Even though this book is fantasy, it would also appeal to those with a love of equestrian novels. I found it difficult to divide my feelings toward the regular horses and the water horses(which are deadly). Stiefvater has outdone herself by capturing the essence of folklore on these creatures and has found a way to divide the man and the horse yet keep them tethered by their love of the sea. She uses her power with a pen to build the suspense until you can do nothing but scream for the races to start.
In this suspense, she also weaves the story of a family of orphans, left to fend for themselves, after their parents death. Their need to stay together, and provide for each other, even though the eldest can do nothing but want to get away from the island forever. It is also the story of a young man, the four time winner of the Scorpio races, and his love for his deadly steed. Though he interacts easily with horses of all kinds, he struggles with his interactions with people.
The main characters, Sean and Puck, both have their own reasons for running in the races that could get them killed. Sean wants to finally buy Corr, his water horse, from the man who owns basically everything on the island and employes Sean. Puck needs to race to save her family's home and to keep her horse Dove. She also hopes that the purse will be big enough to convince her older brother to stay on the island.
They also both have many obstacles to overcome. There are many who don't want Sean to succeed this year at the races. His employer's son would like to see him gone forever, and will go to any means necessary to make that happen. Puck has found that no one wants to see her in the races because she is a girl. It appears the entire town is out to see her fail and when she won't give in to their demands, life becomes more and more difficult leaving her to wonder if she has made the right decision after all.
If I could, I would give this a 10 star review. I would rate it 12 and up for violence (which I expected) but otherwise its a very clean and very moving book. Excellent read!
- Mrs. Daugherty
firehorse is an exellent book. I think that this book has got to be one of the best books that i have read.
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