Saturday, September 19, 2009

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: YA Fiction

Author Website:
www.maggiestiefvater.com

One Word Review: Unique

First Line: “I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves.”

Synopsis: “For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.” -GoodReads

Kathy’s Review: I’ve been on the lookout for a good werewolf novel for awhile now and can happily report that this is a GOOD werewolf novel. Stiefvater has a unique, and believable, spin on the whole werewolf phenomenon. The story wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was a little slower (not in a bad way) and more character driven than your typical werewolf story. I really liked Grace. She had a good personality, was funny, stubborn, brave and real. I also really liked Sam. They had known each other, in different forms, for so long that it was totally natural for them to fall for each other so quickly. I thought the book ended a little too quickly, but could have easily been a stand-alone novel. I hear that it will be a trilogy and I’m curious where Stiefvater will take the characters. If you like werewolves then you will like this very unique story.

I really loved the cover. I liked all the blue, with the bright red blood mark. Especially the image of the wolf, which I didn’t catch at first. I also loved that the entire book was in blue font (hince, this post being in blue font). At times I got so into it that I almost thought it was black, and had to have my husband double check to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.

Reading Order:
Book One: Shiver
Book Two: Linger
Book Three: Forever

5 comments:

  1. It sounds good, but I'm not sure I like werewolf stories.

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  2. I *love* werewolf stories because vampires don't scare me - wolfmen do! I can't wait to read this. Brilliant review, you've made me all the more eager to read it. :-D

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  3. I put this one on hold at the library. You made it sound so good I decided to give it a try.

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  4. I've got this one on hold at the library. It doesn't have too long of a wait, so hopefully I'll get it soon.

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  5. I liked it, but can't explain why. It felt anti-climatic. I think the fact that it took me almost a week to get through it says a lot about how it didn't move.

    But at the same time it got in deep with the characters. Enough that I kind of want to know what happened to them.

    The end just sort of happened all at once: you die, you live, you're a werewolf. It was pretty unsatisfying. Yet I'm a sucker and I'll probably at least try the next book.

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