The Scorpio Races Summary

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TheScorpio Races Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis tohelp you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:Plot SummaryChaptersCharactersSymbols and SymbolismSettingsThemes and MotifsStyles This detailed literature summary also contains Quotes and a Free Quiz onThe Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater."The Scorpio Races" by Maggie Stiefvater is a compelling narrative about two participants in the dangerous races that take place on the island of Thisby each fall. Sean and Puck have their own reasons for riding in the Scorpio Races, but as their friendship develops, both are forced to reexamine their priorities. "The Scorpio Races" is a charming novel about two young people who, together, overcome the odds against them to get what they need out of life.

After seeing his father die in the Scorpio Races at the age of ten, Sean decides never to be afraid like his father. Nine years later, he eagerly anticipates the approach of the races. When Puck's older brother, Gabe, announces his decision to leave Thisby and move to the mainland, Puck decides to ride in the upcoming Scorpio Races against her brothers' wishes. Mutt Malvern, the son of Sean's boss, torments Sean incessantly. Though Sean tries to ignore Mutt, he dreams of independence. After riding a recently captured piebald mare named Skata, Sean warns that she will kill someone. Uncomfortable with the idea of riding a capaill uisce, Puck decides to ride her island pony, Dove, and she registers for the races, despite objections from the other riders who see a girl on the beach as bad luck.

When Sean first sees Puck on the beach where she is knocked from her mount, he tells her to keep her pony off his beach, and though Puck considers withdrawing from embarrassment, her determination is reinforced after Benjamin Malvern visits to warn her that she and her brothers are about to be evicted since no one has paid on the house since her parents' deaths.

Malvern's son, Mutt, shows his ongoing contempt for Sean at the expense of the brutal loss of a colt. While on a boat, Mutt allows a capaill uisce to attack Fundamental. Fundamental is a colt that is one of Sean's charges. Although Sean tries to save Fundamental, he fails.

Sean wants to quit his job, but he cannot stand the thought of losing Corr, his beloved capaill stallion. When Sean and Puck catch a ride to town with Thomas Gratton, they talk about the race. After Puck admits how much she loves the island, Sean offers to let her ride a capaill. Since Puck wants to be sure that a capaill is more likely to win than Dove, she and Sean race. Though Sean's mare is faster, the horse jumps from the cliffs, leaving Puck as the victor. Puck insists on riding Dove in the race.

Sean objects when he learns Mutt plans to ride Skata in the race, but Mutt is indifferent to his employee's fear that Skata will kill someone. At the bonfire where riders declare their intent to participate in the Scorpio Races, the men object to Puck's involvement, but Sean defends her courage, forcing the others to concede. Inspired by her courage, he confronts Malvern about buying Corr and resigns when his employer refuses.

During a fierce storm, Gabe rescues his siblings from a capaill's attack and takes them to stay with the Grattons until the storm passes. The storm also causes the horses at Malvern Yard to act up. Though Sean wants to prove how invaluable he is, he helps anyway. He cannot bring himself to let a horse be injured because of his games with Malvern. Malvern insists that Sean's actions change nothing. Puck is furious when she learns about Sean's situation, assuring him that Corr belongs to him no matter what the law says. After Sean rescues Corr from Mutt's cruel training techniques, Malvern agrees to sell Corr to Sean if they win the race.

Puck visits Sean at Malvern Yard and helps him tend Corr as they discuss why each of them needs to win the race. Wanting Puck to love Corr, they both ride Corr on the beach. Puck feels like she knows the island better than ever. As Puck and Sean continue practicing together, she and Dove improve, making victory feasible. Yet, Puck laments the fact that she and Sean cannot both win the race. When Sean comes to dinner at the Connolly house, he promises to wait to make his move in the race until Puck makes her move.

At Malvern's young stock auction, Mutt is furious when he overhears his father's disparaging remarks about him. That night, Sean wakes to a horse crying. He rushes to the stables to find that Edana has been mutilated. Realizing Mutt's treachery, Sean saves Corr before Mutt can harm him by offering to let Mutt win the race. After Tommy Falk's funeral, Sean and Puck kiss and discuss their wish to reign as king and queen of the race and achieve all of their collective dreams.

The day of the Scorpio Races finally arrives. As the race begins, Sean keeps his promise to wait for Puck to make her move first; however, Mutt corners Puck and Dove, forcing Sean to intervene as he urges Puck forward. Mutt cuts Skata who attacks Corr, knocking Sean from his back. Puck is shocked to win the race, but frightened by Sean's absence at the finish line. She turns back to find his prone body being guarded by Corr. Sean awakes and laments that Mutt was taken by Skata. He is amazed at Corr's loyalty, even as he mourns Corr's substantial injuries that will prevent him from ever running again.

Unable to enjoy her victory when Sean suffers, Puck convinces Malvern to sell Corr to Sean despite his loss. Since Corr can no longer run, Sean decides to release him to the sea, Corr's other love, so his horse can find happiness. However, as Sean walks away, Corr goes to him, walking away from the sea and slowly returning to his owner.

Plot summary (so I don't forget). The book starts with a flashback: little Sean Kendrick watches his father get killed on the beach at the Scorpio races. His dad is riding Corr, one of the capaill uisce--sea horses that have been snatched from the water and barely tamed, and are famed for their speed and murderous unpredictability. Before the race, young Sean whispers to Corr not to eat his dad, and Corr technically obliges him.

In the present day, Sean Kendrick has grown up into a talented, hunky stable hand, and a four-time winner of the Scorpio Races. He longs to buy Corr, having a special bond with the horse, but his boss, Benjamin Malvern (think Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life) won't sell him. Malvern makes Sean live in a tiny room above the stables, but even so, he likes Sean better than his own spoiled, useless son, Matthew (Mutt). Mutt resents Sean so badly, his anger escalates from peeing in Sean's boots to trying to kill him.

Puck Connely decides to ride in the Scorpio Races, too. At first she wants to do it to keep her brother Gabe from moving to the mainland for a few weeks longer (he can't leave without watching that she comes through safely, can he?), but soon she's hoping to actually win, in order to pay off the mortgage on their house, which Malvern is calling due. Puck didn't know Malvern was her family's mortgage lender, but that's okay because neither did we.

Puck is not going to ride a water horse, she's going to ride her beloved Dove, an ordinary but devoted palfrey. When it's clear that the male islanders and riders hate the idea of a woman in the race, Puck and Sean begin to train together. Corr is relatively polite to Dove, and might even fancy her, which is unusual for a water horse. And Dove might actually have a chance at winning, because she can run in a straight line without trying to kill things or leap into the water. Nevertheless, her posted odds are 45 to 1. Sean and Puck decide that on race day she'll take a path through the water, where the other riders are afraid to go, and Sean will protect her flank.

On race day, Mutt threatens Puck, knowing that Sean cares about her. Mutt's water horse, Skata, attacks Dove. Sean and Corr drive him into the sea, where he's never heard from again. Sean falls off Corr, and is in danger of being trampled to death by the other horses. Corr stands over him, protecting him, but has such a badly wounded leg, he'll never run again. Puck and Dove win the race.

Puck has earned enough to buy back her house, but there's not enough left over to buy Corr. Luckily, Puck's younger brother, Finn, reveals that he has used some of the money from selling his car to bet on Puck, and at 45:1 odds, the winnings turn out to be a hefty sum. Puck meets with Benjamin Malvern to pay off the house and buy Corr for Sean. She also demands a job at the stables.

At the end, while George Holly and Puck watch, Sean tries to release Corr back into the sea, where his wounded leg won't bother him. (We are supposed to take that as fact, but don't water horses depend on their legs to swim?) Corr refuses to leave, gimping along after him toward land. Awww.

Hot damn, Ms. Stiefvater's writing is enjoyable. The words on each page expertly evoke the deliberately-vague period (1910-ish, because it's the era of the women's suffrage movement), the place (the UK, an island, north), and the magic (killer sea horses). As with the Raven Cycle, I accept that fantastical beings exist in our own world without question, because the writing closes around me and lulls me into believing. This island is a worthy sister to the one in Margo Lanagan's The Brides of Rollrock Island, which is saying something.

The romance. I'm okay that there are no fireworks, and you should be, too. To begin with, The Scorpio Races contains one of the most romantic interactions I've ever read (the Sean-taking-Puck's-pulse moment). And the novel is a bit like a Japanese manga in that you ship the characters hard, even though they barely get to kissing. Let's face it, hesitancy is more satisfying than gushing protestations of love or explicit erotica. In fact, the slow romance is one of the great things about this novel. It means that Puck's conflict and Sean's conflict take center stage. It means they're deep and trusting friends before they get together intimately (which we never get to see, but surmise to be something like what George Holly crassly predicts: "I'll come back next year and you'll have a nest of horses outside your window and Puck Connely in your bed and I'll buy from you instead of Malvern"). Additionally, it suits the characters themselves to have this slow build: they are both excruciatingly reserved and fiercely independent--not the mooning Bella and Edward types.

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