertones of misogyny. Also paganism? There's kinda a lot in this one. Maybe part of the charm is the ambiguous imaginary world created.
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