Summary Of The Novel 'The Scorpio Races'

The Scorpio Races is a fiction novel written by Maggie Stiefvater; this book contains both the elements of action and fantasy stories. When the author wrote this story, she was inspired by the legend of water horses: the magical horses that shows up from the sea when it gets closer to November. Those brutal water horses are precisely featured in this novel; hence it gives more excitement and thrill to the readers. Also, throughout this story, the perspective swifts between two main characters – Puck and Sean – in contrast to the typical novels which the story is told by only one person’s point of view. Puck and Sean eventually meets up with each other as the story goes on; the unpredictable development of the scenario before, during, and after their encounter made the story more dramatic. Initially, the shifting

The water horses play a vital role in determining the genre of this novel; water horses are magical yet cruel. They are imaginary creatures; therefore, The Scorpio Races is a fantasy novel. The brutality of the water horses is revealed from page 101 to page 103 of the book – a capaill uisce tore up Jimmy Blackwell’s fingers and attacked Puck and Dove. They might’ve died if Sean didn’t save them using the poisonous berries. Also in Chapter 1, when Puck and Finn encountered a water horse, she said: “water horses love a moving target; they love the chase.” These evidences prove that the water horses are wild and vicious; they killed many people and are extremely hard to tame. Thus, this novel can be categorized as an action novel. Comprising both the elements from two genres increases the number of reader; the book can be read by those who relish reading a fantasy novel and those who enjoy reading an action novel. If The Scorpio Races fell under only one genre, perhaps action, then fewer people would’ve read the