Racing For Your Life

Authors hook their readers at different points in their storytelling, on the first page, within the first chapter or easing into it gradually over several chapters, using a variety of techniques, an explanatory word, a startling sentence or a defining paragraph.

Maggie Stiefvater author of The Scorpio Races chooses to reach out and grab her readers immediately.

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Without a doubt that chain of words is going to find a place on a top twenty-five best first sentences' list.  After reading that all you want are answers; who is going to die, why are they going to die, how are they going to die and where is this death going to happen.  And you can not turn the pages fast enough as events unfold, unforgettable characters are set forth fully alive, and fantastical creatures emerge from the sea.

Two people living separate lives share two loves; the land upon which they live and horses.  Fate decrees that a third love will find a place in each of their hearts, a love for one another.  These two were both made orphans by the capaill uisce, water horses.

Awesome in their savage beauty, frightening in their capabilities, these water horses come from the sea each November to roam the land.  If captured, while they remain wild beasts drawn to the salt water, they are superb mounts in every respect.  True danger lies in their need for meat; no distinction is made as to what kind.

The land surrounded by the sea that releases these mythological beings is the island of Thisby, a craggy, rocky wind-swept place replete with cliffs and sandy beaches that stretch to the water.  Hours from the mainland, Skarmouth is the largest town. Heart of the island and center of the celebrations that accompany the annual Scorpio Races, Skarmouth at night becomes a scene of rites and magic as old as time.

No race compares to this race; the horses need to feed...on the riders dragging them back to the sea that they crave.  People flock to the island like migrating birds each year for the races; some drawn to the animals themselves as buyers or lovers of these exquisite creatures, others not wanting to miss the excitement of the race,the need to see who will finish, who will win, who will live.

Nineteen year old Sean Kendrick has had an unearthly connection to the water horses since he was a child; an understanding of their souls.  A four time champion of the races he rides Corr, a breathtaking animal colored in shades of red.  It was riding Corr that Sean's father lost his life.  Honoring Sean's whispered request prior to the race,  Corr returned to the sea without eating his father. Even though it was he who recaptured the water horse, it belongs to Benjamin Malvern where Sean lives and works as head of the stables. Sean has to win the race this year to save everything that he values most in life.

At sixteen Puck (Kate) Connolly has never known anything but life on the island of Thisby and that is enough for her.  But this year she is entering the races as the first woman to do so.  Her oldest brother, Gabe, has recently announced that he is leaving the island.  Puck and her younger brother, Gill are living day to day in disbelief.  She is shocked to learn that Malvern holds a mortgage on their home and that Gabe knew it.  Dove, an island horse, will be her ride.  Puck has to win the race this year to save everything that she values most in life.

Told in alternating chapters by the voices of Sean and Puck readers are held captive by vividly descriptive words causing the air they breath to hold the scent of the sea, the feel of wind on their skin and the motion of the horses hooves striking sand beneath their bodies and them to marvel at the courage and conviction of these two characters.  Sense of family is held high as a range of emotions ebb and flow between Puck and her brothers as events escalate.  Secondary characters, essential to the tale, in the town's people, Malvern's son, Mutt, and an American, George Holly, are colorful and realistic.

Here are just a couple sentences that show the connection Puck and Sean have to their horses,

I get a currycomb and a brush and I knock the dust out of Dove's dun hide until my fingers warm up.  By the time I saddle her up, she's clean and I'm grubby.  She is my mare and my best friend, and I keep waiting for something bad to happen to her, because I love her too much.

Corr can hold a thousand things in his heart and reveal only one of them on his face, like he did earlier today.  He is so very like me.

This is just a portion of one of many, many wonderful passages in this book.

The Scorpio drums pound a ragged heartbeat as I wind my way through the crowds that fill the streets of Skarmouth.  The cold air smarts as I breathe it in; the wind carries all sorts of foreign scents. ...Everything the race makes me feel on the inside is bleeding up through the seams in the street tonight.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is an extraordinary achievement stunning and spellbinding until the final sentence; readers are richly rewarded.  It, like the capaill uisce, is a breed all its own.

 My autographed copy has been ordered.  Not surprisingly, within ten days of the book's release Warner Bros announced that it had grabbed the movie rights.  It is my recommendation that this title is for eight grade students on up.  Appeal for both guys and gals is a given; heart-pounding pure adventure, characters you come to love or to hate and a landscape populated with mystical, mythical creatures says it all.

This is a book trailer that Maggie Stiefvator created.  Be sure to follow the link with her name at the beginning of this post to a top notch web site and a blog.

Hear Them Roar...GRR #2

Colleen Houck follows the phenomenal success of series opener, Tiger's Curse, with a spellbinding sequel, Tiger's Quest, that strengthens the story at every turn of page. 

Kelsey Hayes has returned to life in Oregon having spent several months in India immersed in the traditions and mythic stories of a culture nearly as old as time, prophecy fulfillment, surreal adventure and finding a love whose thread can not be broken.  Successful in the initial stages of her role as the one chosen to release the two 300-year-old Indian princes from their curse, living as a tigers, she will be attending college until the prophecy can be further deciphered by Mr. Anik Kadam.  While trying to assume the life of a normal college freshman, studying classes enhancing her knowledge of the quest and dating other men, she is living a half life without her beloved.  Leaving Ren in India against his wishes was the hardest thing she ever had to do but she felt it was best for him.   Personally, as a reader, it defied belief that she could do this.

On Christmas Day when she answers the door at her adopted parents' home, there is Ren standing in the doorway.  From that point on the romance escalates with steamy, though chaste, scenes that truly define a steadfast and enduring love. 

Lokesh, a powerful man from the princes' past, is in pursuit of Kelsey seeking her death.  While on a date with one of her suitors she saved an elderly woman from being struck by a car.  It came to the attention of the media which spells trouble for the anonymity that Kelsey currently has.  Sending for Kishan Ren hopes to protect her from harm. 

The trio begins training in earnest, expanding on the wushu classes,  for a possible attack and preparing for a quick exit from the states back to India.  But...

The other men had caught up to us.  What happened next was no fight in a dojo. This was a battle.  War. Ren and Kishan looked like two uber-soldiers.  Their faces showed no emotion.  They moved sharply, efficiently.  They wasted no energy.  They moved in harmony like a pair of lethal dancers.  Ren with the Sai knives and Kishan with the staff.  Between them, they took down at least a dozen men, but dozens more shot out from the trees. 

Even changing from men to tigers and back does not deter the assault.  In the heat of battle to protect Ren, Kelsey discovers she has possession of a power heretofore unknown.  Kishan at Ren's insistence spirits Kelsey away as darts fill the air.  Her white tiger, her warrior angel, Ren, is captured by Lokesh. 

She and Kishan, the black tiger, flee to India following the next course revealed by the prophecy's translation.  Time is of the essence in accomplishing their tasks if they are to save Ren's life.

Now that a new adventure loomed before me, I wanted Ren with me so desperately my insides felt achingly hollow.  The only thing that kept me going was knowing I was doing this for him.  I wouldn't even allow myself to think he might not live through the next few weeks.  He had to.  Life without him would be meaningless.

Visiting the goddess Durga again, a Grandmother weaving the fabric of life, and the Ocean Teacher, traveling to Tibet, walking through the spirit gate into the land known as Shangri-La, passing the tests of the four houses within a sacred tree, gigantic iron birds, the Silvanae tree nymphs, extreme cold, death around every corner---these Kelsey and Kishan face together their friendship growing stronger daily.  Kelsey's love for Ren, her determination to save him never falters, but Kishan now does not hide his love for her.  History does repeat; the two brothers love the same woman.

Colleen Houck further cements her skills as a master storyteller; one dedicated to the geography, culture and myths within which this tale is set.  Descriptions of action and task completion in these magical worlds populated with beings from legend and imagination are luminous and elaborate.  Dialogue heartfelt and true, between the characters that readers have come to know, increases tension that leaves one breathless.

It would not be right to tell you if Kishan and Kelsey reach their goals nor whether they are able to save Ren but I will tell you to get a box of Kleenex handy; no make that two.  And you might want to set a block of time aside.  For once you start Tiger's Quest not much else will matter.

How are we ever to wait until November 2011 to continue in the fulfillment of the the prophecy set forth in The Tiger Series?

Hear Them Roar...GRR

One of the  particulars of this book, Tiger's Curse, that impresses me the most about author, Colleen Houck, is the care and attention that is given to the culture, mythology and people of India.

The story begins with recent high school graduate, Kelsey Hayes, taking a job as a temporary worker at a circus for a couple of weeks when it's in town.  Part of her duties includes the care and feeding of a magnificent Bengal tiger, Dhiren, who she calls Ren.  Over the course of her work assignment she and Ren develop a special bond which commences at their first meeting--Those eyes.  They were mesmerizing.  They stared right into me, almost as if the tiger was examining my soul.  During her free time or at the end of the day she begins reading poetry to the tiger or writing and drawing in her journal near his cage wrapped in the quilt her Grandmother made.  It is at the end of one of these companionable meetings that she, after touching him and his tongue licking her fingers, that she whispers, I wish you were free.  Little does Kelsey know that with those words she has set a chain of events in motion.

Soon thereafter a stranger by the name of Anik Kadam comes to the circus representing a very wealthy employer.  He purchases the tiger to be taken to the Ranthambore National Park, a tiger reserve, in India.  Kelsey is asked to accompany the tiger to India to see him safely delivered to the reserve due to the unique rapport that they share.

On the trip to the preserve imagine her dismay upon looking out a restaurant window to see that the truck carrying the tiger has left.   Running outside she finds the tiger vanishing up the trail into the surrounding jungle.  Readers will discover that this tiger is no ordinary tiger but an Indian prince under a 300-year-old curse which only Kelsey can break. 

What ensues is adventure a la Indiana Jones; deciphering prophecies, codes and finding keys complete with forests of trees with knife-like needles, white Kappa vampires slinking from pools and hordes of monkeys of every shape and size that don't like their kingdom borders breached. 

To spike the tension further the relationship between Kelsey and Ren deepens into a love complicated by his brother's presence, also under the curse.  And someone else is interested in Kelsey...seeking her...needing her to be eliminated.

Colleen Houck's first novel is volume one of the Tiger Saga.  It has achieved success as a self-published eBook and was named a finalist in the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award in YA Fiction.   What gives this story distinction above others of this genre is the meticulously described episodes, fully-developed characters, the snappy as well as steamy dialogue between Ren and Kelsey, and Kelsey's independent streak.

I have already pre-ordered the sequel due out June 7, 2011.  It's going to be a grand summer for reading.