The Scorpio Races

I enjoyed this a lot. Great coming of age story as well.

Amazing book. The plot, the charaters, the stort's world, are all unique and written in such a raw way. The narrations are amazing. They are fit really well. I loved it!

Kept me interested. I wish there was a series.

I have read the book myself and now am listening to it and I still love it!!!!

The story line starts very slowly but ends satisfyingly. The writing is beautiful and engaging. I think there are more words about the characters' thoughts than their actions, hence the slow pace. I feel like I've lived on the island where the story takes place. The narrators are perfect IMHO.

I have been browsing around for books to listen to. The cover caught my eye and the title indicated it probably at least had a horse in it. I love horse stories, but too often, the horses aren't depicted realistically or the author has clearly never actually been around a horse and you can tell in the writing. Non-horse lovers won't care, but it irks me to no end. To find a story that depicts a connection to horses that I can really relate to while not being so horse-focused as to put off people not familiar is something else. Too many books depict horses as if they are giant toy dolls, so noble and perfect and boring that it borders on the mythical in it's own right. Alternatively, many books anthropomorphise horses to an unrealistic degree, giving too human emotions and actions, doing the animal a disservice. Horses are big, powerful creatures. Dangerous, but if you're around them long enough you tend to forget that. I even found myself becoming passive toward the capaill uisce, until halfway through Corr reminded me that they are still ferocious, wild creatures. I definitely suggest the audiobook. You never have to guess who's narrating and I actually found myself enjoying how similar the main characters were, two sides of the same coin. Both representative of the Island in their own way and finding the other more supernatural than they felt about themselves. Both of the actors had great narration and I really enjoyed the flexibly of Sean's voice actor switching between the native dialect and American. The love story was in the background, but it was probably the most realistic (to my experience) that I'd read, listened to or seen on TV. It was gradual and natural and not overtly done. The book indicated a lot more than what it seemed, even in the end. One last thing I found interesting about the narration was how much I tended to agree with a scene and how as it was depicted. The book didn't use the contrived, overused wording found in most literature. I half wanted to say, "I always thought that too!" when I heard a scene described, from the way the ocean appeared to the feeling of how rain falls- this could be the artist in me talking. The scenes were extremely atmospheric and especially while listening to the audiobook, I very much felt I was there. Overall, a very good listen, I recommend going through the book with a cup of hot cocoa while it's raining out!