The Scorpio Races
Maggie Stiefvater
The Scorpio Races from Maggie Stiefvater, is a book that I found kinda unintentionally. In 2015, I was doing a book-list to read on my summer vacations (I do this every year) and the book's cover got my attention because of its color and because it has an image of a girl riding a horse. For who doesn't know me personally, me and my family have two horses - Garoto and BlackJack (yes, because of the Percy Jackson's book), so I automatically loved the cover. The book is an adventure and thriller one. It was my first thriller book and now I just want to read thrillers!
The Scorpio Races is now on my Favorite Books list, so I really recommend it.
The book has a dark side with no humor, and that's unusual to the author, because she's know as an author who can write dark stories with a little bit of humor.
It's a single book (it's not in a serie), so the story leaves you thirsty for more and with a million questions of what happens after the end of the book - in a good way.
Let's talk about the story: Kate (Puck, for the intimate ones) and Sean are the main characters. Both of them are the narrators - and I really like that, because I'm the kind of person that wants to know what every character is thinking - and they live in the Thisby island, where all the story happens.
Every year, on the island, there is an immigration season where water horses come to the island looking for food. The author was inspired in the Irish and Scottish legends of the capaill uisce to create this water horses - when I say "water horses" I don't mean to say that they are made of water, but that they live in the water, like, under water - and they're carnivores, and that means that, when they come to the surface they want to eat more than fish. They're bigger and stronger than normal horses. They also have sharp teeth, thicker skin and silkier fur.
The capaill uisce are not docile animals - not even close of it- and the way the author narrates the story from Kate's point of view, you learn to be afraid from them. However, by Sean's point of view, who even fearing them, is also attracted to them and he teaches us to admire them.
Even at the risk of death, the inhabitants of Thisby try to capture the capaill uisce to tame them for the annual race that takes place every November, the Scorpion Race (name of the book, everybody cheers!). In other words, they try to tame/domesticate animals who see them as a meal. Great, insn't it?
Who wins the race, wins a large amount of money as well. As the people of Thisby are quite poor, many enter the race hoping to get rich, risking they lives for it, while other enter the race just for adrenaline or for curiosity. Puck takes part in the first group and Sean has his own reasons to race. But, only one can win, and we have to suffer to choose one of them to cheer for. I'm, personally, still not able to choose.
Another cool thing is that, although the story involves mythological animals that are often associated with the past, the author implies that the story takes place in today, unlike many books that involve mythological anymals. And, despite the magic, the people of Thisby are not isolated from the rest of the world, and that means that they are not the only ones who knows about the cappail uisce, they don't have to keep it a secret and they don't even want to do it, and that's how the tourism part is involveld in all this.
As the race has this "peculiarity" of being with carnivorous horses, it turned to a tourist attraction. People from all around the world want to know the famous horses that eat meat and come from the ocean, and to watch the Scorpio Race.
This is good and bad as well, it is good because the tourism that comes from the race is the main income from the people of Thisby, and it is bad because, well, the horses eat meat, and that also means that they people. Only a small portion of the horses is captured by the racers. That is, many carnivorous horses on the loose. And this, for the reckless ones, means death.
For me, this book is fantastic, and for sure worth the time "lost" in a whole day to read it. I hope that you like it. either.
For the ones who wants to know more, I leave it here two book trailers - 1. Is a fan made and 2. It was the author itself who draw it and composed the music (wonderful, isn't she?) - and some fan arts too.
Associating the book's story with tourism:
Tourism in "exotic" places, that gives the locals some income, but at the same time, they risk their own lives to capture wild animals to entertain the tourists. Any similarity with reality is just a coincidence. Or not.
And this make us think, why do people have interest in visiting places where they pust their lives at risk? - like war countries, naturally dangerous places, etc. - The argument most used by those who practice this type of tourism is to see it "whithout any filter", which is to see the culture and the experience of the local inhabitants without the "filter" of a tourist agency, or even the "filter" that most visited tourist attractions use, making the place less raw and something almost fanciful.
On the book Turismo da Juventude (Youth's Tourism, in free translation), the author Maria José Giaretta explains that this kind of tourism "(...) is linked to the search for the uncertain, the unforeseen (...)".
However, besides the security risks, this kind of tourism causes drastic impacts. For example, in war countries, the locals normally have few living conditions (water, food, plumbing, energy and general comfort), and to receive the tourists, this conditions are for sure needed. But if the locals don't have these conditions, where are they going to get the basic conditions for the tourists? Will they make these things possible just for the tourists? Or, will they take it from the locals and give it to the tourists?
Moving ahead, when we talk about tourism with animals, mainly the wild ones, the situation can be even more alarming. Because the animals are treated in inhumane ways to entertain the humans.
According to the World Animal Protection, an estimated 110 million people around the world visit places that promote cruel wildlife tourism and wildlife attractions make up 20 to 40% of global tourism. And those numbers are extremely alarming.
In 2010, the World Animal Protection visited and accessed 24 different attractions using objetive scientific methods, and there they have identified that: 25% of these places have a positive impact on the animals, and in these places the presence of 13 thousand wild animals is estimated. Examples include sanctuaries without performance or direct contact with animals (bears, orangutans, lions, etc.). And 75% of these places have a negative impact on the animals, and in these places the presence of 550 thousand wild animals is estimated. Examples include elephant rides, selfies with tigers and turtles handling.
Typically, animals that are used to contact with humans are taken from their natural habitat and from their families when they are still very young. They are kept in deplorable situations and have to undergo cruel training or are anesthetized to contact with humans.
These numbers are extremely unbalanced and sad, which leads me to a request: Guys, please, be tourists that are aware of what you do, and the impact that you cause. Plan your trips and do some research about the attractions you want to visit. Don't support the mistreatment of wild animals.
If you are interested in the subject of animals in tourism, I highly recommend you read the article, Your Guide to Being Animal Friendly on Holiday , Be An Animal-friendly Traveller or any other article from the World Animal Protection and join the global movement for the end of wild animals abuse in the name of tourism.
Su guía para ser amigable con los animales durante las vacacio
Bibliography (all in Portuguese):
GIARETTA, Maria José. Turismo da Juventude. São Paulo: Manole, 2003.
https://d31j74p4lpxrfp.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/br_files/documents_br/wildcru_relatorio.pdf - accessed in 01/05/18
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/turismo/2016/08/1801425-entre-o-risco-e-a-descoberta-o-que-leva-turistas-a-viajar-para-zonas-de-guerra.shtml - accessed in 01/05/18