A Reader's Ramble- The Scorpio Races

Wow, I haven't done one of these in forever.
Today I'll be reviewing The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

Page count- 409

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. 
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. 
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen. 

Plot- This book took me FOREVER to read. Not because it was bad, but because I had exams and I basically had to take the week off reading.
It. Sucked.
And this sadly effects my review a tiny bit.
I heard a lot about this book since it came out. It was awarded many prizes and people just gushed about it's amazingness on the internet. So obviously, my expectations were pretty high.
I was unfortunately, slightly let down.
This book was not bad, but it was not as amazing as everyone made it out to be.
The whole plot was very unique. Like, what the heck is a water horse and where can I see one? I wish those were real! They seem so cool, but scary, too.
The whole hype of the races was interesting, and the prejudice and judgement behind it all. The fact that Puck was a girl and was going to ride in the races caused this huge conflict over gender roles, and I loved it.
The romance was adorable but very low key, and I felt myself wanting more. I know this wasn't a romance novel at all but still, if they're in love at least show it some.

I was bored at times. There were points that I wished I could have just skipped over. But then there were also some super amazing and exciting parts, so it balances itself out I guess.
The Races. I was expecting way more of it. This book was like a prelude to the races. The race itself only lasted about 4 pages.
Which isn't really bad.. I was just expecting the actual race to be a bigger part of it. The race turned out being symbolic for other themes really over anything.
The plot was just good. Not great, not terrible.

Setting- Some island not in America called Thisby I think.. it doesn't exist.. I thought it was pretty unique and a symbol for the people who lived there and the races.

Characters- I love Sean and Puck <3
They are just like the perfect couple and they didn't even realize it at first.
Sean.. mmm, why can't that boy exist?
He's just so.. sexy. Like in his ways and attitude; the way he carries himself and talks. Those indirect characterization methods really helped me get a sense for who Sean really was, and I really loved him.
He was so broken, but it just made me love him more.
I liked Puck too, just not as much as Sean.
They were both very well developed characters and had great personalities.

The minor characters were my problem.
There were so many of them, I got names and roles mixed up over and over. I never truly knew any of them or really cared.
Mutt Malvern though.... he was such a good antagonist. You can tell he was very well developed because he made me so angry.  I'd love to punch that boy in the face.

Cover- Very simple, but I like it. The color of it really fits with the whole "November" aspect. Love the font too.

Overall- In conclusion, this was a good book. Definitely not one of my favorites, but one I will remember. I think if I would have read this in a decent amount of time and not took a week break in between, I would have liked it much more.
It had its problems and its strengths. The strengths kinda out weigh the problems so... this book gets 5/5 stars from me. I'd give it a 4.5 if I could.
I do recommend trying it out, because if you read it all at once, you'll probably like it more than me.