I am a huge fan of romance. It is the number one thing I read, and the stuff that’s not, still has a strong romantic element. I love love. I love seeing love overcome challenges and bad guys and the character’s own inner demons. I’m an enormous lover of big, sweeping emotional stories–not the melodramatic bodice ripper variety, but real gut wrenching emotional books. I tend not to read books by men because, as a rule, they don’t tend to write books that follow that pattern. They are usually more busy focusing on the action instead of a relationship, and if there is a relationship, it’s not presented in a way that makes me happy as a romance reader. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I want to read. I don’t usually like a subtle love story. Sorry Hemmingway, “And the earth moved,” does not constitute a love scene and nothing else in For Whom The Bell Tolls had any resemblance to a relationship.
But after reading Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races, I think I have a new appreciation for a subtle love story. Of course, Maggie’s a women (an incredibly talented one who writes lovely prose). The Scorpio Races is a tale of water horses. When I first saw the cover months and months ago, that is not what I was expecting. I actually was envisioning something like a YA version of Hidalgo. What is is, is a tale of love between a man and his horse. And a lovely, subtle romance between hero Sean Kendrick and heroine Puck Connolly. But it does not adhere to the classic expectations of romance. There’s not really any formal courting or dating. There are few pretty words–in fact few words at all, as Sean is a man of few of them–but it makes those that there are so much more impactful. This book didn’t have most of the romance cues I looked for, and yet I found it incredibly moving and I’m still thinking about it now that it’s through. My brain keeps turning it over in a “how did she do that?” kind of way. That, combined with the ending (which was all about the horse and not the couple), snuck in and sucker punched me on the last page and brought tears to my eyes (in a good way).
So this isn’t some deep analysis or review, more a reflection that subtle can be done and done beautifully, and The Scorpio Races is an excellent example.
6 thoughts on “The Scorpio Races: A Subtle Love”
I love books that sucker punch me 🙂
What’re some romances you’d recommend? I’m trying to read more since that’s what I’m writing and I find most of the romance I’ve come across sadly inadequate. I want some really good ones, like Joanna Bourne…
Kait came looking for me as the one of the the two of us who at least used to read historical romance. But I haven’t read much of it in the last two decades and don’t know anything current. It’s also been quite a while since I had a good sucker punch. I used to read a lot of Johanna Lindsey. The very popular Mallory series was a favorite. Started with Love Only Once (’85). Other popular things I can think of were Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught (’85) and Cherish by Catherine Anderson (’98). But all of those would probably be quite different from what’s coming out today. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander was all over the place in genre and used me for a punching bag. In a contemporary setting, but still an older book, a favorite of mine was Linda Howard’s After the Night (’97) and I’m sure Kait has a bunch of Nora Roberts to recommend. In racier suspense, I’m a big fan of Shannon McKenna. Her series about the McCloud brothers starts with Behind Closed Doors (’02). Awesome heroes. For a one-off from her instead try Return to Me. In fantasy, one of my favorites isn’t strictly a romance, but a love story is central to Elizabeth’s Haydon’s trilogy Rhapsody (’99), Prophecy, Destiny. Amazing world-building, amazing read.
I lurrrvvved Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series and I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about this (takes too long to get started and only action in the last 100 pages is one of the most popular negative reviews). I might give it a go anyway because I’ve built up my trust with her as an author.
It totally depends on what you’re reading for. If you are wanting something action packed, this is not it. It’s much more a literary style and about the characters and the island. Everything is subtle, except perhaps the violence surrounding the races themselves. But I’m still thinking about it days later.
Oh man! I need to read this book! Maggie is brilliant.
She actually has a blog post about she “does it” on her blog: http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/219027.html
Thanks Susan! Will check those out! I love rereading Outlander 🙂