The Scorpio Races ~ Not my cup of tea

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Recommend to Fantasy Lovers, Horse Lovers and fans of the author.

So, you're looking at the cover of this book. It looks really intriguing doesn't it? You look at the tagline Today is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die This book looks AMAZING doesn't it. 

To be honest, this book was sort of disappointing. Then why did you give it 3.5 stars? The reason for that was because although I had so many problems with the novel, there were aspects that I really enjoyed. 

Those aspects include:
- The characters: I came to really like the two main characters (the story is told in dual POV from Puck & Sean's perspective) even though I didn't like them or connect with them much in the beginning. Majority of the time I didn't even agree with the decisions they made. 
- The premise/world: The premise and world was SO COOL and SO ORIGINAL! It was dark & mysterious, cool & creepy and honestly just a big bucket of fun! =D
- THE CLIMAX: I didn't care much for the plot but the Climax was SO COOL! I was completely immersed in this one part of the novel. =D
- The Originality: This book was so unlike anything I'd ever read before and that was cool. 

The other reason why I enjoyed this novel was because I read it as a buddy read with Lady Poppy- one of my GR friends. It was really cool to discuss our differentopinions on the several aspects of the novel. It gave me more of an open mind and caused me to enjoy the novel more. I'm interested to see what she thinks of the novel overall. =) =D

However, as I said I had problems with this novel. 

Problems included:

1. The writing style: I can never get into Maggie Stiefvater's writing style. I have tried her other books Shiver & The Raven Boys and I just find it really hard to enjoy her writing style. I'm not bagging on the author as she is awesome and writes really unique novels. I just feel that the writing style really stopped from becoming fully immersed in the story, plot, world and characters. 

2. The plot: Although it was really original, the plot just didn't appeal to me. I didn't like the way it unfolded. It went in a completely different direction and didn't work for me. 

3. The end: I feel that as a fantasy stand-alone this novel did great but I didn't get enough closure on the characters and the relationships and that angered me a bit. 

4. The pacing: I felt that the quite slow pacing made the entire storyline really weak and caused much disinterest for me in the story. 

Overall, this is a great solid fantasy read. Horse & Fantasy lovers would enjoy it. It just wasn't amazing is all. I had too many problems to really be invested in this story.