Book Review // The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I guess The Scorpio Races and I were not meant to be. This was my third attempt at this book, and the first time I completed it thanks to the audiobook (and surprisingly quickly, too). The story is told in alternating first person perspectives, and the audio helped me tell them apart, because on paper they didn't read as that different. It also meant I could absorb more of the story, which I couldn't manage to pull myself through before.



But despite the help of the audiobook, I never truly connected to the story or it's characters. The language lacked personality for me, and went on when it didn't need to. There were lines that felt as if they were written in a more complicated way than they needed to be, which sometimes worked in the story's favour, but most of the time just pulled me away. The story itself was not highly action based which I don't always mind, but because I wasn't feeling the words I was reading (or hearing) it felt doubly slow. As for the characters, I never felt much emotion towards them. I couldn't understand the motives behind their choices or get a grasp on what their personalities were, and the side characters largely blurred into one for me. Plus the romance made little sense to me because the characters interactions felt pretty minimal.

As I said before, sometimes a book and a person are not meant to be. I've seen plenty of reviewers I trust and have similar interests with share their love for this book, but either I am a few years late or the magic was lost on me, because I felt no connection. I adored The Raven Cycle more than words can say, but perhaps those books were made for me in a way that The Scorpio Races wasn't.

★★☆☆☆

YA Fantasy

Standalone

death, blood, violence, death/injury/abuse of animals

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