Book Review: The Scorpio Races

TITLE: The Scorpio Races
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: On a island a annual race takes place every year. This year a girl enters for the first time...
MY REVIEW: I absolutely loved The Scorpio Races. Granted, I feel some messages weren't terribly subtle and I still get annoying by switching POVs (really, why?) but at least Stiefvater is one of the few writers who does this trick well and has a purpose for it. Also I wish there was more explanation for things like why the heck are these people riding such dangerous creatures every year to begin with? That honestly is my only real grievance there is that little fact which kept nagging at me throughout the book. But that is a totally minor thing in a otherwise brillaint book.
As always Stiefvater writes beautifully with great pacing and has very interesting ideas going on. Scorpio Races does have one or two tropes in it but for the most part this was one of the more unique books to come out of YA in the last year or so. Characters are interesting, it's absorbing, it's well paced, and frankly just good even if maybe I wanted a bit more with the ending though it was still satisfying.
Basically, the praise for this book is well deserved. I may not agree with Stiefvater about some of the things she says (particularly the stuff about reviewing/bloggers) but I still think she's one of the better writers in YA today.
WHO SHOULD READ: Wolves of Mercy Falls fans, horse fans, anyone inclined to read it
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five races