The Scorpio Races

   I am currently reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I haven't gotten very far in this book. This book is about two characters, Kate "Puck" Connolly whose parents were killed when she was younger. It's just her and her two brothers Gabe and  Finn. Puck, as she's called in the book, never wanted to enter the Scorpio Races. The Scorpio Race is a violent and deadly race where many of the riders end up dying or are maimed. They ride horses from the see who eat meat, these horses are violent and attack anything they can. After Puck's parents die they are extremely low on money and there is a threat that her and her brothers are going to be evicted from their home, and her older brother is leaving them to deal with the money problems. So Puck's only choice is to enter the race. She is the first girl to enter and she is the only person who is riding a normal horse instead of one from the sea. Sean Hendricks is the other character that this story is about. Sean is nineteen and has been riding the horses from the sea for years. He has won the Scorpio Race four times and is considered almost impossible to beat. All he wants to do is save enough money to buy a house of his own and  the horse that he always rides in the race but he doesn't have enough money to buy the horse. Right now Puck and Sean are training for the race.
       I like this book so far it is very interesting and unique. One of my favorite parts of this book is that  the author wrote from the point of view of Sean and Puck. The one thing that I think is also great about this book is the capall uisce also known as the horses from the sea. I like how Stiefvater sort of contorts the sea horse image and it makes more monstrous. I have never read a book anything like this one it is new and original.
       So far my favorite character is Puck. I really like this character because she is strong. After her parents died she had to step up and take on a mother figure for her younger brother. I like her because she would do anything for her family. After her brother decides to abandon her and Finn, she doesn't break down any cry and beg  stay, she figures out a way to get money to pay for her house. Although Puck is super tough she isn't invincible. Actually Puck is terrified, especially of the horses from the sea because they killed her parents. But she buries that fear and goes through with the race.
      I thing one of the themes that the author is trying to portray is courage. Puck knows that there is a very little chance that she can win and there is a very good chance that she will die during the race. But she knows that there is no other way to save her house. So even though Puck is scared she does it anyway and she sticks with it till the end.
    Some questions that I have about this book is what really happened to Puck's parents? I know that they were killed by the capall unisce but I don't know how. And why is Gabe just leaving what's left of his family   to move to the Mainland?